 |
One of the great features of many recent DVD's is the optional running commentary (However, I never use this on the first viewing). In the voice-over accompanying "Alice's Restaurant", Arlo Guthrie explains that the episodes described in his song, and then dramatized in the movie, actually happened to him: Long time friends Ray and Alice Brock (James Broderick and Pat Quinn), who live in a deconsecrated church near Stockbridge, Massachussetts, throw a Thanksgiving feast. Following dinner Arlo and an accomplice take 1/2 ton of garbage to the city dump only to find it closed for the holiday. So they then find another spot where others have dumped garbage off a cliff, and dump theirs. But they are seen and reported, and next day arrested by Officer Obie (William Obanhein). In a seemingly unrelated story Arlo must report for his Army physical, but as that adventure progresses finds his arrest and conviction for littering render him ineligible for military service. A number of other events have been mixed in to provide greater connection to the times: visits to Arlo's dying father Woody Guthrie (who actually died in October 1967) with Pete Seeger singing Woody's songs; period clothes; dirt bike racing (a favorite activity of this circle of acquaintances); getting high; free love; and one drug-related death. I would say that I appreciate the narration track on "Alice's Restaurant" more than any other DVD so far. It adds richness and depth to the movie. You learn: that the film's re-staged larger scale version of the Thanksgiving celebration eclipses the original in the participants' minds; the film uses most of the real people but they play different roles; the current status of the church; and reasons behind why the characters do what they do. As a sidebar, Geoff Outlaw, who plays Arlo's friend Roger, was in the folk-rock band "The Fugs" who were known for their own anti-war songs of that era. What I like so much about "Alice's Restaurant" is that it is an authentic period piece which shows the hippie movement up close and personal as well as the technology of the times. 1966 Ford police car, Bell & Howell 70 DR 16mm movie camera, 16mm projector, no computers, no cell phones, VW microbus, it's all there--or not. There's even a nice shot of a New Haven F-3 diesel locomotive pulling a passenger train into the station. Other movies shot during the same aeon and dealing with hippies, such as "Woodstock", and "Joe", as well as the later produced "Hair", combine for a pretty good description of this part of American history. But "Alice's Restaurant" is the most enjoyable.Read full review
Where I live every Thanksgiving radio shows play this song 1 time. It is the only time you could hear it. I enjoyed the long song, (over 18 minutes), so much I bought the cd but I wanted to do more than imagine the picture I wanted to see the movie. The movie is just like the song and funnier to watch esp when Arlo throws so much garbage in a no dumping zone with his buddy and the police officer took a zillion photos of the garbage to bring to court to a blind judge. It shows the hippie days, the way they acted and dressed, how they expressed their freedom. The movie doesn't have the photo quality of today's action movies but like an older show which goes along with the story line. If you like the song, Alice's Restraunt, then you would enjoy watching the movie that is 1 hour and 51 minutes long. The scenes where filmed in Stockbridge, Massachusetts at a real church where Alice and Ray lived with their community. Officer Obie in the movie was played by the real-life Officer William Obanhein, who said, "if someone was going to make a fool out of me, it had better be me". EnjoyRead full review
I'd seen this movie in 1969 or 70 when it first came out. Oddly I didn't remember one thing about it once I saw this 2002 DVD version. Now I remember what it was all about. Vietnam. The Hippie peace movement. A super-power (rather than great power) US that inspired its teenage and young adult generation to create a nonviolent counter-culture because they literally hated war and the lifestyles of the violent US "leaders." Right after the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr., and during the failures of the Vietnam War, a generation of long haired-Hippies with "flower-power" and acoustic guitars with home spun songs about loving each other evolved in reaction to US war mongering anti-Asian supremacism. Though this film is about a small group of Hippies who buy a church to live in, and then a restaurant for Alice, the wife of the gatherer of the flock, to sell her delicious food from, the back ground is about a social culture change due to an excess of US governmental violence. Sound familiar? Like history repeating itself in 2002-2006? Arlo Guthrie is the main troubadour who brings the "family" together through his music, like his real and not real father, who in the picture is dying, had done. Appearances by social changers by way of music, Pete Seeger, join with Guthrie to make lasting political statements through their music about anti-war, group protest, and social change. History seems to be repeating itself from 1969 to 2006. Because the older people won't love their neighbors and fear them instead, because the older people won't negotiate with their neighbors and must dominate them instead, because the older people won't resist fighting and love war instead. A new generation is posed to take their stand, just like in the late 60's when violence in the US got way out of hand and didn't represent the true will of the American public. That's what this movie is about. It speaks to us now just like it did back when~Read full review
You need to buy this to understand the 60's. Hippies, the Draft, being examined by doctors at an induction station. It is a satire, but very close to the truth..I think the word is "poignant". This movie was made because of the influence of a song by a hippie in the 60's, Arlo Guthrie, who was a traveling folk finger, like his father Woodie Guthrie, a folk singer during the Depression years. Arlo's song..."Alice's Restaurant Massacre" was 18 minutes long, and the movie was made exactly from the song (plus a bit of fill). Sex, drugs, and rock and roll are usually how the 60's are remembered.This has some of that, but in a correct perspective. A must buy for those who think.
This is a great movie, not a story but the real thing with the real people playing themselves. You must be able to appreciate the sixties and seventies. I lived through the era and own the original LP album. My children grew up loving the album and really liked this movie. It features Arlo and Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Officer Obie. If you don't like their music you will not appreciate this wonderful movie.
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in DVDs & Blu-ray Discs
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on DVDs & Blu-ray Discs
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- You may also like
