Get ready to experience satire in its sharpest form—Magnolia Pictures will bring A Savage Art: The Life & Cartoons of Pat Oliphant to theaters on September 5, 2025.
This powerful new documentary explores the incendiary career of Pat Oliphant, the most widely syndicated political cartoonist of the 20th century. With biting humor and bold strokes, Oliphant didn’t just draw cartoons—he held a mirror to society and dared us to look.
Being an editorial cartoonist isn’t just a tough gig—it’s a full-contact sport with ink. Armed with nothing more than a pen and an irreverent sense of humor, the editorial cartoonist walks a fine line between genius and public enemy. Their mission? Skewer the powerful, expose hypocrisy, and distill the chaos of politics and society into a single, savage panel. But here’s the catch: you only get one shot. The lifespan of an editorial cartoon is as fleeting as a headline—blink and the moment is gone.
Political cartooning is not for the faint of heart. There’s no applause, no standing ovations—just a steady stream of angry letters, death threats, and maybe, if you’re lucky, a Pulitzer. Religion and politics may claim to represent the people, but they notoriously lack a funny bone. Drawing the truth means painting a target on your own back—and waiting for the mob. Think satire with shrapnel.
Enter Patrick Oliphant, a name that resonates like a sonic boom in the world of political commentary. With razor-sharp wit and uncompromising artistic flair, the Australian-born provocateur became America’s most influential editorial cartoonist. His career, which spanned five decades and ten U.S. Presidents, was nothing short of incendiary. The New York Times dubbed him “the most influential editorial cartoonist now working” back in 1990. That wasn’t hyperbole—it was fact.
Patrick Oliphant: The Man Who Weaponized the Pen
Now, in the gripping documentary A Savage Art, director Bill Banowsky chronicles the meteoric rise and rebellious legacy of Oliphant. More than just a biography, the film is a scathing commentary on the current state of political discourse, the collapse of the newspaper industry, and the near-extinction of the editorial cartoonist. As polarization tightens its grip on the media landscape, Oliphant’s work stands as a defiant relic from a time when the pen was mightier than the sword.
A Savage Art Unleashes the Firebrand Cartoonist Who Skewered Presidents
Oliphant didn’t just draw cartoons—he launched visual missiles. With his expressive line work, acerbic wit, and the ever-present Punk the Penguin chirping in the margins, Oliphant’s cartoons spared no one. Presidents, popes, tyrants, and televangelists all found themselves caricatured under his blistering pen. He wasn’t aiming for laughs; he was going for the jugular. He called it “confrontational art.” We call it brilliant.
In 1981, Oliphant broke from traditional syndication and offered his work directly to Universal Press Syndicate, granting him unprecedented creative freedom—and global reach. By the end of the 20th century, he was arguably the most widely syndicated political cartoonist on Earth, and certainly one of the most feared. Many tried to imitate his gritty, barbed style. Few succeeded.
A Savage Art not only explores Oliphant’s monumental career but places his work within a larger historical context—tracking the decline of editorial cartooning in an era overrun by clickbait and corporate media interests. As politics becomes increasingly absurd and journalism struggles to keep up, Oliphant’s legacy reminds us that a single well-drawn cartoon can still shake the pillars of power.
About the Director: Bill Banowsky
Bill Banowsky is no stranger to shaking things up. A lawyer-turned-media-mogul, Banowsky has worn many hats—General Counsel to three publicly traded media companies, CEO of Landmark Theatres (America’s largest art-house cinema chain), and founder of ventures like Magnolia Pictures, Sky Cinemas, Sky Railway, and Nuckolls Brewing Co. He produced Alex Gibney’s explosive documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money, and Starving the Beast, a searing exposé on the defunding of public universities.
A Savage Art marks Banowsky’s directorial debut, and he couldn’t have picked a more combustible subject.
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