It's a rock band - hippie gang trying to protect a deaf runaway girl while on the search for her missing brother, but instead, they're taking The Trip to nowhere. Director Rush, who gave pony-tailed Nicholson some star treatment in HELL'S ANGELS ON WHEELS, delivers this pretty good view of offbeat, sublime hysteria pertaining to the drug frenzy that popularized late 60s culture. One troubling factor, though: it was made to immoralize society as we once knew it. Just say "wicked", and you'll enjoy this cinematic acid trip that isn't half-bad. RATING: * * 1/2
43 Reviews
The Seeds cameo was too short
ethylester19 September 2003
Most everything people have already said about this movie is how I think about it, too. However, I would like to say for the Seeds fans out there that might try to see the film so they can see the Seeds footage that it's way too brief. I love the Seeds and I wanted desperately to see some closeups of the guys in action. Maybe see some good dancing by Sky or even get a good group shot. I was pretty disappointed to see Sky rocking out to some bad synchronizing on part of the audio engineers. It makes him look like he has no sense of rhythm! And you only get to see him for half seconds at a time. And Daryl Hooper (organist) isn't even shown when the band plays! It spends more time showing Jan Savage's fingers playing guitar than it spends on the any other Seeds shot. Quite a disappointment, especially since there is hardly any footage of this amazing band anywhere. Aside from that, the Strawberry Alarm Clock get great coverage, which is nice.
The plot of the movie is really entertaining as well. But I wonder, why didn't Jenny talk like a deaf person? I guess it's because you're led to believe she really isn't deaf.
Either way, it's a good movie with some good tripping scenes and cool clothes and lines: "Why are you dancing alone?" "I'm not, I'm dancing with everybody!" yikes! that's heavy! haha
The plot of the movie is really entertaining as well. But I wonder, why didn't Jenny talk like a deaf person? I guess it's because you're led to believe she really isn't deaf.
Either way, it's a good movie with some good tripping scenes and cool clothes and lines: "Why are you dancing alone?" "I'm not, I'm dancing with everybody!" yikes! that's heavy! haha
Welcome to the world of peace and love, produced by Dick Clark!
Quinoa198429 December 2002
Psych-Out is as much a skewed look at the world of hippies as much as it is a praise-full one- Clark knew that he couldn't show hippies as they really were, despite that he could get filming rights in Haight-Ashbury and other sections of San Francisco, but hey if you're not going for realism, go for ciche! And what ciche it is: Strausberg is a deaf runaway looking in San Fran for her brother, played by Bruce Dern (a near Jesus look-a-like), named the Seeker, and yet instead falls in with a psychadelic rock group called Mumblin Jim, headed by Stoney, Jack Nicholson in a pre-Easy Rider look. The plot is used as a thread to showcase various cliched scenes; the pad filled with hippie-people, the acid-freak out, the scuffle with the fuzz (one of which a young Garry Marhsall), the scuffle with the regular folk, and the music scenes, one of which is a abhorrition on Hendrix's Purple Haze (it's the opening chords played backwards!). Yet, I can reccomend this movie to nostagia-fanatics, ex-hippie film buffs, and for those who'd like to see Nicholson before he started making money in Hollywood, and this is not saying he's bad in this, he's quite good considering the tripe of a screenplay. Another small plus is Kovacs on photography.
And hey, don't forget the Strawberry Alarm Clock and the seeds! B
And hey, don't forget the Strawberry Alarm Clock and the seeds! B
Classic psychedelic trash!
Infofreak3 January 2002
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!
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!
Bad Trip Dude.
sol121818 August 2005
(Minor Spoilers) Trveling to the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco to find her hippie brother Steve, Bruce Dern, pretty but hard of hearing Jenny Davis, Susan Strasberg, get's hooked up with a number of local hippie musicians and an high hippie Guru. The Hippies soon get her addicted to their free love and drug lifestyle that in the end almost cost Jenny her life.
Not that hip with what's happening Jenny falls for smooth talking Stoney (Jack Nicholson) ,by reading his lips, and ends up being bedded down by him at his pad together with a number of his other girlfriends.
