Troika (1969 film)

A seemingly crazed Chef (Hobbs) in ritualistic face paint appears to be in the process of crafting an alchemical brew within a large vat, with various items such as war medals and emblems thrown into the bubbling brew. Nearby, a homunculus fashioned out of cloths lies still as the Chef uses pieces of it as ingredients for the potion. Still not satisfied with the brew's current state, the Chef introduces a woman (Gloria Rossi), covered in similar ritualistically painted symbols, they both dance to a tango before he tosses her into the vat. Picking up a rose dropped by the woman, the Chef gazes at it for a short while before tossing it into the vat.

Functioning as an "expressionist documentary" of student demonstrations within the late 1960s. The sequence opens in the midst of a sit-in on a college campus while police mounted on horseback amass outside. Within the classroom, students covered in white face paint recline upon toilet seats and chaise longues in place of chairs, various college professors present their lessons to the students, who view them with downcast emotions. After six individual professors complete their lecture to the crowd, the frustrated students boo their dunce-capped teacher out of the classroom as the segment ends.

The segment opens with an old-west-style train stopping at a grassy landscape to let off its passengers. Exiting the train, a tall insect-like humanoid named Rax (Morgan Upton) soon embarks on a trek across the area into the coastal hills nearby. Shortly after making his way there, Rax is brutally attacked by a feral Warrior (Parra O'Siochain) who beats him with a stone ax and leaves Rax for dead. Severely injured, Rax staggers onto a beach where he collapses and convulses in pain as an orange-colored woman (Rossi) emerges from the ocean, pushing a large sculpture with her. Upon viewing the injured Rax, the woman turns her attention to him, caressing his wounds and eventually masturbating in front of him.

The segment abruptly cuts to a seemingly rejuvenated Rax entering an ice-covered cave where he encounters a seven-foot-tall shaman known as the Attenuated Man (Nate Thurmond). Addressing Rax in Arabic, the Attenuated Man induces a vision of three thieves (a sculpture depicting three corpse-like beings) who emerge from the ceiling of the cave. Dispersed throughout the segment is a procession of the title "Blue People" as they proceed across an otherworldly countryside accompanied by a strange vehicle. At this point, the segment cuts from the cave, as Rax, alongside the Attenuated Man, joins the Blue people who embrace him as their "savior". The procession escorts Rax in regal splendor as they march through a "ghost town", sparsely populated by Blue and Purple people before they arrive at a railway terminal. There Rax bids the group goodbye as he boards the same train he departed from at the beginning, and the segment ends with a shot of Rax as it merges with the Three Thieves.

Troika was written, directed, and produced by Hobbs beginning in early 1969. Hobbs had studied at Cornell University, graduating in 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts in History. After serving as a United States Air Force Officer in the Korean War, he maintained a studio in Madrid where he attended the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando before eventually moving to California.[6][7] After producing a series of acclaimed art pieces throughout the late 1950s and early 1960s, Hobbs collaborated with filmmakers Ron Bostwick and Robert Blaisdell in 1967 on a thirty-minute short documentary titled Trojan Horse,[6][8][9] which served as a showcase of an art piece of the same name.[10] While working on the project, Hobbs became fascinated with film as an artistic medium and began to develop the concept for his own potential film, which he described as a "modern morality play".[8][11] While developing the film, Hobbs structured the film around three different stories that were threaded around a central storyline involving a fictional version of himself attempting to gain financing for the film. The film's title, Troika, was chosen as it refers to the Russian word тройка, meaning 'a set of three', referencing the three overlapping stories.[12] The film was partially financed by Hobbs and the independent production company Inca Films.[11][13]

The film's genre was categorized by media outlets at the time of the film's release as a "comedy" or "art film".[14][15] Troika incorporates several different narratives and genres for each segment. Hobbs intentionally crafted each segment for the film as a series of increasingly bizarre shorts, with the final segment being the one he later took the most satisfaction from.[8] For the "Alma Mater" segment, shot in the narrative style of a documentary, Hobbs reportedly took his inspiration from the Kent State riots,[5] which occurred in 1967 and later in April 1969.[16]

