[DanielPotter]

This film about bikers on a road trip has an incoherent plot, littered with pointless (and notably boring!) scenes of sex, drugs and violence. The only enjoyable scene is the famous opening, in which the song “Born to Be Wild” plays, and the audience is given a sense of the possibilities presented by the wide, open road. Not even the acting skills of Jack Nicholson can save this tedious portrayal of hippie “culture.”

*sb

[Pete Jamison]

… which commented heavily on what was called the “counterculture.”  Your point as to the shortcomings of this film, considered iconic by many critics and a defining document of hippiedom, made me wonder if there are any forceful, clear, effective examples of such.  Almost all of the films that come to mind (The Strawberry Statement, Zabriskie Point and so forth) are plotless, poorly motivated and unconvincing.  The only vaguely positive one I can think of would be Alice’s Restaurant and that one only works as comedy, in most if not all places in its story.

Some internet lists consider the first Bruce Brown Endless Summer (1966) surfing documentary a countercultural entry but it highlights man-against-nature personal achievement (as does Endless Summer II and other related projects).  Also, Brown’s film predated the appearance of hippies by a few years, even largely ignoring the existing “beatnik” crowd since they weren’t as assertive as wave-wrestling would require they be.  The young adult feature My Side Of The Mountain (1969) had a back-to-nature subtext but the central character was big on self-reliance, putting him at odds with collectivist tendencies of the day.

I can’t think of a single effective hippie movie at the moment.  At least the old left had Grapes of Wrath; I can’t think of a 1960s-1970s equivalent that might be argumentatively effective with viewers not already convinced of the offered conclusions.

/sb

[DanielPotter]

Re: Pete Jamison’s post 140467 of 1/21/22

I found Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to be at least esthetically enjoyable.

*sb

[Pete Jamison]

Re: Daniel Potter’s post 140475 of 1/22/22

Thompson is an odd duck.  His early work (Rum Diaries, Hell’s Angels, various magazine articles) that I’ve read show considerable ability but his later material has less rigor.  For sheer effectiveness, his article for Cycle World Magazine (3/1/95) reviewing a Ducati motorcycle is remarkable.  I often say that when rereading that piece, it revives my capabilities of description.  Also, although I have no interest in motorcycles, after getting to the article’s end. . . I want a motorcycle.  It’s in several places on the web; search for “Song of the Sausage Creature” and there it’ll be.

/sb

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