ponedjeljak, 13. svibnja 2013.

Roger Corman - The Trip (1967)



Klasični LSD-eksploatacijski film.
Po scenariju Jacka Nicholsona!

cijeli film:



When Albert Hofmann took his famous bicycle ride in 1943, the last thing on his mind must have been a dwarf on a merry-go-round or Peter Fonda in a red V-neck sweater. All these things, and more, can be found in Corman’s psychedelic tribute to the properties of Lysergic acid diethylamide. The drug has been used in a variety of ways: pain relief, an anti-psychotic, a treatment for alcoholism. Corman, perhaps wisely, restricts himself to the entheogenic properties, however, and treats the viewer to far-out visual effects and Dennis Hopper.
Great jumper, kid. How do you like this beard?
The pre-Easy Rider triumvirate of writer Jack Nicholson and actors Fonda and Hopper basically give us a 90 minute acid trip of a film. The niceties of the plot are dispensed with rapidly, and Bruce Dern, in a funky turtle neck jumper/beard combination acts as a guide during Fonda’s first trip. Before the first pills are popped, unfortunately, the film’s weakness becomes apparent. Despite, apparently, being made in conjunction with the input of psychedelic aficionados, the goings on are too mannered. The hippy den where Fonda trips is immaculate, complete with nicely painted banisters and appropriate groovy artwork on the walls. It all seems like a Readers Digest guide to mind-altering substances.
This is the funkiest hairdressers I’ve ever been to.
Fonda’s trip starts as a Lucifer Rising outtake, complete with bra-less chicks and a white shirt/trousers-huge medallion outfit. Our hero is soon gettin’ freaky with a nekkid lady, under a Grateful Dead light show. A copy of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and Other Poems is embarrassingly featured in several shots, as is a brief glimpse of Timothy Leary, seemingly there to boost the film’s authenticity. Corman always seemed a fairly conservative filmmaker, and his distance from the counterculture is horribly apparent.
His skill as a director is also as apparent. The strongest sequence in the film is a superbly edited stroll through a neon-lit street. The rapid cutting and frenetic soundtrack capture a mood that oozed through the truly drug-addled films such as Head and 200 Motels. Rather than keep up the pace, however, this sequence is followed by a stilted scene set in a launderette, with Fonda fascinated by a tumble drier. While it’s possibly realistic, it’s also tedious.
What? I’m going to star in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2? Enough of the drugs, already.
Fonda was, reportedly, no stranger to drugs at the time, and his performance is full of tension and an authentic-looking 1000-yard stare. Hopper looks even more frazzled than he did in Apocalypse Now, and one assumes that there was very little acting going on. Susan Strasberg is disgracefully sexy as Fonda’s estranged wife. To be honest, though, no one is going to watch this for the acting. It’s the epilepsy-inducing light shows, the topless dancers, the (pretty good actually) soundtrack and the dwarf on a merry-go-round.

Corman has a few mild digs at the Establishment, and the whole trip is shown as a fairly balanced experience. To save a lot of ennui, fast forwards to around one hour and three minutes, to the scene with Fonda running through the streets. Watch that on a loop for an hour or so, to fully understand the power of hallucinogens, and just say no to the chameleons catching flies and the sight of Fonda chatting up a nightie-wearing preteen girl. - www.videotapeswapshop.co.uk/





REVIEW: MGM RELEASES 8 FILM ROGER CORMAN BOXED SET




The story of exploitation filmmaker Roger Corman — and the big breaks he gave to some now-major directors and actors — has been told in many books and Hollywood documentaries.
But no one has told the story as well or with as much emotion as director Alex Stapleton in the 2011 documentary “Corman’s World,” which is now available on DVD.
Through the 1950s and 1960s, Corman ground out B-movies designed primarily for young drive-in audiences. The producer-director made hot rod movies, Edgar Allen Poe adaptations and sci-fi thrillers — anything he could serve up cheaply and with the potential for a lurid advertising campaign.
Most of the Corman films are unwatchable now, but he holds an honored place in Hollywood history for giving big early breaks to directors such as Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Demme, and actors like Jack Nicholson, Dennis Hopper, Pam Grier and Bruce Dern.
The clips in “Corman’s World” from “Bloody Mama,” “The Trip,” “Wild Angels” and the rest are of the so-bad-they’re good variety, but the documentary gets its real power from the high caliber of the interview subjects who clearly still believe they owe Corman a lot for helping to launch their careers.
Nicholson gives a terrific interview in which he laughs about how quickly and cheaply movies like “The Terror” and “Little Shop of Horrors” were made, but then bursts into tears when he tries to express his gratitude to Corman.
Stapleton supplies us with a truly happy ending when we see Corman and his wife Julie at the Oscars a few years ago where the producer received an honorary award for his contributions to the industry.















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