Hallucination Generation (1966)

A rare drugsploitation classic from small, independent shop – Trans American Films. The script veers away from usual West/East Coast setting, proposing Ibiza filled with black-dressed beatniks instead, who are heavily into drugs – LSD, weed, heroin, seconal... anything goes. Young Bill is the center of these titillating exploits hanging around with a gang of freeloaders on his family's tab. A luck dries out though when his auntie flies over from USA and tells him he needs to go on his own straight away. As Bill faces further life in Spain on a shoestring budget, he falls into a deep depression and even starts abusing his Spanish girlfriend. Eventually it comes down to the only solution – getting high and robbing the rich bastards!

An opportunity promptly pops up, when a girlfriend tells him about an older chap in Barcelona, who gets robbed at least once a week and doesn't even need to be held at a gunpoint – a real sucker. That sounds promising, but Bill with his artistic soul and moral dilemmas cannot just go for it. Here, where Eric comes into the game. Being a kind of spiritual godfather of all local beatniks, smuggling and slinging drugs from Morocco and turning everybody on to the tune of "new world is coming, brothers and sisters" rap, he's a perfect man to convince Bill, that it could be safe & clean gig. Eric's persona resembles sort of Timothy Leary and Howard Marks cross – creative in a cheesy way, just try to imagine! He has a girlfriend, who nags him all the time about the cool cats kicking back in their pad, but he doesn't give a shit getting around anyway.



While Eric advises heroin and LSD as a way to expand your consciousness (whou would coin such a gibberish in 1966?), he cannot sell the word to Bill, who basically likes to get high on weed and is afraid to get hooked on hard stuff. But when poor boy eventually breaks down from all the misery, Eric will pour a kool-aid down his throat effectively brainwashing his mind and tuning it to the crime note – he'd like his share after old man is shaved off. Still high on LSD, Bill and his friend get down to it, but the trip goes South and becomes a terrifying ride! What a bummer, man! Although I wouldn't consider this dumb flick by any means essential for 60's exploitation fans, the addicts should try to check it out, even if solely for "believe me, revolution is coming" wacky type of dialogue lines.

"Hallucination Generation" has an interesting pre-hippiesploitation feel as well – the last of retarded ones sort of vibe – cause who's been doing beatnik B-movies at this point? It features occasional 60's garage music and offers some lousy, cheapish visuals, particularly when LSD is kicking Bill's neurons, but on the top it's shot in black & white, which retains some vintage appeal. However, do not expect nothing but a drugsploitation drivel, no cinematic fireworks and definitely no nudity. If you manage to sit back and relax, you'll catch some laughable scenes, but that's it! Who would watch any of those ones seriously anyway? Acting is not that bad and these beautiful beaches or night lights of Barcelona somehow do the job. Edward Mann, who directed the movie, was kind of a minor cult individual for American experimental theater and that's a real news. The framing seems also very peculiar for a B-movie with long, dynamic shots, inevitably picturesque or even romantic if you like.

[The movie can be purchased from Cinema de Bizarre]

Wild In The Streets (1968)

If you like these cheap genre flicks American International Pictures were doing in the 50’s and 60’s, but you never saw "Wild In The Streets", there goes the nugget! If you are into obscure movies, but not necessarily into hippiesploitation or drugsploitation, that might be hard rock for you as what your really get here are countercultural myths, dreams and slogans of the high sixties wildly mingled together – they’re certainly exploits, but a way of serving them is much different from one to which you got used to watching let's say beach movies… in different words Barry Shear kicked it up a notch very significantly and got us plenty of fun!

