Psych-Out (1968)

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Psych-Out is certainly appealing if you like those nostalgic movies about the hippie subculture and that catchy Incense and Peppermints song. But it's much more than that, in fact it's almost scary, some of the scenes. Unlike the loads of movies that glamorize the hippie lifestyle, Psych-Out shows the drug abuse, the casual sex, and the broken homes that some of these hippies were coming from to get away.If there's one thing I can say about Psych-Out, it's made me realize that times were actually better back then. Sure, there was drugs and sex and madness abound, but through it all, the characters still cared for each other in the end. In today's world, people are so immersed in their damned cell phones, texting and taking pictures of themselves like narcissists and sharing every detail of their dumb lives as if the world revolves around them, that they no longer care much about those around them. Sad how we've come so far and yet we're so badly far gone. I'm glad I don't own a cell phone.It's certainly a trippy movie, well-filmed with some excellent scenes. The acting was great and I loved the soundtrack. I can only hope that this film continues to be as powerful as it was for me, for future generations to come.

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 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!

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