Will this significant film ever get a DVD release? Probably not, assuming that music clearance is an issue--and when one of the artists involved is Neil Young, the odds probably lengthen. Bruce Davison is excellent as Simon, a straight college student who finds himself caught up in the seething ferment of campus politics in the late 1960s. The film accurately depicts the confusion and unfocused rage of young people in those far off days, when issues as disparate as the Vietnam War and town-gown relationships united a broad coalition of activists. In retrospect it's easy to see the flaws in such a 'wide-net' approach--heck, it's a flaw that plagues what remains of the 'New Left' to this day--but the film is an invigorating reminder of a time when real change actually seemed possible. An MGM production, The Strawberry Statement recently aired in a heavily redacted, pan and scan print on TCM: almost all the cuss words and nudity is cut, and there's even some fogging in a shower scene to protect us from Davison's penis. Happily, the film is strong enough to withstand such indignities and is still worth seeing.
Review of The Strawberry Statement