Turned on to dangerous hallucinogenic drugs not only by Stoney but hippie Guru Dave(Dean Stockwell) who thinks he's the real deal, when it come to the free-love hippie lifestyle, that his fellow hippie Stoney's isn't. Jenny's brother Steve it turns out is on the run from a gang of thugs who dislike his free-love philosophy. When Jenny and her hippie friends Ben & Elwood, Adam Roarke & Max Julien, together with Stoney go to the junkyard, where Steve had made his home away from home,their attacked by these goons who try to rape Jenny. In the end they gets their butts kicked in by the suddenly non-peaceful but hard hitting hippies.
The fact that Steve, and artist, has his masterpiece on display at the Warren Gellery ,where Stony & Co. are staying at, has him sneaks in at night in order to retrieve it. Confronted by Stoney Steve is told that his sister Jenny's looking for him.
Complety blowing his cover Steve's trapped in a burning building by the thugs who've been looking for him and ends up possibly killed. Were never really shown what happened to Steve much less told just why these thugs were so hateful to him. Since he was just one of thousands of hippies in the city who shared the same ideas that he did; so why did they single him out for special treatment? Jenny is later turned on by Dave, who should have know better, on acid that blows her mind and causes Jenny to drift out on the dangerous Golden Gate Bridge.
With Jenny staggering onto the bridge's roadway and about to be run down and killed by the oncoming traffic Dave, in a moment of redemption for what he did to her, heroically saved Jenny's life but at the cost of his own.
Pretty good film about the 1960's counter culture with guest appearances by the popular late 1960's musical groups "The Seeds" & "The Strawberry Alarm clock". With Jack Nicholson looking more like an extra from the Mel Gibson American Revolutionery epic "The Patriot" then a 1960's type hippie.
Not that hip with what's happening Jenny falls for smooth talking Stoney (Jack Nicholson) ,by reading his lips, and ends up being bedded down by him at his pad together with a number of his other girlfriends.
Turned on to dangerous hallucinogenic drugs not only by Stoney but hippie Guru Dave(Dean Stockwell) who thinks he's the real deal, when it come to the free-love hippie lifestyle, that his fellow hippie Stoney's isn't. Jenny's brother Steve it turns out is on the run from a gang of thugs who dislike his free-love philosophy. When Jenny and her hippie friends Ben & Elwood, Adam Roarke & Max Julien, together with Stoney go to the junkyard, where Steve had made his home away from home,their attacked by these goons who try to rape Jenny. In the end they gets their butts kicked in by the suddenly non-peaceful but hard hitting hippies.
The fact that Steve, and artist, has his masterpiece on display at the Warren Gellery ,where Stony & Co. are staying at, has him sneaks in at night in order to retrieve it. Confronted by Stoney Steve is told that his sister Jenny's looking for him.
Complety blowing his cover Steve's trapped in a burning building by the thugs who've been looking for him and ends up possibly killed. Were never really shown what happened to Steve much less told just why these thugs were so hateful to him. Since he was just one of thousands of hippies in the city who shared the same ideas that he did; so why did they single him out for special treatment? Jenny is later turned on by Dave, who should have know better, on acid that blows her mind and causes Jenny to drift out on the dangerous Golden Gate Bridge.
With Jenny staggering onto the bridge's roadway and about to be run down and killed by the oncoming traffic Dave, in a moment of redemption for what he did to her, heroically saved Jenny's life but at the cost of his own.
Pretty good film about the 1960's counter culture with guest appearances by the popular late 1960's musical groups "The Seeds" & "The Strawberry Alarm clock". With Jack Nicholson looking more like an extra from the Mel Gibson American Revolutionery epic "The Patriot" then a 1960's type hippie.
... sick-making at times and occasionally amusing
anxiousgayhorseonketamine13 October 2020
At the same time you had blaxploitation movies you also had hipsploitation films too ... actors who understood NOTHING of what was going on ( Nicholson is a great actor but NOT a hippie him and his mates here look like jocks going to a costumed ball ) acted in movies written by studios trying to cash in on the latest in their eyes fad ... most of these 60's films used "straights" in hippie drag and that is never going to be convincing; it is literally a travesty...
Also it must be strange they felt they had to sample scenes from West Side Story in effect .... the final message was do not do drugz kidz they will fork u up ... fine by me but not done this way ... watch The Strawberry Statement instead or Zabriskie Point or More 1969 by Barbet Schroeder more honest films about the period & simply better films ...
Also it must be strange they felt they had to sample scenes from West Side Story in effect .... the final message was do not do drugz kidz they will fork u up ... fine by me but not done this way ... watch The Strawberry Statement instead or Zabriskie Point or More 1969 by Barbet Schroeder more honest films about the period & simply better films ...
