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Released by: Facets
Released on: 1/25/2005
Director: Sam Green
Cast: Rollen Stewart
Year: 1997
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The Movie:
The Rainbow Man/John 3:16 is a look at the rise and fall of (Rock N) Rollen Stewart, also known as the Rainbow Man. The film begins with some brief biographical information on Stewart, from his humble beginnings in various jobs as well as his personal relationships as he grew up.
Stewart was just another nobody until he started to get national attention on television when he started to dress in bad leisure suits and/or loin clothes and a rainbow afro wig at various basketball and football games around the country. It didn't take long for the fame to go to his head and soon he was living in his car and studying TV Guides so that he could get to as many games as possible in order to get more time in the spotlight. He got to be amazingly popular when you think about what it was that he was actually doing, and even got the chance to appear in a beer commercial. Stewart was an odd man, and he also liked to smoke a lot of the wacky tobacky.
In the lates seventies, Rollen gave up the Rainbow Man persona and found God while watching a TV show called Today In Bible Prophecy on television. Once he was born again he began appearing at football games not in the Rainbow Man suit, but with attention grabbing signs that simply stated “John 3:16†(“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting lifeâ€).
As Rollen's fundamentalism became more and more consuming his grip on reality started to slip. Soon he decided that it would be up to him to save people in time for the coming end times, and he started acting stranger and stranger. He soon hooked up with a born again school teacher named Margarey Hockridge and the two got married and hit the road in a van, going from event to event to hold up their signs. In 1990, Margaret realized her husband might be a little off and filed for divorce.
A couple of years later, Rollen was staying in a hotel in Los Angeles and decided that he'd take the maid hostage, covering his windows in his religious placards in an attempt to get his word out across national television to as many people as possible. He was arrested, the cleaning lady unharmed, and he remains in prison to this day.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The feature is presented in a nice, fullframe presentation which maintains the film's original aspect ratio. As should be expected, some of the archival footage looks a little worse for wear but the newly shot interview footage looks just fine and overall there aren't any serious issues with the image quality on this DVD. It was shot on Beta SP and so it does have a little bit of the softness sometimes associated with shot on video productions, but nothing too serious.
The audio fares just as well as the video does. Sometimes the age of the archival material manifests itself in the form of some mild hiss or distortion but the English language Dolby Digital Stereo track is fine for the most part. Dialogue is always easy to understand and background music is nicely balanced against the rest of the soundscape.
The extras on this DVD include a trio of short films also directed by Sam Green: Pie Fight 69, The Fabulous Stains: Beyond The Movie, and N Judah 5:30. There's also a trailer for The Weather Underground included on the disc. While these shorts are interesting and worth checking out once, I'd have preferred to have seen more extras relating to the feature itself.
The Final Word:
The Rainbow Man/John 3:16 is an interesting look at a very strange man whose media obsession definitely got way out of control. While it could have been a little longer and gone into more biographical detail, it remains an appealing film that gives you a well rounded look at Rollen Stewart's life and times.