Neal Cassady (2007)

The story of what happened to Neal Cassady after Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" came out. Deals primarily with Neal's relationship to his fictional alter-ego, Dean Moriarty.

Director:

Noah Buschel

Writer:

Noah Buschel

Stars:

Tate Donovan, Amy Ryan, Glenn Fitzgerald

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tate Donovan	...	Neal Cassady
Amy Ryan	...	Carolyn Cassady
Glenn Fitzgerald	...	Jack Kerouac
Chris Bauer	...	Ken Kesey
Hanna Hall	...	Sophie Bloom (as Hanna R. Hall)
Josh Hamilton	...	Crook Sherman
Brendan Sexton III	...	Little Big
Liza Weil	...	Doris Delay
Merritt Wever	...	Mountain Girl
Stephen Adly Guirgis	...	Cassady Senior
Paz de la Huerta	...	Tonya Novak
Shareeka Epps	...	Annie Gibson
Josh Pais	...	Calbert Holt
Olek Krupa	...	Julian Nabokov
Christopher McCann	...	Hank Anderson

Storyline

A look at Neal Cassady, who was an icon of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic movement of the 1960s, perhaps best known as the inspiration for the character of Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac's classic On the Road.

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Plot Keywords:

beat generation | acid | gasoline | fame | lsd | 

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Taglines:

Going on the road made him a legend. Now he just has to live it down.

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

IFC official page

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 October 2007 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,100,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jean Doumanian Productions, Neal Cassady

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Color:

Color Black and White

Did You Know?

Connections

References Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

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Soundtracks

"Time Has Come Today"
Written by Willie Chambers and Joseph Chambers
Performed by The Chambers Brothers
Courtesy of Sony BMG Music Entertainment

User Reviews

Decent try but lacks clarity and purpose

The beat generation and the hippies of the sixties were important social movements, but if they are not understood in the context of their times, they appear to be merely the meaningless eruptions of colorful angst-ridden adolescents..This film does not add any social context around the behavior of Cassady, Kerouac, and Kesey. They are prancing, exhibitionistic adolescents with Neal Cassady playing a holy fool, a court jester, to the more articulate and productive Kerouac and Kesey. He is an irresponsible guy driving a bus while stoned and caring about, but abandoning, his family.

So does this merit a biographical film? The fictional Dean Moriarty would be a good film subject. he was the personification of rebellion against the structured family oriented pressures of the 1950s, and he said interesting things. This film makes it clear that the real Neal Cassady was not a Dean Moriarty-it is stated explicitly. Thus, we have a film about a goofy, not very interesting guy. Not a compelling subject.

Sure, Kerouac appears-and his role is well played and makes its points- but his is a small part of this film.. Kesey is portrayed as a bit of a hollow shell. So what? Why were they writing the things they were writing? What were they saying to America and why? All left out of the film. Thus it seems aimless and purposeless.