AIP apparently took the counter-culture to heart and, throughout the late 1960s, a whole flurry of films were made about the problems and aspirations of youths across America. I guess these were the flip-side of the myriad “Beach Party”-type movies made by the same company earlier in the decade (I’ve watched a fair number of the former but none of the latter, though I may be able to remedy that soon since a triple-bill is scheduled on local Cable TV for next week)!
This is surely the least of the hippie/drug films I’ve come across (produced by Sam Katzman, no less!) – but one that’s so goofy it’s nonetheless entertaining! Everything about it is so simplistic, clichéd and, well, bad that while no riot is actually depicted in the film, the on-screen action itself emerges to be a consistent (if largely unintentional) laugh-riot!! Perhaps a sure sign of just how ‘perceptive’ the film-makers were vis-a'-vis their subject matter is the fact that none of the three rock bands seen performing in nightclubs during the course of the film went anywhere thereafter!
Rather than give details of the plot, one would do better to list those moments or elements that stick (as opposed to stand!) out: dialogue such as “It’s what’s happening!” in reference to the typical nightlife on The Strip, the boozed antics of female lead Mimsy Farmer’s pitiful Mum, her LSD-induced would-be wild dance (prior to being gang-raped!), estranged cop father (formerly sympathetic to the kids) Aldo Ray’s phoney punch-up with the culprits at the hospital, the relentless denigrating comments made by the ‘pillars of the community’ (and particularly an elderly reporter) about the youngsters, etc.
Many examples of Counter-culture Cinema have dated badly – especially the more politically-oriented ones (and even some that were highly-thought of at the time); this one, strictly a potboiler and made by a handful of veterans (which, apart from Katzman, included director Dreifuss, scriptwriter Orville H. Hampton and Oscar-winning cinematographer Paul C. Vogel) to boot could never hope be taken seriously as a treatment of this turbulent era – the best it can muster is function as a campy time capsule…
This is surely the least of the hippie/drug films I’ve come across (produced by Sam Katzman, no less!) – but one that’s so goofy it’s nonetheless entertaining! Everything about it is so simplistic, clichéd and, well, bad that while no riot is actually depicted in the film, the on-screen action itself emerges to be a consistent (if largely unintentional) laugh-riot!! Perhaps a sure sign of just how ‘perceptive’ the film-makers were vis-a'-vis their subject matter is the fact that none of the three rock bands seen performing in nightclubs during the course of the film went anywhere thereafter!
Rather than give details of the plot, one would do better to list those moments or elements that stick (as opposed to stand!) out: dialogue such as “It’s what’s happening!” in reference to the typical nightlife on The Strip, the boozed antics of female lead Mimsy Farmer’s pitiful Mum, her LSD-induced would-be wild dance (prior to being gang-raped!), estranged cop father (formerly sympathetic to the kids) Aldo Ray’s phoney punch-up with the culprits at the hospital, the relentless denigrating comments made by the ‘pillars of the community’ (and particularly an elderly reporter) about the youngsters, etc.
Many examples of Counter-culture Cinema have dated badly – especially the more politically-oriented ones (and even some that were highly-thought of at the time); this one, strictly a potboiler and made by a handful of veterans (which, apart from Katzman, included director Dreifuss, scriptwriter Orville H. Hampton and Oscar-winning cinematographer Paul C. Vogel) to boot could never hope be taken seriously as a treatment of this turbulent era – the best it can muster is function as a campy time capsule…