Fun look back
rosscinema8 January 2003
Dick Clark produced this film and I think the problem is it's not edgy enough as far as the drug taking and being hippies. Jack Nicholson seems to just act like a hippie while he really just wants to get laid and play in his band. The real locations of Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco are terrific as you really get to see what that part of the city looked like. In some scenes the onlookers across the street are looking at the camera and waving. Dean Stockwell lives in a box on a roof and spouts all sort of hippie lingo and tries to get laid. Henry Jaglom and Garry Marshall show up in small roles. Bruce Dern as The Seeker is rather confusing. I guess he's just a drug addict and the end of the film has me thinking that Dick Clark wanted to make an anti-drug film after all. Susan Strasberg was always excellent and even in a silly film like this she stands out. Nicholson's hands don't move when he's playing the guitar! Groovy!
Bad trip in San Francisco
bkoganbing1 September 2012
Two of the quirkiest actors of the last half century, Jack Nicholson and Bruce Dern have roles in Psych-Out about a young deaf mute girl who goes to San Francisco searching for her brother and falls in with some hippies. Nicholson being one of the hippies and Dern being her brother.
This film was produced by Dick Clark who was always known as the world's oldest teenager and Clark back in those days tried to stay as close to the youth scene as possible. Psych-Out was his attempt to break from the rock and roll scene that typified the Kennedy administration and get down with the hippie era. He was even behind the times here because in 1968 it was getting a lot edgier and the music reflected it. Imagine not a single reference to the war in Vietnam in this film.
It was also supposed to be a message against the use of LSD by the young. I don't think Dick got the message through though. The testament of a lot of drugged out people ten years later was better received.
Susan Strasberg is the deaf mute girl who is looking for her brother who has now become some kind of crazed religious zealot. Nicholson is part of a group that plays rock which also consists of Dean Stockwell. He and Stockwell both get ideas about Strasberg.
In the meantime poor Dern has gotten the ire of some rednecks and why they have it in for him as opposed to others of the thousands of hippies moved into the Haight-Asbury district back then is never really made clear.
Both Nicholson and Dern spend a lot of time working on the distinct mannerisms and speech patter that made them most imitatible in the future. Nicholson wrote the script, but all this film proved is that Jack may have found out he should stay in front of the camera.
Psyched-Out is a glimpse of the Sixties as seen through the eyes of the Fifties.
This film was produced by Dick Clark who was always known as the world's oldest teenager and Clark back in those days tried to stay as close to the youth scene as possible. Psych-Out was his attempt to break from the rock and roll scene that typified the Kennedy administration and get down with the hippie era. He was even behind the times here because in 1968 it was getting a lot edgier and the music reflected it. Imagine not a single reference to the war in Vietnam in this film.
It was also supposed to be a message against the use of LSD by the young. I don't think Dick got the message through though. The testament of a lot of drugged out people ten years later was better received.
Susan Strasberg is the deaf mute girl who is looking for her brother who has now become some kind of crazed religious zealot. Nicholson is part of a group that plays rock which also consists of Dean Stockwell. He and Stockwell both get ideas about Strasberg.
In the meantime poor Dern has gotten the ire of some rednecks and why they have it in for him as opposed to others of the thousands of hippies moved into the Haight-Asbury district back then is never really made clear.
Both Nicholson and Dern spend a lot of time working on the distinct mannerisms and speech patter that made them most imitatible in the future. Nicholson wrote the script, but all this film proved is that Jack may have found out he should stay in front of the camera.
Psyched-Out is a glimpse of the Sixties as seen through the eyes of the Fifties.
Holy S**t
kakkarot26 November 2000
When I first read the synopsis for Psych-Out, I expected it to be incredibly stupid, but once I watched it I decided otherwise. This film provides a rare look into a time too offen reduced to nostalgic simplicities. A true time capsule, watch and see. NOTE: It is quite embarrassing when Nicholson is miming (on guitar) a bastardized version of Purple Haze, but the scene is enjoyable nonetheless. Great music by Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Seeds (both bands perform live in the film). The STP sequences are fun to watch. Another part is where Elwoood (Max Julian)fights a bunch of garbage gargoyles in a local dump, but since he ate a hit of acid, he sees them as knights and dragons. Bruce Dern plays a good role in this film as 'The Seeker' who is being looked for by his sister Jenny (Susan Strasberg). Dave (Dean Stockwell) is an acid freak and his role is equally effective. But the main treat is seeing Jack Nicholson (as Stoney) with long hair saying 'out of sight' and crashing around in a van with his psychedelic band, Mumblin' Jim. Although not for everyone, this film can be incredibly enjoyable.
