In Search of America (TV 1971)

A college dropout convinces his family to re-examine its goals and gets them to leave it all for a cross-country odyssey in a 1928 Greyhound bus.

Director:

Paul Bogart

Writer:

Lewis John Carlino

Stars:

Carl Betz, Vera Miles, Ruth McDevitt

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Carl Betz	...	Ben Olson
Vera Miles	...	Jenny Olson
Ruth McDevitt	...	Grandma Rose
Jeff Bridges	...	Mike Olson
Renne Jarrett	...	Kathy
Howard Duff	...	Ray Chandler
Kim Hunter	...	Cora Chandler
Sal Mineo	...	Nick
Michael Anderson Jr.	...	J.J.
Tyne Daly	...	Anne
Glynn Turman	...	Bodhi
Christina Ferra-Gilmore	...	Girl (as Annette Ferra)
George Wallace	...	Clarence
Mary Gail Hobbs	...	Claire
Jeff Siggins	...	Announcer

Storyline

A college dropout convinces his family to re-examine its goals and gets them to leave it all for a cross-country odyssey in a 1928 Greyhound bus.

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Plot Keywords:

dropout | bus | baby born | pregnant wife | rock concert | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 March 1971 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Four Star Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min 90 min 75 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

withered flowers

One of the problems with popular culture, especially when discussing the popular culture of the 1970s, is that mass media - especially television - is usually about four years behind 'underground' media, primarily music. Many people think the 'Woodstock Generation" remained important throughout the 1970s; actually, it was all over at Altamont in 1970. By 1972, 'underground' rock or the 'counterculture' had moved east to England and Led Zepplin, Black sabbath, and David Bowie, early metal-heads and the so-called 'glam-rockers,' who were all 'peace and love' - not. Neither, in a darkly different vein, was Charles Manson's 'family.'

This obvious pilot for a television show (that, thankfully, was never picked up by the networks) is attempting to come to terms with a culture that was already as withered as yesterday's flowers. The script must have been lying around a few years - by the time it was produced, writer Carlino had already achieved recognition for tough Mafia revenge tales. And the cultural references are all to "Easy Rider" and Woodstock (1969). The music referenced on the soundtrack is actually earlier, 1966/67 - at Woodstock Hendrix, Canned Heat, and Sly and the Family Stone had blasted this kind of folk-pop into oblivion.

The movie is about a middle-class family that goes on the road in order to meet hippies. Wow, man, farout, outasight, it's a groovy mind-blowing happening of a bag. However, politics count for nothing - Vietnam? some place in Asia, right?

This average (meaning stale and vacuous) TV movie is only redeemed by Jeff Bridges' surprisingly mature performance as the young college drop-out who convinces his parents and grandma to 'discover' (hippie) America. All the rest of the performances are standard TV fair by standard TV actors of the time. The director avails himself of some nice location cinematography, but otherwise the film is a poor way to spend 90 minutes.

I knew it was all over when Sal Mineo remarks of a young runaway (who tells the other characters they are not really there): "She's a latent existentialist." Wow, far out, groovy.

A couple extra points for being 'so bad it's funny,' but if you don't care about the '70's TV version of the '60's, stay away.