"Wild In The Streets" was one of the most revolutionary movies of it’s times (or at least I like to think that way) for couple of reasons. First of all, the budget hit $1 mln, which was very unusual for a 60’s drive-in picture. Second thing is that it got an actual 1969 Oscar nomination… for editing. "Big deal" you say, but Corman’s or Meyer’s movies never got one. Third thing is the message of the movie - socially subversive, even if screenplay dips it a bit in a fantasy realm. "The old has to die!" Who came across with it in a mainstream movie before? We have a lot of experimantal, occult movies trying to show the agenda of social and spiritual transformation like Kenneth Anger’s shorts, but there were no really Derek Jarman’s all front dystopia themes at that point and Godard was just starting to develop his socially critic, surreal formula on a totally different level. Besides everything I still love the fact that it’s basically about drugs and music fighting the good ole boys’ politics.

We are thrown into the world of a fifteen year old Max Flatlow, who’s becoming exhausted by his family void (his mother is played by Shelley Winters) and petty bourgeoisie habits. He is a genius though as by synthesizing LSD in his basement, he finally gains something worth monetizing and the cash goes straight for a purchase of a dynamite, used immediately to blow up his father’s car in an emotional act of teenage rebellion. Max is free to escape at last! Nine years pass and Max Flatlow changes his surname to Frost – in the meantime he became a rock’n’roll superstar and first American millionaire at the age of 19. He lives in a big villa in Beverly Hills together with his band The Troopers, who are his closest friends.



Among them there are: Sally Leroy – former children movie star and a nudist; Abraham Salteen – Max’s lover, vegetarian and acid head; Billy Cage – fifteen year old lawyer, accountant, the youngest Yale gradute in history. There are also Fuji Ellie – Japanese stenotypist, a great concubine and Stanley X (young Richard Pryor) – cultural anthropologist, author of a bestseller: "The Aborigine Cook Book". They get along pretty well practically living as a commune. Most of the time they roll joints planning to take over America with the help of their great popularity. They are not just fairy dreams as more than 50% of American population has less than 25 years and the young are definitely ready to blow up!

To make a long story short, Max gets into the politics by supporting a senatorial campaign of John Fergusson from California. He promises him to pass a right to vote fo everyody over 18 years old in return. Max goes for it, but decides to play his own game suddenly coming up with a much more radical proposition to grant it to everybody with 14 years finished. He promotes his agenda with a new song "14 Or Fight" and gets America into mass hysteria. John Fergusson plays along and they make a deal settling on 15 instead, but although he wins elections, he doesn’t want to keep his word.

Max puts up Sally as his own candidate for Congress and she wins by a landslide. They try to push the act together, but they cannot get the political support, therefore they decide to come up with a nasty plan – pour a jar of LSD into the Washington water supplies, which lets them set children advisers for every congressman, who just raise their hands as the act is being voted down. A parliamentary revolution follows with Max chosen as a president. America is turned upside down with LSD camps for poor farts, who just turned 35 – they have to experience a new life as reborn acid heads after being loaded up with heavy psychedelic doses… it’s obligatory, no excuses! As all acid dreams come through, social reality finally achieves it’s superior order… but there’s still a change waiting.



There’s a wild passion and humour in this movie, which are better detected when stoned. I guess that without a "particular approach" this pearl will never shine as it’s supposed to but… in the right moment it gives a lot of fun, which is probably the biggest value of it. Don’t try to search for the intellectual bits here, cause if you do so, you won’t be able to grab the essence of "Wild In The Streets" and will be left disappointed. Great side of the movie is the music composed and recorded by unforgettable Davie Allan & The Arrows (dubbed with a fictional name Max and The Troopers by Tower Records), their overlooked, fantastic garage rocker "A Shape Of Things To Come" swirls your head with a genuine guitar fuzz and is itself one of the reasons why this movie is a must-see for 60’s garage and psychedelia collectors and all people generally interested in 60’s counterculture, fashion and cinema.

Riot On Sunset Strip (1967)

"Riot On Sunset Strip" is a shitty movie even for AIP standards. Initially made for MGM by "Jungle" Sam Katzman (one of the worst genre directors you can imagine credited here as Arthur Dreifuss), a picture exploited actual riot on L.A.’s Sunset Strip, which happened when local shop owners felt their businesses were going down due to permanent presence of the local hippies and used police force to chase them away. Katzman shot his picture straight after "the riot" to use running media exposure as a sales pitch, but MGM was slow in getting the movie into theatres, hence it landed eventually in AIP office. Sam Arkoff liked the idea and agreed to distribute this dumb flick, nevertheless it flopped in the drive-ins… not without a reason.

