Stanley TucciMagic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search For A Kool Place

I first read the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test not long after it first came out. Later I became aware of the fact that it wasn't entirely accurate. But it was accurate enough for me to get a pretty good understanding of what the movement was all about. Besides, I had the lyrics of groups like The Grateful Dead, John Lennon, and Jimi Hendrix as resources too. I don't blame Kesey and Owsley and others for being a little angry with Wolfe for getting a lot of things wrong; but people who didn't live in the San Francisco Bay area learned quite a lot from the book anyway, and mostly good things, in my opinion.The most common criticism of the book, which apparently is fairly accurate, is that most of the book is written from the point of view of one Prankster: Sandy Lehmann-Haupt, who was a little crazy, and who had an ongoing disagreement with Kesey during the bus trip and after. But there are also other, non-Prankster, voices in the book. One of my favorite parts came from an interview with a woman who later became a journalist, if I rightly recall. She was at an acid test an accidentally took too heavy a dose. Luckily she bumped into a male friend of hers, and the two of them held onto each other to weather the psychedelic storm they were standing in the middle of. They pulled each other through, and the experience left an indelible impression on both of them. They became instant friends for life.Kesey and Oswley and others resented Wolfe's mischaracterizations, whether they were inadvertent or not. Wolfe just didn't get it. He had no concept of what these states of consciousness were like and he never found out. I think he lived his whole life without even trying marijuana, which is fine. But he didn't have a clue to what he was actually writing about. His perspective was as a total outsider. He apparently tried to straddle the line between objective journalism and the kind of sensory detail that might be expected from a short story writer or novelist. But he really didn't understand the things he was trying to describe, so he got the Prankster perspective wrong in many ways.Still, I've always enjoyed The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test in spite of it's errors, and I've reread it many times. I didn't know they were errors when I first read it. And later when I discovered it, it didn't much change my impression of Kesey and the Pranksters. I had a positive view of them then and I still have a positive view of them today. But this film corrects many of Wolfe's errors. Ever since I first read the book I've yearned to see the film footage and hear the audio recordings from that bus trip. It's been about forty years since I first read it, and finally that dream has come true.In fairly recent years I grew to understand that the remaining footage was in very bad shape and poorly organized, and that it would probably never be stitched together in any presentable form. Then I heard about this movie and I almost couldn't believe it! Maybe that's why I wasn't expecting very much. I was well aware of the technical problems involved with editing the footage into a presentable format. Beyond that, the bus trip was an experience that defied any medium of expression anyway. It was clearly one of those cases where you had to be there to truly get the picture.Not expecting much, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I loved it. Some of it was dramatic reenactments, but they were faithful to reality. For example, there's footage showing "Stark Naked" as she's being lead through the halls of the hospital she was detained in. Obviously Kesey and the Pranksters weren't there to take the film footage. It was staged---as was a few pieces, here and there, of the audio dialogue---to fill gaps in the story. But I think it was done perfectly. And it was necessary for continuity. It's fairly easy to tell the authentic footage from the few parts that were dramatized. It's just a matter of using common sense. Plus there's a commentary track on the DVD.And although some of the audio dialogue was dramatized as well, it was based on transcripts of interviews. So despite these unavoidable necessities, the movie very accurately portrays the events it depicts. And many of Kesey's friends and family advised the filmmakers so it would be as true to actuality as possible. If Kesey were alive today I'm sure he would have a few criticisms of it. After all, the trip was his *creation*. He said he felt the bus trip was more of a creative accomplishment than his first two novels. He was more proud of the bus trip. But I think he would realize it's the best that could be done considering the technological challenges involved.I think most of the people who knew Kesey well would probably love this movie, and the rest are dead. Besides, there's a whole generation of aging hippies out there who've waited long enough! LOL Don't listen to the naysayers. If you've ever read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and liked it and wondered what the film and audio footage was like, this is a *must see* movie. Frankly, some of the film footage and still-photos were amazingly clear. The color was as vivid as if it had been shot yesterday. Some of it was a little shaky, and other footage was more grainy and washed out, primarily due to inadequate lighting when it was shot. But you have to take the good with the bad. Overall I was overjoyed with the finished product.I also got a perspective on Neal Cassady that I never had before, based on what seems to be a very perceptive and poignant opinion of one of the female Pranksters (I forget which one). Back around 1989, Jerry Garcia gave an interview for Rolling Stone Magazine that I read as soon as it came out. When he spoke of Neal Cassady he said, "He could see around corners." The interviewer took his comment figuratively, and Garcia corrected him and said, "No, I mean he could actually see around corners. We'd be walking down a street and Cassady would say, 'I'll bet you anything that we bump into 'whatsisface' just around the corner, and he would always be right." [This is paraphrased, of course]. Apparently Cassady had some sixth sense. Anyway, one of the surprises of this film is that I think I understand Cassidy far better than I did before.Thank God for Alison Ellwood and the whole film crew! This film is quite an accomplishment.

