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IMDbPro

The Sunshine Makers

  • 2015
  • 1h 41m
IMDb RATING
7.0/10
1.5K
YOUR RATING
Nick Sand and Tim Scully in The Sunshine Makers (2015)
Trailer for The Sunshine Makers
Play trailer2:14
4 Videos
3 Photos
DocumentaryHistory

The story of Nicholas Sand and Tim Scully, the unlikely duo at the heart of 1960s American drug counter-culture.The story of Nicholas Sand and Tim Scully, the unlikely duo at the heart of 1960s American drug counter-culture.The story of Nicholas Sand and Tim Scully, the unlikely duo at the heart of 1960s American drug counter-culture.

  • Director
    • Cosmo Feilding-Mellen
  • Writers
    • Cosmo Feilding-Mellen
    • Connie Littlefield
  • Stars
    • Tim Scully
    • Nick Sand
    • Alice Einhorn
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.0/10
    1.5K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Cosmo Feilding-Mellen
    • Writers
      • Cosmo Feilding-Mellen
      • Connie Littlefield
    • Stars
      • Tim Scully
      • Nick Sand
      • Alice Einhorn
    • 5User reviews
    • 4Critic reviews
    • 68Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 nomination

    Videos4

    The Sunshine Makers
    Trailer 2:14
    Watch The Sunshine Makers
    THE SUNSHINE MAKERS - Trailer
    Trailer 2:13
    Watch THE SUNSHINE MAKERS - Trailer
    The Sunshine Makers: First LSD Experiences
    Clip 1:32
    Watch The Sunshine Makers: First LSD Experiences
    THE SUNSHINE MAKERS - "First LSD Experiences"
    Clip 1:32
    Watch THE SUNSHINE MAKERS - "First LSD Experiences"

    Photos

    Nick Sand and Tim Scully in The Sunshine Makers (2015)
    The Sunshine Makers (2015)
    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    Tim Scully
    Tim Scully
    • Self
    Nick Sand
    • Self
    Alice Einhorn
    • Self - Nick's Childhood Sweetheart
    Billy Hitchcock
    • Self - Psychedelic Patron
    • (archive footage)
    Timothy Leary
    Timothy Leary
    • Self - LSD Psychologist
    • (archive footage)
    • (as Dr Timothy Leary)
    Jill Henry
    • Self - Nick's partner, 1966-72
    Mike Randall
    • Self - Leader Brotherhood of Eternal Love
    Gordon White
    • Self - Bureau of Narcotics & Dangerous Drugs
    Patrick Clark
    • Self - Bureau of Narcotics & Dangerous Drugs
    Don Douglas
    • Self - Tim's Lab Partner, 1965-68
    Owsley Stanley
    • Self - LSD Chemist
    • (archive footage)
    Nancy Pinney
    • Self - Getaway driver
    • Director
      • Cosmo Feilding-Mellen
    • Writers
      • Cosmo Feilding-Mellen
      • Connie Littlefield
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Soundtracks
      It's Your Voodoo Working
      Performed by Charles Sheffield

      Written by Charles Sheffield

      Published by Embassy Music Corporation courtesy of Music Sales Creative

      Courtesy of Universal Music Enterprises (US)

      Under license from Universal Music Operations Ltd

    User reviews5

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    5/10
    LSD's Ben and Jerry
    Still young enough to know it all Tim Scully and Nick Sand decided on their own to make the world a better place by "dosing" it with LSD. In tight with frequent flyers and promoters of the drug Timothy Leary and Owsley Stanley they decided to manufacture and distribute "Orange Sunshine" throughout the country by way of the "Hippie Mafia" aka The Brotherhood of Eternal Love. Getting a late start and dismissed by authorities as a "kiddie drug" in comparison to heroin and coke the boys eventually came under closer scrutiny by the law and labs moved elsewhere. Eventually busted Scully and Sand ended up sharing the same cell in prison where a chastened Scully heads for the library and Sand smuggles LSD into the joint claiming he at one time dosed the entire prison. When Scully finds a loophole in the system they are both sprung on appeal. When it is denied Scully heads back to prison and Sand lights out for Canada and begins manufacturing again only to be caught 20 years later.

    The Sunshine Makers is strictly a through the past lightly commentary on acid culture when it main streamed in the late 60s and early 70s. There are testimonials from our two groovy counter culture heroes regarding transcendence but little regarding bad trips and suicides as well as the cash flow or the profits they were reaping. Given its prominence in my neighborhood growing up as a teen and its use by vet friends in Viet Nam it fills in on the history of the phenomena but much of it with a sentimental nostalgia.

    Now in their 70s the men along with former hippie chicks and retired detectives offer up interesting snippets of the time and era as well as reflect in dotage. Scully acts a little shell shocked but seems very much at peace and a little more rational about his youthful grand plan content these days to listen to brain waves. Sand on the other hand continues to lead trip sessions as well as practice nude yoga which the director places extra emphasis on perhaps to inform us of Sand's shaman like qualities but instead he comes across at times as a slovenly smug and bitter braggart in search of new ways to get laid. It is rather ironic that retired narcotics agent Patrick Clark seems the most self aware character in the present day. Grounded and introspective he lacks Sand's anger and Scully's catatonia without ever having walked through any "doors of perception."
    helpful•13
    17
    • st-shot
    • Mar 15, 2017

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • January 13, 2017 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Official site
      • production company website
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Производители солнечного света
    • Production companies
      • Passion Pictures
      • Persephone Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross US & Canada
      • $10,042
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $1,874
      • Jan 22, 2017
    • Gross worldwide
      • $10,042
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 41 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

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    Nick Sand and Tim Scully in The Sunshine Makers (2015)
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