The basic plot is duller than dull – it exploits teenage kicks in a very down-beat, sloppy way. Centre of the action is Pandora’s Box club on Sunset Blvd, where local garage groups play and where young hipsters burn their time. Indeed there we get to to recognise the rising tension between the rebelious youth and local squares. Insights are provided by members of the city hall, policemen and parents, who won’t stand these dropouts anymore and demand action. As interesting as it may sound, this potential is destroyed by initial, ridiculous voice-over, very baaad script and even worse acting! There’s not much to enjoy in "Riot On Sunset Strip", in terms of filmmaking values, unless you are a vegetable. How then did it get to be recognised as a kind of a 60’s cult movie?



The answer is very simple, it’s all about the music – the only thing here, which doesn’t let you fall asleep. One of these rare 60’s exploitation flicks giving you an opportunity to look into the garage scene. We get to see on stage such bands as: The Standells, The Mugwumps, The Chocolate Watchband and The Enemies – all full of fuzz, obscure, cult combos in 60’s garage fan circuit. If there’s one point to watch this movie, here you have it as the soundtrack is brilliant and SO RARE! It was released on Sidewalk Records the same year and probably sold much better than the movie itself.

Still, there’s one scene, that every 60’s drugsploitation fan needs to dig. It’s been tossed down together with this crap, but an absolute gem anyway – young Mimsy Farmer on acid… happening when teens think this whole club is a drag and hit the pad. "She’s never been trippin’ before… it’s the acid, sweetie", her character hears first from one of these immoral kittens. She’s trembling from fear and says no to the drug, but she will eventually get loaded when handed a well-intentioned glass of cola. She licks the sky and dances wildly – what these strange drugs will do with the kids, man! Giallo fans will find it interesting that Mimsy acted later in Dario Argento’s "Four Flies On Grey Velvet" (1971) and then in Lucio Fulci's "Black Cat" (1981). That’s the kind of pussycat she was.



[The movie can be purchased from Cinema de Bizarre]

The Trip (1967)

If you never heard about "The Trip", but psychedelic drugs are something you understand and you’ve been into, it’s definitely a movie for you – checking it out it will be like getting a proper flashback (lucky you). If you occupy the other side of the barricade thinking that drugs are bad, that you have to be a degenerate to mess with them, that people taking LSD get loco and hear voices, which make them jump from the nearest roof, don’t watch it, it’s not gonna be funny for you. After all to fully appreciate this cult movie, you need to get heavily loaded. How else are you gonna watch a movie about LSD trip, which is supposed to be real fun? Stone cold sober? Forget it!

Basically, this movie carries a real legend, which breaks down like that. One day Jack Nicholson approached Roger Corman suggesting him shooting a picture dealing exclusively with LSD experience, for which he even managed to cut a screenplay. Corman accepted it objecting only against it’s length, thus quickly rewrote it to make the film easier to produce. As he didn’t know anything about acid at this point, he promptly dropped a sugar cube in Big Sur to check it out – it’s hard to imagine that he didn’t do it before, isn’t it. It gave him a brilliant insight as "The Trip" is one of his best movies ever and could be definitely classified as drugsploitation or hippiesploitation classic.

Not everyone thought it was that awesome in the beginning though! Original cut (85 min.) has never seen the world due to AIP mongers, who messed with Corman's version cutting out the beautiful, transgressive ending! However, even this safe cut was never classified by the MPAA, which means that distribution has become impossible and the print itself was shelved. Then UK film office has followed banning a movie till 2002, which as we might expect totally cut it’s wings in Europe. But what was irreparably wrong in this picture? No violence, no even rough sex… just the fact that a character drops some acid and starts rediscovering the world around him. However, it was seen as drug culture manifesto back then – a hedonistic statement, which potentially might have corrupted the youth. As a matter of fact, due to AIP helping hand it contains one of the funniest disclaimers in film history, but even that didn’t convince the censorship unfortunately. Almost 40 years later it’s been finally released on DVD and got to live a second life.



