Peter Fonda plays Paul Groves, a TV commercial director going through a personal crisis. His wife Sally (Susan Strasberg) is asking for a divorce. So he calls upon a psychologist friend, John (Bruce Dern), who's recording the LSD trips of his subjects. In the effort to mellow out, Paul takes some LSD himself. Little does he know just how WEIRD the experience is going to be.
Don't look for a whole lot of story here, in this counterculture favourite produced & directed by B movie king Roger Corman, and boasting a screenplay by none other than Jack Nicholson. It's not so hot as a movie, but it IS a modestly amusing experiment to simulate an LSD trip on film for approximately 80 minutes. Of course, it doesn't even need to go on THAT long; the point is made early on, and the initial entertainment value of gazing at these surreal images and psychedelic effects does wear off. Still, this does have an appropriately "trippy" atmosphere, created during an era when experimenting with mind bending substances was one of the hip things to do.
The performances are generally agreeable, with Dennis Hopper the perfect choice for playing Max. The landscape is dotted with appearances by people like Peter Bogdanovich, Michael Nader, Michael Blodgett, Tom Signorelli, and Corman regulars such as Barboura Morris, Luana Anders, Beach Dickerson, and Dick Miller.
Cinematographer Allen Daviau ("E.T.") was one of those producing the psychedelic effects. The D.P. on this flick was Archie R. Dalzell, who does a decent job. And there's a groovy rock score by Electric Flag.
The distributors didn't want the film to be seen as pro-LSD, resulting in a particular image of Fonda near the end that was added against Cormans' wishes.
Six out of 10.
Don't look for a whole lot of story here, in this counterculture favourite produced & directed by B movie king Roger Corman, and boasting a screenplay by none other than Jack Nicholson. It's not so hot as a movie, but it IS a modestly amusing experiment to simulate an LSD trip on film for approximately 80 minutes. Of course, it doesn't even need to go on THAT long; the point is made early on, and the initial entertainment value of gazing at these surreal images and psychedelic effects does wear off. Still, this does have an appropriately "trippy" atmosphere, created during an era when experimenting with mind bending substances was one of the hip things to do.
The performances are generally agreeable, with Dennis Hopper the perfect choice for playing Max. The landscape is dotted with appearances by people like Peter Bogdanovich, Michael Nader, Michael Blodgett, Tom Signorelli, and Corman regulars such as Barboura Morris, Luana Anders, Beach Dickerson, and Dick Miller.
Cinematographer Allen Daviau ("E.T.") was one of those producing the psychedelic effects. The D.P. on this flick was Archie R. Dalzell, who does a decent job. And there's a groovy rock score by Electric Flag.
The distributors didn't want the film to be seen as pro-LSD, resulting in a particular image of Fonda near the end that was added against Cormans' wishes.
Six out of 10.