Magic Trip (2011)

Directors:

Alison Ellwood
Alex Gibney

Writers (WGA):

Alex Gibney (screenplay) &
Alison Ellwood (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

5 August 2011 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place

Plot:

A freewheeling portrait of Ken Kesey and the Merry Prankster's fabled road trip across America. |

Cast

Stanley Tucci	...	Narrator
Timothy Leary	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jack Kerouac	...	Himself (archive footage)
Allen Ginsberg	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ken Kesey	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jerry Garcia	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ram Dass	...	Himself (archive footage)
The Grateful Dead	...	Themselves (archive footage)
Neal Cassady	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bob Weir	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ken Babbs	...	Himself (archive footage)
Phil Lesh	...	Himself (archive footage)
Paula Sundsten	...	Herself (archive footage)
Ron McKernan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Kathy Casamo	...	Herself (archive footage)
Bill Kreutzmann	...	Himself (archive footage)
Jane Burton	...	Herself (archive footage)
Steve Lambrecht	...	Himself (archive footage)
John Babbs	...	Himself (archive footage)
George Walker	...	Himself (archive footage)

Directed by
Alison Ellwood
Alex Gibney

Writing credits (WGA)
Alex Gibney		(screenplay) &
Alison Ellwood		(screenplay)
Ken Kesey		(words and recordings)

Produced by
Robert Belau	....	executive producer
Sam Black	....	associate producer
Will Clarke	....	producer
Alex Gibney	....	producer
Alexandra Johnes	....	producer
Susan Johnson	....	associate producer
Gareth Wiley	....	executive producer

Original Music by
David Kahne

Film Editing by
Alison Ellwood

Production Management
Samara Levenstein	....	post-production supervisor

Sound Department
Steve Giammaria	....	assistant re-recording mixer
Greg Smith	....	sound editor

Visual Effects by
Joey Salim	....	designer: acid trip special sequences

Camera and Electrical Department
Ray Dominguez	....	grip

Editorial Department
Brett Banks	....	first assistant editor
Joshua Bregman	....	assistant editor
Molle DeBartolo	....	digital intermediate producer
Joe Gawler	....	digital intermediate colorist
Lindy Jankura	....	co-editor
Ryan McMahon	....	conform editor
Benjamin Murray	....	supervising conforming editor

Other crew
Jerry Aronson	....	archive material courtesy of
Kacie Barton	....	production coordinator: main title and acid trip special sequences
Jeremy Cox	....	designer: acid trip special sequences
Theo Daley	....	designer: acid trip special sequences
Theo Daley	....	title designer
Karin Fong	....	creative director: designer: acid trip special sequences
Karin Fong	....	title designer
Colleen Goodhue	....	intern
Barbara Karen	....	production accountant
Cara McKenney	....	main title producer
Robert Stein	....	counsel: e & o
Alan Semok	....	puppetry consultant (uncredited)

Production Companies

• A&E IndieFilms
• Phoenix Wiley (produced in association with)

Distributors

• Magnolia Pictures (2011) (USA) (theatrical)
• Pretty Pictures (2010) (France) (theatrical)
• Madman Entertainment (2010) (Australia) (TV)
• Magnolia Home Entertainment (2012) (USA) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Imaginary Forces (in association with)

Other Companies

• Dolby Laboratories  sound mix
• Imaginary Forces  main titles

Also Known As:

MPAA:

Rated R for drug content, language and some nudity

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R

Company:

A&E IndieFilms

Trivia:

Martin Scorsese's film foundation helped fund the repair of the damaged Kesey footage by technicians from UCLA, who labored for over a year. Synching up the film to its separate snippets of audio track proved so daunting that director Alison Ellwood resorted to hiring a lip reader to determine what words people were mouthing.

Soundtrack:

I Got My Mojo Working

Honest look at mid-sixties might only be for most voracious viewers

Magic Trip is a real-time documentary, cobbled together from 40-year-old film, about a cross-country trek just prior to the big hippie invasions of the mid-to-late 1960s. It's a time capsule, and it's a highly informative one for those of us who weren't there. It's a jumping-off point to explain the lovefests, the Be-Ins, the protests, the marches, the Woodstocks, and the Altamonts. It's a relic of its time as well, but it's also a genuine look at a mostly far-gone time.

It's 1964. The sixties, we're told, didn't really begin in 1960 (or 1961) but rather in November of 1963, when Kennedy was killed. The nation's innocence was lost, and the younger souls - our baby boomers - looked for something to help guide them into the future. The plastic days of picket-fenced houses and nuclear families were disappearing. People needed something new. That something new, it turned out, was LSD - a perfectly legal substance at the time.

Ken Kesey was the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a writer of some reknown. In '63, he and a few friends were visiting New York City and witnessed the preparations for the following year's World's Fair. Kesey, who lived in Oregon, determined on the spot that he'd grab some people and make a trip across America to the fair. The group would up too big for a station wagon, so an old International Harvester bus was procured and customized, including plenty of filming equipment. The bus was painted in an array of bright, friendly, psychedelic colors, and off they went.

The group called itself the Merry Pranksters, and everyone had his or her own nickname. Along for the ride was Neil Cassady. Never heard of him? You should read Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road; the character of Dean Moriarity was based on Cassady. Cassady was a real character, a speed-taking oddity who drove like a maniac and had zillions of stories to tell. All he needed was an audience.

Like most documentaries, this movie will be enjoyed best by those who were present during that era and by those who wish they were. If you're not emotionally invested in the story, you might think you're watching a bunch of wackos on drugs careen about the country, having sex every three seconds and dropping acid. You'd be right, but you might not enjoy it much. And surely not as much as the participants did.

If I recall, the movie uses nothing but the footage shot during the trip to New York, with some new narration by actor Stanley Tucci. This lends quite the feel of veritas to the proceedings; it's exactly like watching home movies, at least if your family is a little deranged. But drugs or not, what's interesting is that we see hardly any real conflicts - people get along, for the most part, even when some leave the trip before reaching the final destination. It's a good-vibe film, and none of it feels manufactured.

I guess that's what I find most appealing about Magic Trip. It's honest, and it's fun. It gives you a glimpse into those sometimes twisted times - times, it should be noted, look like a cakewalk compared to what we have now. In '64, we weren't even heavily into Vietnam, and the anti- hippie tone had yet to sweep the nation. The bus got pulled over numerous times, but since hippiedom was so new, cops just figured the occupants were college kids out having fun. Ah, for those times now.