Actors too old to play flower power hippies. Fun anyway
rebeccax523 January 2019
Bad camp
moonspinner5514 April 2002
I doubt San Francisco ever looked like this, even in 1968! Here, a deaf girl searches the city for her brother but becomes involved with a hippie rock band. Dick Clark-produced relic has jaw-dropping, pot-soaked set-pieces and clichéd characters galore ("Pleasure Lovers", according to the ads). Susan Strasberg and Jack Nicholson, playing a fellow named Stoney (!), head up quite an interesting cast; Jack is charismatic, as usual, and Adam Roarke proves yet again he had real star power. Unfortunately, the script by E. Hunter Willett and Betty Ulius, from Willett's original story, is a stinker. Richard Rush directed, in scattershot fashion. * from ****
Stupid, but VERY colorful and never dull
preppy-32 December 2002
A 17 year old deaf mute (Susan Stasberg!?!) tries to find her brother (Bruce Dern) in 1968 San Franciscos Haight-Ashbury area. A musician (Jack Nicholson) and his friends try to help her.
The plot is unbelievable from the word "go" and, despite location shooting in Haight-Ashbury, this is a very Hollywoodized look at hippies. Everybody is so healthy, friendly, helpful and they live in colorful, spotlessly clean huge houses happily. That was NOT the way it was--any documentary on the 60s could tell you that. Realism aside, this is one of AIP's best pictures.
The dialogue is VERY dated (and hysterically funny) as are the situations, but the film never stops moving, is shot in deep rich color, has good acting (considering) and is never once dull. Check out a most interesting "funeral" in the film and a very funny sex sequence. However, at the end, it gets VERY serious and has a depressing ending. Too bad--it's totally at odds with the rest of the film. Still--well worth seeing.
It also stars Dean Stockwell (who has the best lines) and Garry Marshall (!!!) in a bit as a cop! Produced by Dick Clark!
The plot is unbelievable from the word "go" and, despite location shooting in Haight-Ashbury, this is a very Hollywoodized look at hippies. Everybody is so healthy, friendly, helpful and they live in colorful, spotlessly clean huge houses happily. That was NOT the way it was--any documentary on the 60s could tell you that. Realism aside, this is one of AIP's best pictures.
The dialogue is VERY dated (and hysterically funny) as are the situations, but the film never stops moving, is shot in deep rich color, has good acting (considering) and is never once dull. Check out a most interesting "funeral" in the film and a very funny sex sequence. However, at the end, it gets VERY serious and has a depressing ending. Too bad--it's totally at odds with the rest of the film. Still--well worth seeing.
It also stars Dean Stockwell (who has the best lines) and Garry Marshall (!!!) in a bit as a cop! Produced by Dick Clark!
Far more watchable than I would have suspected
planktonrules18 February 2009
Warning: Spoilers
This is a film that I had absolutely no interest in seeing. However, a friend offered me the DVD and said I would like it--even if I already had seen and hated THE TRIP (which was also on the same disc). Well, I must say that I was very surprised as I did actually enjoyed it--probably because viewers can see what they want in this odd film. For those who look back longingly to the 60s and its drug culture, the film is like a glorious flashback. And, conversely, for those who felt the late 60s went way overboard and glamorized drug use, then they will probably see the film as a having a good anti-drug message! Imagine, two opposite camps enjoying the same film for entirely different reasons! Oddly, this "hip" film was produced by Dick Clark--a man who described himself in the documentary included with this film ("Love & Haight") as a "total square". Also, it was very unusual to note that all the lead actors were in their 30s--quite a bit older than the actual hippies of the day.
The film begins with Susan Strasberg arriving in San Francisco to find her brother. However, it seems as if he's just disappeared and so she ends up shacking up in a wreck of a home with Jack Nicholson and his friends--many of which are in Jack's band. Here, there is lots of free love and drugs as they all dig being in a happening city. While Susan does look for her brother, it's all rather episodic--with lots of exceptional music (by the Strawberry Alarm Clock) presented in a way almost like a series of music videos. Eventually, she does find her brother (played in a bit part by Bruce Dern) but tragedy strikes thanks to LSD and other mind-altering drugs.
