Fritz Junker(I)
- Writer
- Producer
Fritz Junker is an American film producer and writer, best known for his 2001 cult-classic short film, "The Truth About Beef Jerky". The campy satire portrays an outdoors-man who looks and behaves suspiciously like rock-n-roller Ted Nugent, who along with a group of other rabid sportsman are luring unsuspecting, young "lifestyle" hippies from downtown Santa Cruz, California, to a phony music festival only to be hunted for sport and processed into beef jerky.
The 35mm, 25-minute film was submitted into the post-911 Sundance Film Festival as a pilot for a feature-length version, only to be turned down due to its sensitive content. Junker was known to have recruited actual hippies from Santa Cruz, by going undercover as a hippie sympathizer, and gathering approximately 50 youths for the primary hippie hunting scenes. All but a few of the stony youths were unaware of the film's actual plot, instead being told that their "lifestyle" was being captured for a documentary about American counter culture. During the film's 2002 Santa Cruz debut, there was a hippie protest of the film, which played perfectly into Junker's marketing strategies.
In 2007, Junker filed a lawsuit against David Arquette and Cortney Cox, alleging that their film production company Coquette Productions had plagiarized his short film in their 2007 theatrical release, "The Tripper". In the film, a man wearing a Ronald Reagan mask was luring young hippies to his music festival to be hunted down in cold blood. The Coquette film was brazenly shot at the exact same California state park lodge where Junker and his team has filmed their short film 6 years prior, and contained many scenes and themes substantially similar to The Truth About Beef Jerky. Junker ultimate dropped the lawsuit, when an LA circuit judge granted Coquette Production's request that Junker place $75,000 into escrow as a defense against what they felt was a frivolous lawsuit.
The Truth About Beef Jerky ran the film festival circuit for a couple of years after its Santz Cruz debut, gathering a dedicated cult following. Ted Nugent, upon whom the film's lead protagonist, "Count Nugent" was based was provided a copy of the film by Junker after its release. He was quoted as saying "I laughed so hard, I nearly gave birth to a bloody stool-baby."
The 35mm, 25-minute film was submitted into the post-911 Sundance Film Festival as a pilot for a feature-length version, only to be turned down due to its sensitive content. Junker was known to have recruited actual hippies from Santa Cruz, by going undercover as a hippie sympathizer, and gathering approximately 50 youths for the primary hippie hunting scenes. All but a few of the stony youths were unaware of the film's actual plot, instead being told that their "lifestyle" was being captured for a documentary about American counter culture. During the film's 2002 Santa Cruz debut, there was a hippie protest of the film, which played perfectly into Junker's marketing strategies.
In 2007, Junker filed a lawsuit against David Arquette and Cortney Cox, alleging that their film production company Coquette Productions had plagiarized his short film in their 2007 theatrical release, "The Tripper". In the film, a man wearing a Ronald Reagan mask was luring young hippies to his music festival to be hunted down in cold blood. The Coquette film was brazenly shot at the exact same California state park lodge where Junker and his team has filmed their short film 6 years prior, and contained many scenes and themes substantially similar to The Truth About Beef Jerky. Junker ultimate dropped the lawsuit, when an LA circuit judge granted Coquette Production's request that Junker place $75,000 into escrow as a defense against what they felt was a frivolous lawsuit.
The Truth About Beef Jerky ran the film festival circuit for a couple of years after its Santz Cruz debut, gathering a dedicated cult following. Ted Nugent, upon whom the film's lead protagonist, "Count Nugent" was based was provided a copy of the film by Junker after its release. He was quoted as saying "I laughed so hard, I nearly gave birth to a bloody stool-baby."