I personally love this flick, it’s a beautiful work with a whole bunch of surreal scenes, in which main character - Paul Grove sees everything around being totally zonked out of his mind – it almost induces the acid experience itself. Worth mentioning is that the character does not do it recreationally, but as a way of feeling out where to go next (it was a part of the sales pitch back then). He faces a divorce with his wife (Susan Strasberg) and he’s not satisfied with his professional life either while all around his friends freak out and discover their inner child. A movie itself is a showcase of hallucinogenic effects! We get lens flare (the same used later in "Easy Rider" by Dennis Hopper), fantasy sequences, whirling lights and whatnot. Jerky shots of Sunset Strip were directed by Hopper (he plays Max character in the movie) and Fonda definitely knows what he’s doing as an actor. It’s a real sweetness that came our way from Corman!

As a bonus for watching "The Trip" comes fantastic, obscure soundtrack by The Electric Flag (originally released on Sidewalk Records), who recorded it as their first album in ten days session. It can be considered a masterpiece of San Francisco sound! 18 tracks cut were swinging around psychedelic rock, blues, various moods of free jazz and soul. It’s here, where Mike Bloomfield unveiled himself as a genius composer, arranger and one of the up-and-coming guitar talents in USA. The music leads a viewer through all Peter’s acid trip, from the first kick-in through blows of euphoria, paranoia, searching to be saved from bad trip and "circus court" to final wear-off. To imitate peculiar vibe of the acid trip, band used whole set of weird effects including lines played by Paul Beaver on one of the first Moog synthesizers, which were quickly to possess an American psychedelic sound.

Full movie

Gdyby swiatem rzadzil kwas...

Kto wie, gdzie zaszlaby wytwornia American International Pictures, gdyby kontynuowala swoj trend tworzenia filmow, eksploatujacych "zlote mysli" kontrkultury lat '60 po tym, jak zrealizowala "Wild In The Streets"? Jeden z najbardziej rewolucyjnych filmow tamtych czasow byl przelomem zarowno estetycznym, jak i budzetowym. W przeciwienstwie do filmow, realizowanych przez Rogera Cormana za cempletki, ten skosil od producentow okragla sume $1 mln i zostal mianowany... do Oskara za montaz w 1969 :)

Wyrezyserowany przez Barry'ego Sheara - niszowego rzemieslnika tworzacego od lat '50 odcinki do przeroznych seriali telewizyjnych, "Wild In The Streets" byl takze prawdziwym skretem ideologicznym, ujawniajacym glebsze aspiracje zespolu AIP. W porownaniu z wykreowanym na przyklad wczesniej gatunkiem beach movies, tresc zaczynala tu przerastac forme. Sam sie zastanawiam czy ten film w ogole zarobil jakas kase? :)

Sam Barry Shear powrocil po tym filmie do rezyserowania seriali telewizyjnych od czasu do czasu krecac jedynie jakis western lub kolejny film exploitation. Najbardziej znanym jego dzielem jest "Across 110th Street" (obwolany najbardziej brutalnym filmem gangsterskim lat '70), ktory jest czyms w rodzaju blueprintu dla "The Wire".

Akcja "Wild In The Streets" zaczyna sie w momencie, kiedy sfrustrowany pustka swojej rodziny Max Flatlow (15 lat) syntetyzuje LSD w piwnicy swojego domu, ktore nastepnie sprzedaje, by kupic za zdobyta kase materialy wybuchowe, uzyte nastepnie do aktu wysadzenia samochodu swojego ojca. Max ucieka po tym z domu, by po dziewieciu latach objawic sie rodzicom jako Max Frost - supergwiazda rocka, czlowiek ktory juz w wieku 19 lat stal sie milionerem. Nasza gwiazda mieszka w wielkiej willi z basenem w centrum Beverly Hills razem ze swoja swita, komuna i zespolem muzycznym w jednym.

