Bad Charleston Charlie

Bad Charleston Charlie
Style A US movie poster
Directed by	Ivan Nagy
Produced by	Ross Hagen
Written by	Ross Hagen Ivan Nagy
Starring	Ross Hagen Kelly Thordsen Hoke Howell Dal Jenkins Carmen Zapata John Carradine
Music by	Luchi De Jesus
Cinematography	Michael Neyman
Edited by	Richard Garritt Walter A. Thompson
Distributed by	International Cinema Corp.
Release date	1973
Running time	90 minutes
Language	English

Bad Charleston Charlie is a 1973 comedy film written by and starring cult actor Ross Hagen and directed by Ivan Nagy. The film, rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America, was distributed by International Cinema Corporation. The film is loosely based on the life and death of 1920s gangster Charles Birger. Poorly received by both critics and audiences, the film has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray Disc.

Set during the 1920s in the Midwestern United States, the movie revolves around two coal miners, Charlie Jacobs (Ross Hagen) and Thad (Kelly Thordsen), who decide to follow a life a crime like their role model, Al Capone. Jacobs adopts the gangster persona "Bad Charleston Charlie", an anachronistic reference to the 1962 song "Charleston Charlie". The duo has to deal with forming a gang, learn to handle "wild women", bribe corrupt officials, and battle rival gangs plus the Ku Klux Klan. They find that they are no better at being gangsters than they were at mining coal. The film features a cameo from legendary actor John Carradine as a drunken reporter.

The film's advertising tagline was "The most desperate gang of all...ALMOST!"

Also appearing in the film were Jon Dalk, Claire Hagen, Paul Gregory White, Robert Lockhart, Karen Anders, Randy Proctor, Lenny Geer, Ivan Nagy, Suzanne Kent, Rose Barton, Richard Lockmiller, Noel De Souza, Leo Rousseau, and Warhol "superstar" Ultra Violet.

Bad Charleston Charlie was directed by Hungarian still photographer Ivan Nagy and produced by Ross Hagen. The independent film was produced through a joint venture between Triforum Inc., a company wholly owned by Hagen and Nagy, and Studio 9 Productions. The production encountered financing problems when, in May 1972, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against Studio 9 Productions, Bad Charleston Charlie Associates, and others for "violations of the registration and anti-fraud provisions of the Federal securities laws in connection with the offer and sale of Studio 9 Productions common stock and Bad Charleston limited partnership interests." On June 5, 1972, Bad Charleston Charlie Associates and Studio 9 Productions "consented to a finding" (without admitting guilt) that they had violated Federal law and they accepted a final judgment of permanent injunction against future such sales.