Ep. 18: Musical Mutiny

Hey everybody! It's a mutiny!

And just what is a musical mutiny? Well...it's a free concert. Orchestrated by the ghost of a pirate. At Pirates World amusement park in Dania Beach, FL in 1970, featuring Iron Butterfly performing In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. The whole song.

And this psychedelic musical journey is part of the Pirates World cinematic universe! If you recall from our last episode on Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny, we introduced you to Pirates World, a wildly ambitious amusement park in Florida that produced a bunch of low-budget films in the late 60's and early 70's. This film is directed by Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny's producer, Barry Mahon, and in this episode we're digging into his history as a flying ace in World War II, as well as taking this bizarre film and putting its commentary on hippie culture and capitalism under the microscope.

Cassie considers how the film may have been influenced by the Manson murders. Ryan provides a detailed history of pioneer log flumes and uses that to draw a critical connection between French aristocracy and this film's prescient commentary on musical conglomerates. During Thoughts From Letterboxd we consider what statement the climatic lemonade stand scene could be trying to make, and discuss solipsism and how it could be the key to true freedom.

So come travel back in time with us to groovy Dania Beach for the biggest mutiny in amusement park history! Probably. This bonkers concert film is a one-of-a-kind experience that you can find for free on YouTube! And, seriously, if you watch it, you better really like Iron Butterfly.

Musical Mutiny
Directed by Barry Mahon
1970, United States

Incredibly Strange Video is produced and edited by Ryan Quinn and Cassie Kay. Follow us on Bluesky @isvpodcast.bsky.social for updates on the newest episodes!

Theme music:
The End by EVA
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0

All excerpts from the films discussed are used for educational and critical purposes only.