The Source: The Story of the Beats and the Beat Generation (1999)

Traces the Beats from Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac's meeting in 1944 at Columbia University to the deaths of Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs in 1997. Three actors provide dramatic ... See full summary »

Director:

Chuck Workman

Writer:

Chuck Workman

Stars:

Johnny Depp, John Turturro, Dennis Hopper

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Johnny Depp	...	Jack Kerouac
Dennis Hopper	...	William S. Burroughs
John Turturro	...	Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg	...	Himself
Philip Glass	...	Himself
Robert Creeley	...	Himself
Ann Charters	...	Herself
George Steade	...	Himself
David Amram	...	Himself
William S. Burroughs	...	Himself
Ed Sanders	...	Himself
Gregory Corso	...	Himself
Kyle Roderick	...	Himself - Corso biographer
Lawrence Ferlinghetti	...	Himself
Ken Kesey	...	Himself (archive footage)

Storyline

Traces the Beats from Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac's meeting in 1944 at Columbia University to the deaths of Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs in 1997. Three actors provide dramatic interpretations of the work of these three writers, and the film chronicles their friendships, their arrival into American consciousness, their travels, frequent parodies, Kerouac's death, and Ginsberg's politicization. Their movement connects with bebop, John Cage's music, abstract expressionism, and living theater. In recent interviews, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Kesey, Ferlinghetti, Mailer, Jerry Garcia, Tom Hayden, Gary Snyder, Ed Sanders, and others measure the Beats' meaning and impact.

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Plot Keywords:

kerouac | writer | public television | poet | poetry | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | History

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 January 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Fonte

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$16,821, 29 August 1999, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$360,895, 21 May 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Beat Productions,Calliope Films,WNET Channel 13 New York

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Color:

Black and White Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmmaker Jason Rosette appears briefly in the scene at the student center during the reading of Kerouac's "On the Road".

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Connections

Features Not Necessarily the News (1982)

User Reviews

Too Much of a Love Letter

This film is simply a love letter to the three writers Allen Ginsburg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs. The film offers no dissenting viewpoints, and provides very little evidence to back up its claims that these three men were somehow 'The Source' for all counter culture movements that followed them.

This is a preposterous claim. The Beats were simply part of a long tradition of counter culture art that began in earnest in the mid 19th Century.

Anyways, outside of some sloppy history, the film does at least seem to capture the spirit of who the Beats were. What it fails to do, however, is convince me that I should still actually care who they were. So, for a fan this film will be a joy ride, but for people, like me, who have always been somewhat ambivilant about the Beats, it doesn't do much convincing.