His misplaced ambition and passion for life burned a trail of insanity and wide eyed beauty that's been followed by such contemporary icons as Crispin Glover and Andy Kaufman. Carey once scaled the wall of 20th Century Fox Studios in a full suit of armor, trying to get a part in the 1954 film Prince Valiant; he was kicked in the ribs by Karl Malden and stabbed with a pen by Marlon Brando during the making of 1961's One Eyed Jacks; he shot himself in the head with a blank, just to get some attention during a live stage performance; Richard Widmark beat him up on the set of 1956's The Last Wagon; he faked his own kidnapping and ransom note during the filming of Paths of Glory, just to get some press; he pulled a gun from his lunch box on the set of the Godfather II and shot Coppola (with blanks of course); he brought John Cassavetes over to his house, put him in a dog attack suit and let three rotweilers attack him, all without telling Cassavetes what was going on, yelling words of encouragement from the next room, "It's not you they hate, it's the suit!!!" Through all of this, and much, much, much more, he always remained true to the world he most definitely helped create and flourish, the underground. Timothy Carey was one of the only actors Stanley Kubrick ever allowed and trusted to improvise at the drop of a hat. He turned down a big part in the Godfather because he felt the money he'd make would destroy his ability to properly pursue his own art. And John Cassavetes once said that Carey's film The World's Greatest Sinner 'had the brilliance of Einstein'.

The World's Greatest Sinner

Film is still such an open and undefined form of expression. In film there are many different techniques, different ways of conveying feeling and ideas, different methods of presenting visual composition and story structure. The best part is that most of these techniques haven't even been used or thought of. This is what makes movies so interesting and what makes them a legitimate art from, and a constant challenge for the film artist. Unfortunately, most participates in the film industry don't take these things into account. Most filmmakers use what's already there and recycle, coating their canvas with diluted colors, borrowed invention and artificial inspiration. Well, when I think about all of the half-assed movies I've seen throughout my life, all I can say is, thank God for The World's Greatest Sinner!

Timothy Carey began crafting his one and only fully realized moment of personal celluloid brilliance in 1956 in El Monte California, where he lived most of his adult life. He shot The World's Greatest Sinner with his own money, the final budget running around $100,000. He shot it mainly in his El Monte home and on the city streets. He used people off of the streets of El Monte and got a young man, an unknown musician named Frank Zappa to do the soundtrack. Reportedly, Zappa begged Carey to do it. Carey told Zappa, you come up with the music and you got it. This was Zappa's big break in music, the start of a long and illustrious career. (Just for the record, soon after Sinner's completion Zappa went on the Steve Allen show and referred to it as "the world's worst movie". This remark rings of a true idiot and ingrate if you ask me. In fact, I find it rather ironic that Zappa's entire persona in the world of music can be traced back to The World's Greatest Sinner, right down to Zappa's running for president).

The story of Sinner remains one of the most prophetic and groundbreaking in film. It's the story of Clarence Hilliard, a man who's tired of his every day, hum-drum life. He's an insurance salesman with a beautiful family, a Mexican gardener and a horse. One night, he stumbles across a rock n' roll show happening near his home. He becomes so moved by the music and dancing that he heads home and turns over a new leaf. He decides that he's God, he changes his name to God Hilliard and starts a rock n' roll band. He travels the country in a gold lamae suit or a black suit jacket with gold God embroidered on the sleeves, working crowds into a frenzy! He preaches his gospel and develops a cult of rabid Followers. He tells his Followers, who wear nazi like armbands with an F on it (F for follower), that there is only one God and that God is man. His Followers riot and destroy city streets while God seduces an old lady for cash and runs for president. He has sex with fourteen-year-old girls and slaps his 8-year-old daughter in the face when she begs him to accept Jesus. He forces one of his Followers to commit suicide when he begins to stray from God's teachings. He challenges the real God to a fight to the death and eventually has that battle in the films final, a mind-melting moment of brilliant insanity and over the top artistic realization. The World's Greatest Sinner makes other so-called groundbreaking films seem like a joke. Carey's creation, his canvas, his brainchild is quite possibly the most awesome and inspiring depth charge ever put on film.