Wsrod jego przyjaciol sa Sally Leroy - byla gwiazda filmow dla dzieci i zdeklarowana naturystka, a takze kochanka Maxa; wegetarianka i milosniczka tripow na kwasie - Abraham Salteen oraz Billy Cage - 15 letni prawnik Maxa, ksiegowy i doradca podatkowy, ktory jest najmlodszym absolwentem Yale Law School w historii tej uczelni. Mamy tu takze japonska naloznice i stenotypistke - Fuji Ellie oraz Stanleya X, antropologa, gitarzyste oraz autora wielce poczytnej, rewolucyjnej w tresci, "The Aborigine Cook Book". Komuna wiekszosc czasu spedza na kreceniu jointow i planowaniu podboju swiata. Swiat znajduje sie jednak w przelomowym momencie, kiedy ponad 50% populacji ma mniej niz 25 lat i wszystko moze sie zdarzyc...

Akcja nabiera tempa, kiedy zainspirowany charyzma Maxa, kongresmen z Kalifornii o imieniu John Fergus, znajdujacy sie wlasnie w srodku kampanii wyborczej do senatu, probuje zdobyc glos mlodej Ameryki na platformie powszechnego prawa do glosu, przyslugujacego od 18 lat. Max zgadza sie go poprzec na wiecu przedwyborczym, jednak bedac juz na scenie nagle wykonuje piosenke "14 Or Fight", promujaca glos dla kazdego w wieku 14 lat. Kraj wpada w histerie na punkcie propagandy Maxa, a masowe demonstracje blokuja ruch uliczny we wszystkich wiekszych miastach USA. By nie wypasc z gry John Fergus zawiera porozumienie z Maxem, ze wprowadzi prawo do glosu od 15 lat w zamian za jego poparcie i namowienie demonstrantow do pokojowego rozejscia sie.



Kilka dni przed glosowaniem, Maxa odwiedza Jimmy (syn Fergusa), ktory zdradza, ze jego ojciec nie dotrzyma slowa, gdyz tak naprawde nie popiera jego pomyslow. Slowa te okazuja sie prawda, Fergus wygrywa bowiem w wielkim stylu, jednak natychmiast zaczyna alienowac sie od Maxa i jego ludzi starajac sie odsunac ich na margines. Max niepocieszony tym wykorzystuje nowa okazje do zmiany status quo. W rodzimym okregu Sally umiera bowiem wlasnie kongresemen, a przyszpieszone wybory maja wylonic nowego. Organizuajac masowy gig Max naklania do glosowania na Sally, jedyna osobe w swoim kregu, ktora przekroczyla cenzus wiekowy, uprawniajacy do ubiegania sie o urzad publiczny.

Sally wygrywa zdecydowanie, a z nia w Kongresie Max probuje z kolei przeforsowac konstytucyjne obnizenie cenzusu wiekowego, uprawniajacego do glosowania, do 14 lat. Jako, ze Jimmy wskazuje jednak na brak poparcia dla tego pomyslu, grupa wrzuca wielki sloik LSD do wodciagow w Waszyngtonie jednoczesnie dajac sygnal swoim ludziom, zeby nie pili w tym dniu wody z kranu. Ze wszystkimi politykami na kwasie i przydzielonymi im nastoletnimi opiekunami, Maxowi udaje sie zrealizowac plan.



Niedlugo potem Partia Republikanska daje Maxowi nominacje do ubiegania sie o urzad prezydenta. Wybory Max wygrywa przytlaczajaca przewaga glosow mlodziezy, a jego pierwszym edyktem staje sie nalozenie obowiazkowej emerytury dla wszystkich w wieku 30 lat i jednoczesne osadzenie w obozach reedukacyjnych obywateli w wieku 35, w ktorych karmi sie ich konskimi dawkami LSD pod dozorem policji. Specjalne oddzialy skutecznie wylapuja tez uchylajacych sie od tego obowiazku. W jednym z obozow laduje w koncu takze sam kongresmen Fergus.

