Psych-Out

Name: Psych-Out
Genre: Drama
Released: 1968-03-06
Duration: 1 h 41 min
Rating: 6
Cast: Susan Strasberg, Dean Stockwell, Jack Nicholson

19681968
Not RatedNot Rated
1h 41m

A deaf runaway arrives in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury hippie district looking for her missing brother.A deaf runaway arrives in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury hippie district looking for her missing brother.A deaf runaway arrives in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury hippie district looking for her missing brother.

6.0/10

2.7K

Director
- Richard Rush
Writers
- E. Hunter Willett(screenplay)
- Betty Ulius(screenplay)
- Betty Tusher(screenplay)
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Videos1

Trailer 2:49

Trailer

Jack Nicholson and Susan Strasberg in Psych-Out (1968)

Director
- Richard Rush
Writers
- E. Hunter Willett(screenplay) (story)
- Betty Ulius(screenplay)
- Betty Tusher(screenplay) (story) (uncredited)
All cast & crew
See more cast details at IMDbPro

Jenny, a deaf runaway who has just arrived in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district to find her long-lost brother, a mysterious bearded sculptor known around town as The Seeker. She falls in with a psychedelic band, Mumblin' Jim, whose members include Stoney, Ben, and Elwood. They hide her from the fuzz in their crash pad, a Victorian house crowded with love beads and necking couples. Mumblin' Jim's truth-seeking friend Dave considers the band's pursuit of success "playing games," but he agrees to help Jennie anyway. —alfiehitchie

hare krishna psychotronic film drugsploitation 1960s looking for missing relative 50 more

Taglines
- come where the PLEASURE LOVERS are
Genre
- Drama
Certificate
- Not Rated
Parents guide
- Add content advisory

Trivia
The movie was meant to perform the same function in relation to The Trip (1967). Jack Nicholson had written a script that director Richard Rush thought was too "experimental" for mainstream cinema, so the concept of a 'youth" film based in San Francisco and dealing with flower power and drugs was taken over by other writers and Nicholson did not eventually receive a screen credit for his work, although he took what was essentially the male lead in the picture. But Nicholson wrote the part of Stoney for himself as part of the package.

Goofs
During The Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow" song, the lead guitarist's guitar changes halfway through the song.

Quotes
Ben: Stoney! Warren's freakin' out at the gallery!

Alternate versions
The UK cinema version was unreleased until 1972 and then cut by the BBFC to heavily edit the yard fight between the workmen and the hippies. All later video and DVD releases were fully uncut.

Connections
Edited into Love & Haight (2003)

Soundtracks
Incense and Peppermints
Written by John Shakespeare (as John Carter) and Tim Gilbert
Performed by The Strawberry Alarm Clock

Top review

Classic psychedelic trash!

If you try and take 'Psych-Out' seriously you're making a big mistake. This is Haight-Ashbury presented by Dick Clark after all! But as 60s camp it's great fun, and dare I say it worth watching more than "real" head movies from the period like 'Chappaqua' and Antonioni's 'Zabriskie Point'. This mightn't be what the 60s were really like, but after watching Mumblin' Jim and fans at the Ballroom, or the happiest funeral ever, music courtesy of garage Gods The Seeds, you'll wish that it was, and that you were there!

Jack Nicholson stars as Stoney, the leader of small time psych rock band Mumblin Jim'. His band mates include Adam Roarke ('Dirty Mary Crazy Larry') and Max Julien ('The Mack'). Deaf beauty Jenny (Susan Strasberg, 'The Trip') is a runaway looking for estranged brother Steve (Bruce Dern, 'Silent Running'), now known locally as "The Seeker". Dean Stockwell ('Paris, Texas') returned to the screen after a few years absence as tripped out oracle Dave ("It's all just one big plastic hassle", "reality is a dangerous place",etc.). Also look out for future directors Gary Marshall (an uptight cop) and Henry Jaglom (a classic zombie-hallucinating freak out scene!), and performances by Strawberry Alarm Clock.

A splendid time is guaranteed for all just as long as you stay away from the rednecks at the rubbish dump, avoid playing in the traffic on STP, and nobody doing the dirty dishes. Grooovy baby!

helpful•32