Town Bloody Hall 
Directed by Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker
1979/US
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube
I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.” Rebecca West
Normal Mailer does battle in a debate with four founding mothers of the women’s liberation movement and a hostile crowd. A good time is had by all. This film was released in 1979 but the debate it captures took place in 1971 during the heady first days of women’s liberation. Some of the rhetoric is pretty out there.
Mailer’s opponents were authors Germaine Greer, Jill Johnston and Doris Lessing, and President of the National Organization of Women Jacqueline Ceballos.
For all the heat and harsh words used at times in the conversation there were plenty of wit and laughter too. Norman Mailer held his own pretty well.
