Flagpole Special

Name: Flagpole Special
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 1998-06-16
Duration: 17 min
Rating: 7.0
Cast: Chris Penn, John C. Reilly

1998·Comedy·17m

7.0

★

Commissioned for Creative Time’s RET.inevitable in 1998, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Flagpole Special is a DV short showing John C. Reilly and Chris Penn from the waist down, riffing on pickup-seminar bravado that anticipates Magnolia’s “Seduce and Destroy.” Screened once under the Brooklyn Bridge and never released, it’s now regarded as a lost film.

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

IMDB

N/A

Cast

Chris Penn

John C. Reilly

Crew

Paul Thomas Anderson

Director

Paul Thomas Anderson

Writer

Popular Reviews

3 reviews

Jules

When tmdb finally gets nuked I will host the biggest celebration party at my house and everyone's invited.

pleiades

4.0★ · 11/14/25

Apparently Flagpole Special is lost media, so I'm logging it purely to complete my PTA list. My journey through his work started with Phantom Thread, and I've been mesmerised ever since. I hope I can meet him one day.

nrss_7

1.0★ · 09/28/25

Missing footage

Max

Watched all of the music videos he’s directed to make up for this not being available anywhere and that way the completionist in me can have his whole filmography logged after I see One Battle After Another later this month

Mathias

Why in the flying fuck is this added to LB IT DOES NOT EXIST ANYWHERE! What’s the point of adding it if you never can see it???????????

😡