The Trip (1967/II)

Director:

Roger Corman

Writer:

Jack Nicholson (written by)

Release Date:

23 August 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

A Lovely Sort of Death

Plot:

Paul Groves (Peter Fonda), a television commercial director, is in the midst of a personality crisis...

Plot Keywords:

Acid | Guru | LSD | Director | Sex

Cast

Peter Fonda	...	Paul Groves
Susan Strasberg	...	Sally Groves
Bruce Dern	...	John
Dennis Hopper	...	Max
Salli Sachse	...	Glenn
Barboura Morris	...	Flo
Judy Lang	...	Nadine
Luana Anders	...	Waitress
Beach Dickerson
Dick Miller	...	Cash
Caren Bernsen	...	Alexandra
Katherine Walsh	...	Lulu
Michael Nader
Bárbara Ransom	...	Helena
Michael Blodgett	...	Lover

Also Known As:

A Lovely Sort of Death (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

85 min | West Germany:78 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:16 (1968) | Australia:R | Finland:(Banned) (1968-1991) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video re-rating) (2002) | UK:R (original rating) | UK:R (video rating) (1988) | USA:Not Rated | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Big Sur, California, USA

Company:

American International Pictures (AIP)

Trivia:

The band in the club near the beginning is the International Submarine Band, featuring Gram Parsons on vocals. However, their early country-rock sounds were removed and the psychedelic sounds of The Electric Flag were dubbed into the film.

Quotes:

Max: I wish there was some hip way of telling you this, baby, but, ah... you're one with and part of an ever-expanding, loving, joyful, glorious, and harmonious universe.
Paul Groves: Funny.
Max: Yeah, in a way. But, you play your personal games.
Paul Groves: Alright, I know. Everybody knows. But nobody lives that way.
Max: Is that your defense, man?
Paul Groves: Yes. I mean, no. I'm guilty. I'm guilty.
Max: Right! But don't wallow, because it's fake and disgusting!

Movie Connections:

Edited into Allen Daviau, ASC on Psychedelic Film Effects (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Softly and Tenderly

The Trip

Once again, like many films of the same time, The Trip is often misunderstood for a campy, cheap exploitation of a once vibrant time 'too often reduced to nostalgic simplicities.' The Plot goes as follows: Peter Fonda plays a film director that is bummed out by his wife (Susan Strasberg) and pending divorce. So to cool out, he takes LSD from a psychologist-type who is making records of 'controlled' LSD experiments (played by Bruce Dern). The film seems to hold it together during the first 30 minutes or so, but loses it's place when the weird acid trips happen (note the creepy scene where Fonda dies and goes to some kind of hell inhabited by horsemen, knights, and dwarfs). Overall, this is an entertaining little time capsule filled with twists and old film techniques. But I still cannot stress enough the arrogance of a man who tries to capture an LSD trip on camera for the silver screen. Even though the film did do moderately well at the box-office (for 1967, that is), mind expansion enthusiasts, like myself, might find the LSD depictions to be a bit funny at times, and the dialogue to be typical for a film of its kind. But for all personal shortcomings, I recommend this film because it is a true original.