The last time I saw this film, it had just come out in the theaters. I was in high school, preparing for college, had a rebellious streak in me...you know, the usual.
What I always remembered about it was the funeral song, at Shelly's grave, "Song for Aging Children," a song I still love. So I got the DVD.
Now that I'm older, though not less rebellious, I find the film to have been put together like it was done by a junior high school kid with a few bucks to spare. It had the anti-authority clichés, you know the cops are all a bunch of idiots, and the young people who make up the bulk of the cast were all well-meaning and care-free. Well, yeah. But it takes some money to do what they were doing. From where did they get the money? There was also a theme of motorcycle racing that really didn't fit in well, or was at least not adequately explained.
And the acting was ghastly. Apparently the director picked some people, I don't know, maybe friends of Guthrie? Or they were in the director's garage band or something? Overall, it was a band of silly late-60s clichés, and a story without a point. And that's kind of sad. The song is a classic folk song/tale, an anthem to an era. But the film, is pretty useless, unless you want to show those clichés and what they ostensibly represent.
What I always remembered about it was the funeral song, at Shelly's grave, "Song for Aging Children," a song I still love. So I got the DVD.
Now that I'm older, though not less rebellious, I find the film to have been put together like it was done by a junior high school kid with a few bucks to spare. It had the anti-authority clichés, you know the cops are all a bunch of idiots, and the young people who make up the bulk of the cast were all well-meaning and care-free. Well, yeah. But it takes some money to do what they were doing. From where did they get the money? There was also a theme of motorcycle racing that really didn't fit in well, or was at least not adequately explained.
And the acting was ghastly. Apparently the director picked some people, I don't know, maybe friends of Guthrie? Or they were in the director's garage band or something? Overall, it was a band of silly late-60s clichés, and a story without a point. And that's kind of sad. The song is a classic folk song/tale, an anthem to an era. But the film, is pretty useless, unless you want to show those clichés and what they ostensibly represent.