Gdy wszystko wydaje sie juz wracac do naturalnego porzadku, Max rozwiazuje bowiem FBI i CIA, a takze przeznacza nadwyzki towarowe na pomoc dla krajow III Swiata, postanawia pojechac na wies. W swojej podrozy zatrzymuje sie nad rzeka, gdzie zadeptuje raka. Ten jednak okazuje sie maskotka kilku 7 letnich chlopcow, ktorzy wypadajac z krzakow wyglaszaja w strone Max zlowroga kwestie: "Wszyscy powyzej 10 lat powinni zostac wywaleni z interesu!"

"Wild In The Streets" to zadziwiajacy dokument swoich czasow, ktory broni sie nie tylko utopijna fantazja, ale takze wielkim poczuciem humoru i swietna muza, fikcyjnego bandu Max and The Troopers. Oczywiscie nikomu nie polecam ogladania go na trzezwo, gdyz moze to prowadzic do nieumiejetnego odczytania przeslania tego wielkiego dziela :) Jesli tylko macie czas, zalatwcie sobie ten niezwykly film i przygotujcie sie na niecodzienna jazde.

Max and The Troopers - "Shape Of Things To Come"

American International Pictures - przeglad zwiastunow!

We wpisie na temat filmu "Riot On Sunset Strip" po raz pierwszy pisalem na tym blogu o legendarnej wytworni filmow typu exploitation - American International Pictures, ktora pojawila sie w latach 50'w Kalifornii, by az do lat 70' siac postrach w glowach nastolakow swoimi niskobudzetowymi obrazami.

Oprocz wyzej wspomnianego filmu pisalem jeszcze o kultowym "The Trip", ale katalog tej wytworni liczy znacznie, znacznie wiecej. AIP realizowala filmy rozne, czasami tak dziwne, ze az ciezko sobie wyobrazic w jaki sposob powstaly. Wsrod nich sa zas obrazy dziwaczne w swojej obskurnosci i rozkosznie smieszne w swojej bezpretensjonalnosci. W najblizszych dniach zaczne wam przyblizac nieco wiecej z tych zapomnianych przez czas perel, tymczasem podrzucam wam garsc old skulowych zwiastunow filmowych, ktore dobrze pokazuja z czym mamy do czynienia.

"Wild In The Streets" (1968)



"The Wild Angels" (1966)



"The Born Losers" (1967)



"Psych-Out" (1968)



"The Trip" (1968)





ion

Najlepszy film o LSD?

Jakiś czas temu pisałem na blogu o "Riot on Sunset Strip" - kultowym filmie z gatunku hippiesploitation, który od czasu swojej premiery kinowej w 1967 nie został ponownie wydany na VHS czy DVD.

Dzieło to zostało wyprodukowane przez otoczona na Zachodzie nimbem undergroundowej legendy, wytwórnie American International Pictures lub po prostu American International.

Jednym z najwybitniejszych reżyserów, związanych z ta masowa stajnia filmów klasy B był sam Roger Corman. Jego podopiecznymi byli zaś min. Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda i Dennis Hopper. Swoje ostrogi zbierał tam także Laszlo Kovacs.

To przede wszystkim Corman był odpowiedzialny za sukcesy finansowe firmy kręcąc swoje filmy na spartanskich budżetach, co pozwolilo niemal wszystkim z nich zarabic kasę w młodzieżowych drive-inach!

Około roku 1966 American International postanowiło spieniezyc kolejna działkę kultury, tym razem były to kluby motocyklowe. Wypuszczenie filmu "The Wild Angels" z Peterem Fonda okazało się wielkim sukcesem finansowym i pozwoliło na dokrecenie kilkunastu innych. Tak narodził się gatunek "biker movie", który został kolejnym dzieckiem Cormana i AIP po serii horrorów gotyckich.

