Tracker Pixel for Entry

“Madd Frank Presents Madd Frank”

Cinema | September 10th, 2015

photo  by Bobby Haugen

By Kari Lugo

“Madd Frank Presents Madd Frank,” directed by Mike Bredon, screened at the Fargo Theatre to a near double-sellout crowd, which seemed to genuinely love local legend Delray Dvoracek aka Madd Frank.

He is loved maybe even more now than when his show was in production back in the mid-1980s and ’90s. Myself, I can remember watching Madd Frank as a kid growing up in Fargo and being mesmerized by him and his zany cast of characters. I always thought it was a strange show and, back then, did not necessarily understand all the humor, but I didn’t turn the channel either. I watched, just like thousands of others in the Fargo-Moorhead community.

Who knew that Madd Frank soon transcended Fargo audiences and was eventually broadcast in several different cities across the U.S.? While the show was still on the air, a young Mike Bredon was one of those impacted by Madd Frank, and some years later his colorful documentary gives us a glimpse into the birth of the “madness” of Madd Frank.

The opening sequence is quite slick, with Del Dvoracek riding through town in his electric purple classic car, top down with the wind in his hair, sunglasses on and style for miles. If anyone attending had a question as to who this guy was and why there was a documentary about him, they only need watch that opening to understand.

Bredon, who has been directing smaller projects most of his life, does a great job of setting the scene early on as he introduces the audience to Dvoracek and his kind of rock-and-roll wackiness.

From there, we weave through the beginnings of the local access UHF show and meet the cast of characters who would lend a hand to Madd Frank’s lead character as they introduced “B” horror movies on Saturday nights.

One can see how wildly things sort of “fell together” for this show to come into existence and also how the local access gods seemed to supply just the right grouping of minds, willingness and tenacity in its cast to pull off such a feat on a less than shoestring budget.

The audience laughed through almost half of the film, reliving the wonderful ease of humor that flows out of the cast, each anecdotal comment well-edited to line up with the next, a nod to the team editing the film.

The film is well developed, especially given the time it was produced in, after a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2014. The film does suffer from being a bit too long, and at times, veers off course to take a deeper look into a couple of its cast members’ lives. But aside from that, it is superbly entertaining and skillfully directed.

I laughed more than I’d anticipated and I felt a keen sense of the director’s love and commitment for this project; a palatable passion that the audience seemed to drink up with vigor. “We love you Del!” yelled a few of them as they stood to applaud him when he entered the theater. Even Dvoracek himself said to the audience, post screening, in a rarely heard choked-up voice, “I am overwhelmedto see how many of you came out this evening.”

“Madd Frank Presents Madd Frank” will go through one last string of edits and Bredon anticipates entering it in the 2016 Fargo Film Festival.

Recently in:

By Winona LaDukewinona@winonaladuke.com The business of Indian Hating is a lucrative one. It’s historically been designed to dehumanize Native people so that it’s easier to take their land. ‘Kill the Indian, save the man,”…

By Winona LaDukewinona@winonaladuke.comThere’s not really a word for reconciliation, it's said in our language. There’s a word for making it right. To talk about reconciliation in terms of the relationship between Indigenous…

December 16, 18-20, 12 p.m.Fargo Theatre, 314 Broadway N., FargoDon’t miss an annual Fargo Theatre holiday tradition. The Red River Theatre Organ Society presents (almost) a full week of holiday concerts on the Mighty Wurlitzer…

By Jim Fugliejimfuglie920@gmail.com Okay, so last month I promised you a woman President of the United States. So much for my predictability quotient. Lesson 1: Never promise something you can’t control. And nobody, not even…

By Ed Raymondfargogadfly@gmail.comWill God Ever Text Margaret Back and Answer Her Prayers?More than 50 years ago a young Judy Blume wrote about 13-year-old Margaret Simon in a contemporary realistic novel titled “Are You There,…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com Holiday wine shopping shouldn’t have to be complicated. But unfortunately it can cause unneeded anxiety due to an overabundance of choices. Don’t fret my friends, we once again have you covered…

By Rick Gionrickgion@gmail.com In this land of hotdish and ham, the knoephla soup of German-Russian heritage seems to reign supreme. In my opinion though, the French have the superior soup. With a cheesy top layer, toasted baguette…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.com Local band Zero Place has been making quite a name for itself locally and regionally in the last few years. Despite getting its start during a time it seemed the whole world was coming to…

By Greg Carlsongregcarlson1@gmail.com Writer-director Nicole Riegel’s sophomore feature “Dandelion” is now playing in theaters following a world premiere at South by Southwest in March. The movie stars KiKi Layne as the…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comIn 1974, the Jamestown Arts Center started as a small space above a downtown drugstore. It has grown to host multiple classrooms, a gallery, performance studio, ceramic studio and outdoor art park.…

By John Showalterjohn.d.showalter@gmail.comHigh Plains Reader had the opportunity to interview two mysterious new game show hosts named Milt and Bradley Barker about an upcoming event they will be putting on at Brewhalla. What…

By Annie Prafckeannieprafcke@gmail.com AUSTIN, Texas – As a Chinese-American, connecting to my culture through food is essential, and no dish brings me back to my mother’s kitchen quite like hotdish. Yes, you heard me right –…

By Sabrina Hornungsabrina@hpr1.comNew Jamestown Brewery Serves up Local FlavorThere’s something delicious brewing out here on the prairie and it just so happens to be the newest brewery west of the Red River and east of the…

By Josette Ciceronunapologeticallyanxiousme@gmail.com What does it mean to truly live in a community —or should I say, among community? It’s a question I have been wrestling with since I moved to Fargo-Moorhead in February 2022.…

Rynn WillgohsJanuary 25, 1972-October 8, 2024 Rynn Azerial Willgohs, age 52, of Vantaa, Finland, died by suicide on October 8, 2024. Rynn became her true-self March 31, 2020. She immediately became a vocal and involved activist…

By Curtis W. Stofferahn, Ph.D.Curtis.stofferahn@email.und.edu In June, two events markedly contrasted the difference between two different visions of agriculture: precision agriculture and regenerative agriculture. The dedication…