Documentarian Frederick Wiseman told the 15 Oct 1967 NYT that he was inspired to make the film while teaching criminal law at Boston University in 1965. After taking several classes on field trips to the Bridgewater Hospital for the Criminally Insane, he was granted permission to film there, with a recommendation from MA Lieutenant Governor Elliot L. Richardson, according to the 18 Oct 1967 NYT. State Attorney General Edward M. Brooke offered a legal opinion on Wiseman’s proposal, stating that the picture “might be made if the rights of the inmates were protected.” According to the 8 Mar 1972 Var, filming at the facility took place during Apr and Jun of 1966. The resulting documentary was titled Titicut Follies after the hospital’s annual inmate talent show (“Titicut” is the Native American name for the area surrounding Bridgewater, MA).
       On 27 Sep 1967, NYT reported that Richardson, now the state’s attorney general, filed a petition to prevent the picture from being screened the following evening at the New York Film Festival. The petition alleged that the documentary contained footage of inmates who were not mentally competent to give releases, and that Wiseman violated an agreement to obtain “official approval” before showing the film. Wiseman, who was also an attorney, stated that his actions were consistent with the agreement.
       Following its debut at the festival, Titicut Follies began a six-day engagement at the Cinema Rendezvous in New York City on 3 Oct 1967. The 4 Oct 1967 Var described the picture as “frightening, horrifying, pulverizing,” and the 7 Sep 1967 NYT claimed that it made “‘Marat/Sade’ look like ‘Holiday on Ice’.” The 15 Nov 1967 Var reported that the National Board of Review condemned the picture as an attempt to exploit human suffering. The article also quoted the Jesuit periodical, America, which argued that Wiseman wrongly focused all his attention on Bridgewater’s “Ward F with its chambers of horrors,” while ignoring the more progressive Ward K, where inmates received proper treatment and rehabilitation.
       Meanwhile, the 4 Oct 1967 Var announced that a newly-formed film subsidiary of Grove Press, Titicut Follies Distributing Company, acquired distribution rights. The article noted that the six-day theatrical run was arranged as part of Wiseman’s legal defense.
       The 18 Oct 1967 Var reported that members of the MA State Legislature viewed the film one day earlier, but seemed to express more concern over how Wiseman gained access to the hospital, rather than addressing the abuses they witnessed on screen. Wiseman denied one legislator’s accusation that he used hidden cameras, adding that more than 100 inmates signed release forms.
       The 1 Dec 1967 NYT reported that guards at the Bridgewater facility filed an injunction against Grove Press, Titicut Follies Distribution, and F. and A. Theaters, Inc., alleging the film was “obscene and an invasion of their privacy.” A federal court ruled against the guards, saying the documentary was an accurate portrayal of conditions at the hospital, and Wiseman was protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. One month later, however, the 5 Jan 1968 NYT reported that an MA Superior Court banned any further public performances of the picture, and ordered the destruction of all “footage, prints, negatives and sound tapes.” No decision was made on the “disposition of profits” as four of the hospital guards had pending civil suits against Grove Press and Titicut Follies Distribution. According to the 19 Jun 1968 Var, Grove refused to respond to the Superior Court, claiming it had no right to destroy the film. An article in the 25 Jun 1968 NYT revealed that the case went to the MA Supreme Court, which ruled that the documentary was a “massive unrestrained invasion of the intimate lives of the patients,” and could only be screened as an educational tool for certain public employees and members of the legal, medical, and mental health professions.
       More than a year later, the 1 Oct 1969 Var reported that thirty-five Bridgewater inmates, the majority of whom had since been released, were suing Wiseman, along with Grove and two other entities, for $5.6 million, alleging their right to privacy was violated. According to the 8 Mar 1972 Var, the Suffolk County, MA, Superior Court ruled in Wiseman’s favor, saying that conditions at the hospital were a matter of public interest. Wiseman unsuccessfully petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to allow public screenings of the film, as noted in the 16 Jun 1970 NYT. On 1 Mar 1972, Var revealed that Wiseman filed suit against Grove Press, demanding a full accounting and payment of revenues from public showings, a dissolution of their distribution agreement, and $17,500 in damages.
       Despite the legal troubles surrounding the picture, it was screened sporadically over the next several years, including Germany’s 1967 International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg, where it won first prize, the 1968 Festival dei Popoli in Florence, Italy (3 Apr 1968 Var), the Unicorn Theatre in La Jolla, CA (14 Mar 1969 LAT), and the 1972 Chicago International Film Festival (1 Nov 1972 Var).
       An article in the 27 Dec 1967 Var noted that director Richard Fleischer and producer Robert Fryer encountered a lack of cooperation from Boston authorities during the production of The Boston Strangler (1968, see entry). They suspected that the controversy over Titicut Follies had made city officials wary of filmmakers in general.
       The 21 May 1980 Var announced the picture’s first MA showing at Boston’s Saxony Theatre, during the Sack theater chain’s Jubilee 350 festival. Because advertising for the event included the warning, “Shown under terms of the restraining order,” all who attended the sold-out performance claimed to be mental health professionals. A preliminary investigation was currently underway by the MA Attorney General, although no notice had been served on theater management.
       The 12 Aug 1987 Var reported that Wiseman petitioned the Suffolk County Superior Court to lift the restraining order. His request was granted four years later, as stated in the 5 Aug 1991 issue. Titicut Follies had its first official public showing in MA at the Boston Film Festival in Sep 1991. The following month, it opened the American Film Institute USA Independent Showcase in Los Angeles, CA. The 6 Jan 1992 Var noted that the picture was cited by the Boston Society of Film Critics as a “best discovery/rediscovery.”