Rip Torn v. Norman Mailer in the final (attempted) assassination scene in Mailer’s film Maidstone. Cinema verite gone wrong? Overzealous adlibbing with a hammer? A suspiciously well-mic’d throat-grabbing brawl?
The best part about finding this clip is that I heard about it on the Nerdist podcast from Jon Hamm. Jon Hamm talking about Norman Mailer fighting Rip Torn because he found it interesting: Score another point for Mr. Hamm. Who I think might have seen it at Dangerous Minds (giving credit where I imagine credit is due).
Don’t miss the part where Mailer bites a chunk out of Rip Torn’s ear, decades ahead of Mike Tyson.