Rok później do Cormana przychodzi Jack Nicholson proponując mu zrobienie filmu koncentrujacego się wyłącznie na jednym motywie - tripie na LSD. Ten akceptuje scenariusz Nicholsona skracajac go tylko ze wzgledu na budzet, po czym sam wrzuca kwasa, żeby bardziej wczuć się w klimat głównego bohatera. W roli głównej obsadzona zostaje gwiazda "The Wild Angels", Peter Fonda.

Film nazwano po prostu "The Trip" i zrealizowano bardzo szybko, oczywiście krecac większość scen w plenerze. Oryginalna wersja liczyła 85 min. i pomimo wprowadzenia, mającego odeprzeć zarzuty apologii kultury narkotykowej, film nie doczekał się klasyfikacji wieku w Stanach Zjednoczonych (co praktycznie podcięlo dystrybucję) oraz został z miejsca zbanowany w Wielkiej Brytanii, co trwało do 2002 roku. Reedycja na DVD z 2005 liczy 76 min. i jest pierwsza po niemal 40 latach okazja zmierzenia się z tym żelaznym klasykiem drugsploitation.

Glowny bohater filmu, Paul Groves, to młody reżyser filmów reklamowych, który stoi na granicy rozwodu ze swoją żona. Jego przyjaciel John oferuje mu jednak sprobowanie nowego środka psychedelicznego - LSD, który może mu pomoc uporać się z trudna sytuacja.

Namowiony przez przyjaciela, Paul bierze LSD w hippisowskiej komunie, prowadzonej przez ziomala Johna - Maxa (Dennis Hopper), który funkcjonuje także jako diler i guru. W psychedelicznym otoczeniu Paul przeżywa oświecenie dostrzegając po raz pierwszy promieniowanie pomarańczy, a także mierząc się z wewnętrznym strachem przed śmiercią, demonami i kryzysem przed rozwodowym.

Wstrząśnięty przez wirujacy w mózgu kwas, wywołujący silne halucynacje, Paul ucieka jednak w koncu z komuny będąc przekonany, że jego przyjaciel nie zyje i walesajac się samotnie po centrum Los Angeles, a także wchodząc do napotkanego domu, gdzie nawiązuje dialog z mała dziewczynka.

W końcu udaje mu się w strachu przed policja odnaleźć komune, gdzie odzywa się nagle wielkie pożądanie do jednej z kobiet Maxa. Nie potrafiący otrząsnąć się z bad tripu Paul ucieka jednak ponownie, by natknąć się na inna kobietę, z która miał wcześniej wzrokowy kontakt. Spotkanie w barze zamienia się w seksualną przygode, która ustawia mu lot. Paul budzi sie rano, by odkryć ze stał się zupełnie innym człowiekiem.

"The Trip" to niezwykle tour de force Cormana, które graniczy z estetyka filmów Kennetha Angera, będąc także jednym z najbardziej osobistych filmów papieża kina klasy B. Niezwykle realistyczne odegranie przez Fonde przeżycia tripowania bardzo czesto sklanialo mnie do odkrywczego śmiechu (szczególnie, ze sam byłem trochę porobiony), ze ktoś mógł zrobić taki film. Niezwykle są tu także efekty świetlne i wizualne, a pokazanie tego co sie dzieje z Paulem przez wprowadzenie elementów fantasy i groteski, nadaje obrazowi niezwykłego klimatu. Poza warstwa filmowa to takze niezwykła "kapsuła czasu", która daje nam istotny wgląd w Zlote Lata kwasu.

Jeśli lubicie Cormana, Hoppera i Fonde, to film dla was obowiązkowy. Polecany oczywiście wszystkim tym, którym bliskie są wysokie loty na kwasie.

[Nowa recenzje filmu znajdziecie na lamach MGV]