source: Psych-Out

Trailer—Psych-Out

Psych-Out

This movie might seem appealing to someone who didn't live through the era. Having lived through it in California, I can assure you that little was appealing about screaming students being wheeled away on ambulance gurneys and helpless, drugged girls wandering naked around my university campus after having been raped by various guys. This cynical movie is typical of Hollywood's exploitation of the self-destructive behavior of children and young adults. There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits. (More lines added to meet 10-line requirement: There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits. There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits. There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits. There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits.)

The real USA Flower Power Hippie kids weren't born in the thirties like every actor in this film. In 1968, these were old 30 year olds. Beatniks and bums, not Hippies. Cheesy Hollywood exploitation, but fun anyway.

Jenny is a deaf runaway. She arrives in Haight-Ashbury looking for her missing brother Steve (Bruce Dern). She is befriended by Stoney (Jack Nicholson) and his bandmates. They help her search for her brother while avoiding the cops. Dave (Dean Stockwell) is a disgruntled former bandmate. The first half is alright. The characters are compelling. It's a road trip to find her brother. The high point is the junkyard where they find their big villains. I like the church where the lady complains about their way of dress which the movie turns the camera towards depictions of Christ. It's good until it turns into a psychedelic mess. The relationship drama is a bit frustrating although it's probably necessary. It would be better if Jenny catches up to Steve and joins him in escaping the junkyard thugs while rescued by Stoney. It's almost that but the plot is too muddled. This is an interesting slice of that cinematic era and it's good until it's not.

My name is George Cox and I was the lead singer for the Storybook who recorded the majority of songs for this movie. We were a local San Fernando Valley band who were brought into the production by Ronald Stein and Dick Clark to help produce the music for this movie. It seems that the Strawberry Alarm Clock and the Seeds got most of credit for the music in this movie. My group and I really enjoyed all the recording sessions to produce the music for this soundtrack album. We also enjoyed watching the film once it was produced as it showed the life in San Francisco and Haight-Ashbury as it was in the 60s.

I doubt San Francisco ever looked like this, even in 1968! Here, a deaf girl searches the city for her brother but becomes involved with a hippie rock band. Dick Clark-produced relic has jaw-dropping, pot-soaked set-pieces and clichéd characters galore ("Pleasure Lovers", according to the ads). Susan Strasberg and Jack Nicholson, playing a fellow named Stoney (!), head up quite an interesting cast; Jack is charismatic, as usual, and Adam Roarke proves yet again he had real star power. Unfortunately, the script by E. Hunter Willett and Betty Ulius, from Willett's original story, is a stinker. Richard Rush directed, in scattershot fashion. * from ****

Dick Clark produced this film and I think the problem is it's not edgy enough as far as the drug taking and being hippies. Jack Nicholson seems to just act like a hippie while he really just wants to get laid and play in his band. The real locations of Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco are terrific as you really get to see what that part of the city looked like. In some scenes the onlookers across the street are looking at the camera and waving. Dean Stockwell lives in a box on a roof and spouts all sort of hippie lingo and tries to get laid. Henry Jaglom and Garry Marshall show up in small roles. Bruce Dern as The Seeker is rather confusing. I guess he's just a drug addict and the end of the film has me thinking that Dick Clark wanted to make an anti-drug film after all. Susan Strasberg was always excellent and even in a silly film like this she stands out. Nicholson's hands don't move when he's playing the guitar! Groovy!

At the same time you had blaxploitation movies you also had hipsploitation films too ... actors who understood NOTHING of what was going on ( Nicholson is a great actor but NOT a hippie him and his mates here look like jocks going to a costumed ball ) acted in movies written by studios trying to cash in on the latest in their eyes fad ... most of these 60's films used "straights" in hippie drag and that is never going to be convincing; it is literally a travesty... Also it must be strange they felt they had to sample scenes from West Side Story in effect .... the final message was do not do drugz kidz they will fork u up ... fine by me but not done this way ... watch The Strawberry Statement instead or Zabriskie Point or More 1969 by Barbet Schroeder more honest films about the period & simply better films ...