Hot Dogs for Gauguin

Hot Dogs for Gauguin (1972) is a short film written and directed by Martin Brest, then a film student at New York University. The short film features Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman in her acting debut.[1]

In this short film, DeVito plays a photographer who is determined to capture visual magic and fame. He concocts an intricate plot to explode the Statue of Liberty and sets his camera to record the Statue of Liberty's explosion as it was broken into pieces. It was filmed in New York City in black and white on 16 mm film. Rhea Perlman played the woman on a ferry, while Martin Brest played the man on a ferry. The scene of the Statue of Liberty's head exploding was incorporated during the final scene. Brest and Randolph Herr are credited with doing the special effects. This short film was inspired by the Hindenburg disaster on May 6, 1937.

In 2009, it was one of 25 films selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress to "be preserved as cultural, artistic and/or historical treasures."[2][3][4]