For an American-International drug film, the production had amazingly good production values. And, if you don't particularly like the plot, you can look at the whole thing as a small time capsule of the era. This would make an excellent double-feature with ALICE'S RESTAURANT. Worth seeing, that's for sure.
Finally, as Ms. Strasberg played a lady who had hysterical deafness, there was one odd note. When the bands were playing she said that she didn't dance because she was deaf. Perhaps hysterically deaf people don't, but deaf people in general love to dance--particularly if there's a strong bass--which this rock music had in spades!
The film begins with Susan Strasberg arriving in San Francisco to find her brother. However, it seems as if he's just disappeared and so she ends up shacking up in a wreck of a home with Jack Nicholson and his friends--many of which are in Jack's band. Here, there is lots of free love and drugs as they all dig being in a happening city. While Susan does look for her brother, it's all rather episodic--with lots of exceptional music (by the Strawberry Alarm Clock) presented in a way almost like a series of music videos. Eventually, she does find her brother (played in a bit part by Bruce Dern) but tragedy strikes thanks to LSD and other mind-altering drugs.
For an American-International drug film, the production had amazingly good production values. And, if you don't particularly like the plot, you can look at the whole thing as a small time capsule of the era. This would make an excellent double-feature with ALICE'S RESTAURANT. Worth seeing, that's for sure.
Finally, as Ms. Strasberg played a lady who had hysterical deafness, there was one odd note. When the bands were playing she said that she didn't dance because she was deaf. Perhaps hysterically deaf people don't, but deaf people in general love to dance--particularly if there's a strong bass--which this rock music had in spades!
Psychotic Out
info-169519 May 2010
This movie might seem appealing to someone who didn't live through the era. Having lived through it in California, I can assure you that little was appealing about screaming students being wheeled away on ambulance gurneys and helpless, drugged girls wandering naked around my university campus after having been raped by various guys. This cynical movie is typical of Hollywood's exploitation of the self-destructive behavior of children and young adults. There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits. (More lines added to meet 10-line requirement: There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits. There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits. There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits. There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits.)
A look at the 60's.
gmcu29 August 2018
My name is George Cox and I was the lead singer for the Storybook who recorded the majority of songs for this movie. We were a local San Fernando Valley band who were brought into the production by Ronald Stein and Dick Clark to help produce the music for this movie. It seems that the Strawberry Alarm Clock and the Seeds got most of credit for the music in this movie. My group and I really enjoyed all the recording sessions to produce the music for this soundtrack album. We also enjoyed watching the film once it was produced as it showed the life in San Francisco and Haight-Ashbury as it was in the 60s.
A Bit of a Mess
kjs252526 January 2019
A good try but really misses the mark. A shame considering the film had the opportunity to make a statement about an important moment in history at one of the key places: San Francisco in 1968. The actors can act because they all went on to do good work. The problem was the script, and the muddled story. Too convoluted to break down but one comes away, if one had not been alive at that time, thinking the music sucked, the drugs sucked, and no one had much in the way of values or morals. But having lived thru the period and done drugs and experienced the music I have to say it was a hellava lot better than anything in this film. Good try but can't recommend, sadly.
STP!
BandSAboutMovies24 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Dude, Richard Rush has sure made some disparate movies. There's Thunder Alley, Hells Angels on Wheels and The Stunt Man, then there's Air America and Color of Night. But he also made this, which reminds me that if I was alive in 1968, I would have died young.
Jenny (Susan Strasberg) is a deaf girl looking for her brother Steve, who left behind a note that said, "Jess Saes: God is alive and well and living in a sugar cube." That leads her to Haight-Ashbury and the band Mumblin' Jim, led by Stoney (Jack Nicholson).
Henry Jaglom, who wrote My Lunches With Orson: Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles, is an artist that does the band's posters. When they go to see him, he's so messed up on 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine that he thinks everyone is the living dead and threatens them with a saw. But that's where Jenny sees some of her brother's art and learns that he's become a traveling preacher known as The Seeker. Dave (Dean Stockwell), who left the band, offers to help them find him, but everyone nearly dies in the junkyard when the gang - look for John "Bud" Cardos - attack.
The Seeker shows up and yep, he's Bruce Dern. He reveals that Jenny was beaten so badly by their mother that she had a stroke and went deaf. He wants to be clean from drugs when they meet. Meanwhile, his sister is caught between Stoney and Dave.
