This is a film where the conflicting intents of the creative agents behind it really jar the viewer's sensibilities.
Fonda, Hopper, and Nicholson wanted to make an arty film favorably depicting an acid trip (they would explore this more fully - and more maturely - in "Easy Rider"). Roger Corman wanted to make a flat out exploitation film, pure and simple (the sex scenes are the best he ever did). Montage editor Dennis Jakob was given free reign and borrows heavily from the work of underground film maker Kenneth Anger (esp. the ruggedly nihilistic/narcissistic "Scorpio Rising"). You can't get three more opposed aesthetics at work. And this film is the result.
Had any of these three intents been allowed to dominate a film of half the length, any one of them could have produced a work of genius. However, meld them all together for nearly 90 minutes and you have a "WTF IS THAT?!" Ridiculous, pretentious symbolism (it's all Christ or hell or television), ridiculous dialog ("Don't make demands on my head, man!"), ridiculous sense of self-importance (our hero in an electric chair - what is he guilty of? "the Bay of Pigs!" shouts the Victorian dwarf on the carousel). Information overload when young people still thought a lot of information mattered. And of course, as so many have noted - no discernible plot whatsoever.
And all that "psychedelic" "art!" Save me, save me!
Originally intended as opener for a double bill with an AIP Hell's Angels biker flick. Probably should have stayed there, but prudes took offense at the flashes of female nudity, so it gained some notoriety, and then a cult audience that allowed Fonda, Hopper, and Nicholson to go on to other projects. Corman did more biker flicks. Jacob would disappear for a while, then resurface as editorial consultant for "Apocalypse Now," "the Doors," and "Koyaanisqatsi." What a long, strange trip it's been.
Well, good for a few laughs, but drags too often. Best scene - the laundromat. The woman doing her sheets makes more sense than the rest of the cast combined.
Fonda, Hopper, and Nicholson wanted to make an arty film favorably depicting an acid trip (they would explore this more fully - and more maturely - in "Easy Rider"). Roger Corman wanted to make a flat out exploitation film, pure and simple (the sex scenes are the best he ever did). Montage editor Dennis Jakob was given free reign and borrows heavily from the work of underground film maker Kenneth Anger (esp. the ruggedly nihilistic/narcissistic "Scorpio Rising"). You can't get three more opposed aesthetics at work. And this film is the result.
Had any of these three intents been allowed to dominate a film of half the length, any one of them could have produced a work of genius. However, meld them all together for nearly 90 minutes and you have a "WTF IS THAT?!" Ridiculous, pretentious symbolism (it's all Christ or hell or television), ridiculous dialog ("Don't make demands on my head, man!"), ridiculous sense of self-importance (our hero in an electric chair - what is he guilty of? "the Bay of Pigs!" shouts the Victorian dwarf on the carousel). Information overload when young people still thought a lot of information mattered. And of course, as so many have noted - no discernible plot whatsoever.
And all that "psychedelic" "art!" Save me, save me!
Originally intended as opener for a double bill with an AIP Hell's Angels biker flick. Probably should have stayed there, but prudes took offense at the flashes of female nudity, so it gained some notoriety, and then a cult audience that allowed Fonda, Hopper, and Nicholson to go on to other projects. Corman did more biker flicks. Jacob would disappear for a while, then resurface as editorial consultant for "Apocalypse Now," "the Doors," and "Koyaanisqatsi." What a long, strange trip it's been.
Well, good for a few laughs, but drags too often. Best scene - the laundromat. The woman doing her sheets makes more sense than the rest of the cast combined.