Troika's cast was composed of unknown performers, several of whose only acting credit was the film. Hobbs, also starred in the film as a fictional version of himself in addition to the characters of the "Chef" and "Fantom".[17] San Francisco-based basketball player Nate Thurmond, of the Golden State Warriors, was hired to portray the mystical Attenuated Man in the final segment of the film;[4][5] as one commentator described his role as a Christ-like figure.[18] Morgan Upton, later known for his roles as Wally Henderson in The Candidate (1972)[19] and Mr. Gilfond in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986),[20] starred in the film as Rax, the Bug-Man.[4][5]

Members of the San Francisco Art Institute provided additional credits for other characters in the film, such as the students in the "Alma Mater" sequence, and the Blue/Purple People in the final sequence.[3][4] Some of the Blue people in the marching sequence were student activists of the UC Berkeley School of Law, who volunteered for small parts in the film.[5]^: 359

Facilities at the San Francisco Art Institute were used as one of the film's shooting locations

Principal photography began in early-mid 1969, with Gordon Mueller in addition to his duties as the film's editor, stepping in to help direct certain scenes when Hobbs was on camera.[5]

Photographer-turned-filmmaker William Heick was hired as Troika's cinematographer. Heick was a close friend of Hobbs, and had previously worked with avant-garde filmmaker Sidney Peterson on various short films between 1948 and 1953.[8] The "Chef" sequence was shot inside a local brewery, where Hobbs was given permission to shoot, with the crew also utilizing their brewer's vat as a stand-in for the chef's alchemy pot.[5]^: 358 For the "Alma Mater" sequence, Hobbs utilized the faculty at the San Francisco Art Institute, with the San Francisco Examiner reporting that additional filming locations took place in Hillsborough, California.[21] The documentary footage depicted in the segment was shot during the 1960s Berkeley protests.[14] Scenes of the ghost town in the final "Blue People" sequence were filmed in the Collinsville, California, while the "otherworldly" landscape was shot in the outskirts of the town where a brush fire had recently occurred. The student activists portraying the Blue People during the marching sequence were extensively drilled by Hobbs to march in step.[5]^: 359 Hobbs had originally intended to include a sequence involving Thurmond's character as he runs alongside the skyline. The scene was filmed at Fort Cronkhite, but was shortly abandoned after Hobbs claimed that during the take the military began firing a Nike missile's as an artillery exercise, ruining the shot.[22]

In addition to the costume designs, all of the art pieces shown throughout the film were created by Hobbs, with his previous works such as Trojan Horse and Three Thieves sculptures making special appearances in the film. Hobbs also worked closely with co-director Mueller in order to create the film's soundtrack, which Throwernoted as echoing the works of avante-garde composer La Monte Young.[5]^: 359

Troika received a preview screening on October 12, 1969.[18] Artwork and sculptures created for the film were exhibited at the John Bolles Gallery in San Francisco, California on November 8 that same year,[21] and the film had its official premiere in New York City on November 21.[3] It was also screened at the Granada Theater in Wilmington, California on November 28, receiving doubling-billing alongside John Perry's short film Dandelion (1969).[23] During its release, some theaters advertised it with the caption "Means Three",[24] a translation of the Russian name the title was based on.[12]

In 1979, Troika had brief airings on television in the United Kingdom and Canada.[25][26][27]

Promotional poster for the film for the Weird Weekend Cult Film Festival

Troika has never been released on home video,[8] as Hobbs refused to grant any distribution rights for the film, as he later told Thrower that he was still not satisfied with the current version of the film and had been continuously editing the film.[8] Up to his death in 2018, Hobbs continued to deny any and all attempts to release the film, with the only known print of the film residing in Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives.[28][29]

After being considered unobtainable for many years, it was announced in October 2022,[30] that the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, working in collaboration with Hobbs' estate, had acquired a print of the film and had begun restoration attempts at the American Genre Film Archive.[29] Troika was screened for the first time in over fifty years at the Weird Weekend Cult Film Festival on October 28, 2022, with the screening accompanied by an introductory presentation by Stephen Thrower.[31] As of 2023 there have been no further screenings of the film.