This movie ends as all hippy films must, in death and fire, as Stoney sets his shrine ablaze and Dave saves a tripping Jenny from a car coming right at her by sacrificing himself, remarking that he hopes death will be a good trip as he dies.
Dick Clark produced this and like a true square, he wanted the drug message to show how wrong it was to get hooked. Ah, I'm being mean.
Let's be nice - the stunts and special effects are by Gary Kent, whose adventures make up the documentary Danger God. The Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Seeds and The Storybook made most of the music in this and the concert scenes are worth watching the entire film. Plus, Garry Marshall plays an undercover cop!
Jenny (Susan Strasberg) is a deaf girl looking for her brother Steve, who left behind a note that said, "Jess Saes: God is alive and well and living in a sugar cube." That leads her to Haight-Ashbury and the band Mumblin' Jim, led by Stoney (Jack Nicholson).
Henry Jaglom, who wrote My Lunches With Orson: Conversations Between Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles, is an artist that does the band's posters. When they go to see him, he's so messed up on 2,5-Dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine that he thinks everyone is the living dead and threatens them with a saw. But that's where Jenny sees some of her brother's art and learns that he's become a traveling preacher known as The Seeker. Dave (Dean Stockwell), who left the band, offers to help them find him, but everyone nearly dies in the junkyard when the gang - look for John "Bud" Cardos - attack.
The Seeker shows up and yep, he's Bruce Dern. He reveals that Jenny was beaten so badly by their mother that she had a stroke and went deaf. He wants to be clean from drugs when they meet. Meanwhile, his sister is caught between Stoney and Dave.
This movie ends as all hippy films must, in death and fire, as Stoney sets his shrine ablaze and Dave saves a tripping Jenny from a car coming right at her by sacrificing himself, remarking that he hopes death will be a good trip as he dies.
Dick Clark produced this and like a true square, he wanted the drug message to show how wrong it was to get hooked. Ah, I'm being mean.
Let's be nice - the stunts and special effects are by Gary Kent, whose adventures make up the documentary Danger God. The Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Seeds and The Storybook made most of the music in this and the concert scenes are worth watching the entire film. Plus, Garry Marshall plays an undercover cop!
liking the first half
SnoopyStyle23 January 2019
Jenny is a deaf runaway. She arrives in Haight-Ashbury looking for her missing brother Steve (Bruce Dern). She is befriended by Stoney (Jack Nicholson) and his bandmates. They help her search for her brother while avoiding the cops. Dave (Dean Stockwell) is a disgruntled former bandmate.
The first half is alright. The characters are compelling. It's a road trip to find her brother. The high point is the junkyard where they find their big villains. I like the church where the lady complains about their way of dress which the movie turns the camera towards depictions of Christ. It's good until it turns into a psychedelic mess. The relationship drama is a bit frustrating although it's probably necessary. It would be better if Jenny catches up to Steve and joins him in escaping the junkyard thugs while rescued by Stoney. It's almost that but the plot is too muddled. This is an interesting slice of that cinematic era and it's good until it's not.
The first half is alright. The characters are compelling. It's a road trip to find her brother. The high point is the junkyard where they find their big villains. I like the church where the lady complains about their way of dress which the movie turns the camera towards depictions of Christ. It's good until it turns into a psychedelic mess. The relationship drama is a bit frustrating although it's probably necessary. It would be better if Jenny catches up to Steve and joins him in escaping the junkyard thugs while rescued by Stoney. It's almost that but the plot is too muddled. This is an interesting slice of that cinematic era and it's good until it's not.
What the Devil was up to in 1968.
Jill-6823 December 2000
Oh, I love this movie! My 16 yr.old son watched it, in spite of himself...mostly in total disbelief. My 18 yr. old thought it was stupid, but was impressed with Dean Stockwell. But this movie is wonderful in its badness! First, Jack Nicholson with long hair, who plays guitar without moving his fingers, and who can flatten the bad guys with a single punch. And that robe he wears looks a lot like the robe in Witches of Eastwick....in fact, this is what the devil must have been up to in 1968. Bruce Dern chews up the scenery in his short screen time as The Seeker, a long-haired, Manson-eyed Jesus Freak. And Dean Stockwell...charming and handsome hippie-dude, man, who lives on a San Francisco rooftop....both my daughter and I agree that he's the best part of the film. If you want a glimpse in to the silly, hippy-dippy-trippy sixties...rent this movie...and catch reruns of Laugh-In.
