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The Pez Outlaw
Sep. 16th, 2022 08:25 amThe Pez Outlaw, directed by Amy Bandlien Storkel and Bryan Storkel, is a truth-is-stranger-than-fiction documentary about a man who made a fortune importing Pez dispensers from Europe the US in the early 1990s, only to be brought low through the machinations of the president of Pez America, a.k.a. The Pezident.
(Yes, it was absolutely the word Pezident that tipped me over into driving all the way down to Bloomington to see this. Pezident. Pezident.)
At the time, Pez had two almost completely separate branches: Pez International, which designed and sold Pez dispensers across the globe, except in America, where Pez America controlled which Pez dispensers were sold. This meant that international Pez dispensers were a rare commodity in America, and American collectors would pay big bucks for them.
When Steven Glew realized this, he began to fly to Europe to buy Pez dispensers directly from the factories, many of which were in former Soviet satellite states desperate for hard American currency. He went through customs with duffle bags full of Pez dispensers, which should have been illegal… except that Pez (like, apparently, many other companies) had not realized that they needed to register their trademark not only with the trademark office but also with customs for import laws to be enforced at the border.
The former Pez marketing director interviewed for the film does a visible double take when the filmmakers tell him that. As a marketing director, that was of course of his hands anyway… but the company had big fancy lawyers who were supposed to take care of this! How could they miss such a crucial step?
The story is delightfully bonkers, and the filmmakers up the ante by filming certain sequences in stylized aesthetic: a Willy Wonka look for the factories, a film noir feel for Glew’s cat and mouse games with the Pezident’s private detectives. (“I don’t think anyone was really following me,” he comments at one point, rather doubtfully. The filmmakers, who have been talking to people at Pez and know all the deets: “What if I told you that someone was following you?” Glew crows with delight at having his paranoia proven accurate.)
Simply a delight. The filmmakers were clearly having a wonderful time with the sheer zaniness of the story.
(Yes, it was absolutely the word Pezident that tipped me over into driving all the way down to Bloomington to see this. Pezident. Pezident.)
At the time, Pez had two almost completely separate branches: Pez International, which designed and sold Pez dispensers across the globe, except in America, where Pez America controlled which Pez dispensers were sold. This meant that international Pez dispensers were a rare commodity in America, and American collectors would pay big bucks for them.
When Steven Glew realized this, he began to fly to Europe to buy Pez dispensers directly from the factories, many of which were in former Soviet satellite states desperate for hard American currency. He went through customs with duffle bags full of Pez dispensers, which should have been illegal… except that Pez (like, apparently, many other companies) had not realized that they needed to register their trademark not only with the trademark office but also with customs for import laws to be enforced at the border.
The former Pez marketing director interviewed for the film does a visible double take when the filmmakers tell him that. As a marketing director, that was of course of his hands anyway… but the company had big fancy lawyers who were supposed to take care of this! How could they miss such a crucial step?
The story is delightfully bonkers, and the filmmakers up the ante by filming certain sequences in stylized aesthetic: a Willy Wonka look for the factories, a film noir feel for Glew’s cat and mouse games with the Pezident’s private detectives. (“I don’t think anyone was really following me,” he comments at one point, rather doubtfully. The filmmakers, who have been talking to people at Pez and know all the deets: “What if I told you that someone was following you?” Glew crows with delight at having his paranoia proven accurate.)
Simply a delight. The filmmakers were clearly having a wonderful time with the sheer zaniness of the story.
