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

"Psycho Drama"
Written and Performed by Don Cherry
Courtesy of LicenseMusic.com APS/Charly Records and MCS Music, Ltd.

User Reviews

Beat Junkeration

This movie reeks.

It is a stinker.

It fails.

As someone who found his way to "literature" through "the beats", this movie really let me down. It felt more like Beavis & Butthead.

I did not believe a single scene or a single syllable of it. I know I am being harsh, but if you are going to play beatnik icons, then you better do it right and you better know what you are doing.

I will say this, in order to be positive, they tried. All of them. Everyone involved gives it a shot, but it lacks authenticity. It is tough reaching for the impossible. It is hard to combine awesome poetry with massive drug use. Few actors could pull it off and these simply don't. Everything falls flat. All of it. One missed opportunity after another! There was a glory to their story and there was a sadness too. There is inspiration and depression, muses and despair, but this film floats somewhere in limbo not going anywhere.

I wanted to like it. I watched it hoping it would be what it just isn't.

I painfully await the movie version of ON THE ROAD. And beg the gods for mercy!