A lot of blissed-out fun
Scott_Mercer20 June 2003
As I was about two years old when this movie was shot, I missed the whole psychedelic/hippie/Sixties era/attitude/thing, except maybe the very tail end of it. So I was always curious about it. While I realize this is just a movie, even a distorted glimpse of that truly odd and wonderful time and place in America makes watching this more than worthwhile. Nicholson is great as usual. Susan Strasberg is fascinating to watch. Dean Stockwell in a toga and head band is a riot with the line of the film: "It's all one big plastic hassle."
The music is awesome, BUT! I must make a note that this is not genuine San Francisco hippie music. The two groups that are heard and seen in the film, the Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Seeds, were both L.A. groups! While both had a distinct sound of their own, neither of them sounded exactly like the classic San Francisco groups such as Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Moby Grape or The Charlatans. (Many L.A. bands would play in San Francisco, and still do, but groups like the SAC would probably be derided by Bay area hippies as too-slick, plastic L.A. bubblegum) A C.D. reissue of the soundtrack would be quite welcome though...
Although obviously there was some on-location shooting in San Francisco, many of the scenes were lensed in L.A., including the interiors at Jack's house (shot in a Victorian house in L.A.) and the coffee house/art gallery scenes (shot on a soundstage). Also look out for writer/producer/director Gary Marshall in the coffee house scene at the start of the film, as "The Man"! A lovable time capsule of an era that couldn't last and had to slip away too quickly.
The music is awesome, BUT! I must make a note that this is not genuine San Francisco hippie music. The two groups that are heard and seen in the film, the Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Seeds, were both L.A. groups! While both had a distinct sound of their own, neither of them sounded exactly like the classic San Francisco groups such as Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, Moby Grape or The Charlatans. (Many L.A. bands would play in San Francisco, and still do, but groups like the SAC would probably be derided by Bay area hippies as too-slick, plastic L.A. bubblegum) A C.D. reissue of the soundtrack would be quite welcome though...
Although obviously there was some on-location shooting in San Francisco, many of the scenes were lensed in L.A., including the interiors at Jack's house (shot in a Victorian house in L.A.) and the coffee house/art gallery scenes (shot on a soundstage). Also look out for writer/producer/director Gary Marshall in the coffee house scene at the start of the film, as "The Man"! A lovable time capsule of an era that couldn't last and had to slip away too quickly.
A missed opportunity
gregkero25 July 2006
If you look very closely, during the opening main-title sequence, you can spot local Haight-Ashbury residents, including Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, hanging out on Haight Street. It's too bad that Jack Nicholson's contribution to the script, and those of the screenwriters, didn't keep the story moving along at a better pace in a way that would have made the film an interesting, honest look at what the Haight was all about: people searching for peaceful, more spiritually rewarding lives, seeking media attention (to promote their message), while simultaneously shunning the commercialized "straight" world and the materialism of mainstream society. Dean Stockwell's characterization of Dave alludes to that, but the film is so rambling that it never quite gels into what should have been a really good time capsule in the way that Saturday Night Fever was and still remains.
I'M PSYCHED ON PSYCH-OUT!
definitedoll14 October 2003
I purchased this movie recently as one of those "MIDNITE MOVIES", that MGM has put out as a double feature on DVD. I absolutely love this movie. If you want to know what 1968 looked like, really looked like in the hippie world at that time, this movie is for you!
Some people might think it's a bad movie, or corny. Well, it's 1968, when people acted more like philosophers than the arrogant, ignorant "HEY YO" types of today. I would much rather have the former than the latter.
In my opinion, 1968 was the Best of times, and the Worst of times. We had Vietnam, the end of the Johnson era, and the beginning of the Nixon-Agnew regime. (and those were the good old days!) There was the young people's movement on College Campuses, War Protestation, Untimely demises of leaders such as Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King. What was once a small exclusive lifestyle in San Francisco California blossomed into a lifestyle for this country and the entire world ultimately. It was the movements of the mid-late 1960's that still fuel us today!!!
Jack Nicholson classes up any movie, and he does so here! I love Susan Strasberg, and there are many other great young actors. Bruce Dern, Dean Stockwell, Adam Rourke, to name a few. The music is mostly by the Strawberry Alarm Clock, and there is a scene called "The Beads of Innocence" that you shouldn't miss!!! The Colors, the Sounds, the Lights! It's all good!
