Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers
| image = Flower Films Presents Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers and Other Films by Les Blank (1980 poster).jpg
| alt =
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = Les Blank
| producer = Les Blank{{cite web|title=Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (1980) - Cast, Credits & Awards|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/19252/Garlic-Is-as-Good-as-Ten-Mothers/details|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150710185411/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/19252/Garlic-Is-as-Good-as-Ten-Mothers/details|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 July 2015|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|date=2015|access-date=7 July 2015}}
| writer =
| screenplay =
| story =
| based_on =
| starring =
| narrator =
| music =
| cinematography =
| editing =
| released = {{film date|1980}}
| country = United States
| language =
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers is a 1980 documentary film about garlic directed by Les Blank. Its official premiere was at the 1980 Berlin Film Festival.
Production
It was filmed at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California, as well as in other locations in Northern California. The director recommends that, when the film is shown, a toaster oven containing several heads of garlic be turned on in the rear of the theater, unbeknownst to the audience, with the intended result that approximately halfway through the showing the entire theater will be filled with the smell of garlic.{{cite news| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18754-2005Mar8.html| title = Food Filmmaker Les Blank Puts The Scent In Cinema (washingtonpost.com)| newspaper = The Washington Post| archive-date = 2017-05-06| access-date = 2017-08-28| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170506100212/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18754-2005Mar8.html| url-status = live}}
The title is a shortened form of the saying "Garlic is as good as ten mothers... for keeping the girls away."{{cite web|url=http://www.indiewire.com/2014/11/the-essentials-7-films-you-should-know-from-acclaimed-documentarian-les-blank-269720/|work=IndieWire|title=The Essentials: 7 Films You Should Know From Acclaimed Documentarian Les Blank|date=26 November 2014}}
Reception and legacy
Robert Taylor for the Oakland Tribune called the film "an intoxicating mixture of food and music, serious and comic styles."{{cite news|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|last=Taylor|first=Robert|title='Tasteful' film that's good for what ails you (as Mom used to say)|page=C-1|date=April 24, 1980|via=Newspapers.com}}
In 2004, the film was selected for preservation in the United States' National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."{{Cite web|title=Librarian of Congress Adds 25 Films to National Film Registry|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-04-215/films-added-to-national-film-registry-for-2004/2004-12-28/|access-date=2020-10-02|website=Library of Congress|archive-date=2017-01-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107050232/https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-04-215/films-added-to-national-film-registry-for-2004/2004-12-28/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing|url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|access-date=2020-10-02|website=Library of Congress|archive-date=2016-03-05|archive-url=https://archive.today/20160305191832/https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|url-status=live}} The Academy Film Archive preserved Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers in 1999.{{cite web|title=Preserved Projects|url=http://www.oscars.org/academy-film-archive/preserved-projects?title=&filmmaker=Les+Blank&category=All&collection=All|website=Academy Film Archive|access-date=2016-08-10|archive-date=2023-04-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230403235842/https://www.oscars.org/academy-film-archive/preserved-projects?title=&filmmaker=les+blank&category=All&collection=All|url-status=live}}
In Blank's 1982 film Burden of Dreams, a documentary chronicling the filming of Fitzcarraldo, director Werner Herzog and other crew members can be seen wearing "Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers" T-shirts.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|id=0080776|title=Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers}}
- {{TCMDb title|id=511652}}
- [http://www.lesblank.com/?portfolio=garlic-is-as-good-as-ten-mothers-1980 Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers page] from Les Blank site
- Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 {{ISBN|0826429777}}, pages 763-764 [https://books.google.com/books?id=deq3xI8OmCkC]
{{Les Blank}}
{{Allium}}
Category:American documentary films
Category:United States National Film Registry films
Category:Films directed by Les Blank
Category:1980 documentary films