I liked this film for several reasons: (1) as a historical artifact; (2) as a window into the origins of the acid generation; (3) as a testament to the power of humour and spontaneity in holding together a situation. A bunch of "Divine Losers" traveling cross-country to the World's Fair -- That was goofily productive and yet often untenable. Luckily for "The Pranksters" -- The Journey became more important the the Destination. Of course everything had to fall apart, everything had to deconstruct, everything had to melt -- Wasn't that the point of tripping? And yet most of the Merry Pranksters managed to hang on and complete the "The Magic Trip" -- That occurred at the verge of the 1960s metamorphosing into its true essence. In 1964 when this footage was filmed the country was, as shown in this documentary -- "Still in the 1950s". Ken Kesey is introduced to the viewer as a Square, an athlete married to his high school sweetheart -- Who ends up going back to a relatively normal lifestyle of a country guy (and writer) in Oregon once the afterglow of the trip has worn off. The Pranksters were also Squares when they started the journey -- And Hippies when they came back. Post-Journey, the LSD flew out of the Pandora's Box (as witnessed in this documentary) -- Via the San Francisco Acid Test parties with the Warlocks (The Grateful Dead in their infancy) providing the soundtrack. Said acid then infiltrated the masses. As a child of the 70s, watching this film brought back childhood memories of going through my older brother's high school yearbooks, looking at the photos and imagining what it would be like to hang out with the "grown-ups" -- What were then the teenagers of the burgeoning Hippie generation.A couple Beatniks have cameos on this DVD: On the one hand Allen Ginsberg, who relates to and participates in some of "The Magic Trip". On the other hand -- Jack Kerouac. Kerouac, like Kesey, was another ex-high school athlete who found both artistic and commercial success in his youth -- Whose "On The Road" inspired Kesey to make the journey with the Pranksters and the painted bus "Further". Kerouac is shown in the picture as having become an "old man" at 42 and not being enthused by the Pranksters' antics. Kerouac remained stuck in the 1950s, unwilling to adapt to, or to accept, how everything was changing -- And then spiraling into self-destruction. Perhaps even more tragic is the example of Neal Casady as a kind of Life Force who was also a Lost Soul. As the film elucidates in a brief segment, Casady couldn't commit to any kind of form, scene or sexual orientation -- And couldn't channel what he had into a tangible creative product. The aspect of the Pranksters occupying a special "Interzone" between the Beatniks and the Hippies is a key element of this documentary. They were, as other Amazon reviewers of this product have mentioned, despite their Dobie Gillis / Beach Boys' inspired attire -- The Avant-Garde for the Flower Children. The Pranksters represented the "Changing of the Guard" -- Those who could Move towards the Light (especially with the help of LSD). PS -- 18 minutes of deleted scenes (along with a couple other features) are included as extras on this DVD that provide "Further" insight into this film.Stephen C. BirdAuthor, "To Be to Is to Was"

An interesting if somewhat underwhelming film of live footage of the Merry Pranksters 1964 bus trip across America. For decades this pioneering event of the proto hippies has been viewed through the lens of Tom Wolfe's excellent book in which he captures so brilliantly the strange fizz and edginess of the tripping counterculture. The actual live film of the event doesn't seem to quite convey this - although occasionally it does, as in some of the scenes of them playing about by lakes or inside the bus with Neil Cassady rapping on etc. If you're expecting a bunch of longhairs with beads and bandannas etc, forget it - this predates all that and anyway it seems slightly irrelevant - these people were highly motivated and energised and clearly onto something, unlike a number of the later hippies who were somewhat lethargic even if well meaning. I would still recommend reading Tom Wolfe's book which is totally electrifying and captures the feeling so well.

Très intéressant pour ceux qui ont lu le livre "acid test" de Tom Wolf ça permet de mettre un visage sur les personnes du livre et de revivre un peu leur aventure. Sinon j'ai acheté un import italien mais heureusement les menus, les voix et sous-titres sont en anglais.

It gives a strong sense of the 1960s and a group of friends going on a journey. As a road trip, it is probably the best journey I've ever seen and an inspiration to do something similar. Sometimes hard to watch visually due to some of the restored tape quality, it isn't as smooth as it could be. There is a shadow of a tragic comedy portrayed which gave the movie poignancy.

I had seen this on the TV some years back and enjoyed it or a version of it. It was a mad period how they got away with it though is anyones guess. It was new a few years later would be a different out come, with the anti hippie, anti civil rights atmosphere and the Vietnam war. This visual documentary sits well with Tom Wolfe's 'The Electric Kool–Aid Acid Test.

NO doubt a trip down memory lane for many who will want to buy this DVD. It's a piece of history, a funky documentary about a time and a different place/planet when comparing it to today's lifestyle in the US. Nothing much happens in the 70+ minutes, but it's a truly pleasant carpet ride nevertheless!