So if you are in a mellow mood to tune in and trip out, then Psych Out is your movie! I give it a full five stars! Loved it!
Some people might think it's a bad movie, or corny. Well, it's 1968, when people acted more like philosophers than the arrogant, ignorant "HEY YO" types of today. I would much rather have the former than the latter.
In my opinion, 1968 was the Best of times, and the Worst of times. We had Vietnam, the end of the Johnson era, and the beginning of the Nixon-Agnew regime. (and those were the good old days!) There was the young people's movement on College Campuses, War Protestation, Untimely demises of leaders such as Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King. What was once a small exclusive lifestyle in San Francisco California blossomed into a lifestyle for this country and the entire world ultimately. It was the movements of the mid-late 1960's that still fuel us today!!!
Jack Nicholson classes up any movie, and he does so here! I love Susan Strasberg, and there are many other great young actors. Bruce Dern, Dean Stockwell, Adam Rourke, to name a few. The music is mostly by the Strawberry Alarm Clock, and there is a scene called "The Beads of Innocence" that you shouldn't miss!!! The Colors, the Sounds, the Lights! It's all good!
So if you are in a mellow mood to tune in and trip out, then Psych Out is your movie! I give it a full five stars! Loved it!
sober? goodbye!
oskil23 April 2007
Psych-Out, yeah, that's a pretty accurate title for an art movie of this kind.
I saw this movie with a couple of friends, and we all had a ball. If I would see this movie again, it would be under the influence of something a bit more "psych", although some scenes in the movie could freak you out..
If you like new "stoner movies" like Half Baked and such, I recommend you to watch this movie.
Because I feel that this movie has probably been an inspiration to those movies. What I'm talking about is the dialog.
The camera-job on the other hand, is a work of art i've never seen before. They have managed to make it look like a documentary, which was good for me that's born in the 80s and never got to experience the crazy 60s in San Fransisco.
But for heavenly waters, Do Not Watch This Movie like it have a good storyline, No!! Just watch it completely wasted and enjoy the ride!
I saw this movie with a couple of friends, and we all had a ball. If I would see this movie again, it would be under the influence of something a bit more "psych", although some scenes in the movie could freak you out..
If you like new "stoner movies" like Half Baked and such, I recommend you to watch this movie.
Because I feel that this movie has probably been an inspiration to those movies. What I'm talking about is the dialog.
The camera-job on the other hand, is a work of art i've never seen before. They have managed to make it look like a documentary, which was good for me that's born in the 80s and never got to experience the crazy 60s in San Fransisco.
But for heavenly waters, Do Not Watch This Movie like it have a good storyline, No!! Just watch it completely wasted and enjoy the ride!
Pleasures on Haight St. with Nicholson as Stoney
shepardjessica2 July 2004
This cool, little movie (directed by Richard Rush of Stunt Man fame) stars Susan Strasberg (good actress; daughter of Lee); she hung out with all these cool nobodies (then) as a deaf chick on Haight_Ashbury streets looking for her older brother (Bruce Dern as the Seeker). This is a YEAR befor Easy Rider (a great movie) and the plot just rolls in a exploitive-psychelic Roger Corman way that's totally the perfect drive-in movie that is not a realistic hippie, 60's, whatever statement) for 1968. Dean Stockwell plays the cool, cynical head-band dude, Nicholson is Stoney, the level-headed pot-head guitar player, Max Julien as mr. intense, Henry Jaglom as the "artist" and The Strawberry Alarm Clock" first hit single (with a real plot) on location, and then Bruce Dern later in the film, while Strasberg carries the story (deaf); It's totally cool. I assume everybody hip as scene this Universal film by now, no matter what you're into.
Check this flick (It blows away The Wild Angels and other cool exploitation films by the youth movement, even then);along with Hell's Angels on Wheels (Jack Nicholson and Sabrina Scharf - from Easy Rider) as one of the few films made on the Haight - realism would come later; like a year later because of Hopper, Fonda and, well ...you know.
Check this flick (It blows away The Wild Angels and other cool exploitation films by the youth movement, even then);along with Hell's Angels on Wheels (Jack Nicholson and Sabrina Scharf - from Easy Rider) as one of the few films made on the Haight - realism would come later; like a year later because of Hopper, Fonda and, well ...you know.
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