Paul Bartel

Eating Raoul

Eating Raoul

A sleeper hit of the early 1980s, Eating Raoul is a bawdy, gleefully amoral tale of conspicuous consumption. Warhol superstar Mary Woronov and cult legend Paul Bartel (who also directed) portray a prudish married couple who feel put upon by the swingers living in their apartment building. One night, by accident, they discover a way to simultaneously rid themselves of the “perverts” down the hall and realize their dream of opening a restaurant. A mix of hilarious, anything-goes slapstick and biting satire of me-generation self-indulgence, Eating Raoul marked the end of the sexual revolution with a thwack.

Film Info

  • United States
  • 1982
  • 83 minutes
  • Color
  • 1.78:1
  • English
  • Spine #625

Special Features

  • New, restored digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Gary Thieltges, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Audio commentary featuring screenwriter Richard Blackburn, production designer Robert Schulenberg, and editor Alan Toomayan
  • The Secret Cinema (1966) and Naughty Nurse (1969), two short films by director Paul Bartel
  • Cooking Up “Raoul,” a new documentary about the making of the film, featuring interviews with stars Mary Woronov, Robert Beltran, and Edie McClurg
  • Gag reel of outtakes from the film
  • Archival interview with Bartel and Woronov
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A new essay by film critic David Ehrenstein

    New cover by Eric Skillman

Purchase Options

Special Features

  • New, restored digital transfer, supervised by director of photography Gary Thieltges, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
  • Audio commentary featuring screenwriter Richard Blackburn, production designer Robert Schulenberg, and editor Alan Toomayan
  • The Secret Cinema (1966) and Naughty Nurse (1969), two short films by director Paul Bartel
  • Cooking Up “Raoul,” a new documentary about the making of the film, featuring interviews with stars Mary Woronov, Robert Beltran, and Edie McClurg
  • Gag reel of outtakes from the film
  • Archival interview with Bartel and Woronov
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: A new essay by film critic David Ehrenstein

    New cover by Eric Skillman
Eating Raoul
Cast
Mary Woronov
Mary Bland
Paul Bartel
Paul Bland
Robert Beltran
Raoul Mendoza
Ed Begley Jr.
Hippie
Edie McClurg
Swinger in fur
Buck Henry
Mr. Leech, the bank manager
Susan Saiger
Doris the dominatrix
Credits
Director
Paul Bartel
Written by
Richard Blackburn
Written by
Paul Bartel
Director of photography
Gary Thieltges
Production designer
Robert Schulenberg
Editor
Alan Toomayan
Producer
Anne Kimmel

Current

Eating Raoul: Murder Most Delicious
Eating Raoul: Murder Most Delicious

Countercultural icons Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov makes square subversive in Bartel’s cult classic.

By David Ehrenstein

​Jon Dieringer’s Top 10
​Jon Dieringer’s Top 10

The founder of the website Screen Slate picks a selection of favorites, including an ’80s indie gem, shockers ranging from Eraserhead to Canoa, and two films that capture the “twilit feeling of childhood.”

Keegan McHargue’s Top 10
Keegan McHargue’s Top 10

Keegan McHargue is a painter whose work has been exhibited throughout the world and draws on many facets of culture, with a particular affinity for film.

Criterion Tube: There’s Something About Mary
Criterion Tube: There’s Something About Mary
Mary Woronov first hit the scene as a Warhol superstar. (A great clip of her in a screen test for Warhol is a subject for a whole other post.) In honor of the release of Paul Bartel’s Eating Raoul, which Mary stars in, here she is intervi…

By Mary Manning