The Trip

Roger Corman, king of b-grade Science fiction, horror, juvenile delinquent and biker movies, tunes in, turns on, and helps create a classic piece of psychedelia. Scripted by Jack Nicholson, and co-starring his future 'Easy Rider' collaborators Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper, as well as the always great Bruce Dern ('The Wild Angels', 'Bloody Mama', 'Silent Running'), the late Susan Strasberg (with Dern and Nicholson in 'Psych-Out' the following year - another psych classic), Corman regular Dick Miller ('A Bucket Of Blood',etc.), Luana Anders (Coppola and Corman's 'Dementia 13'), and even blink and you'll miss them cameos from Peter Bogdanovich and cosmic cowboy Gram Parsons.

Fonda plays a disillusioned director of TV commercials who decides to drop acid for the first time in the hope of finding some meaning in his life. Dern plays his guide. Fonda's trip includes stroboscopic lights, quasi-medieval scenes including dwarves and hooded horsemen, naked go-go dancers, fast cuts, and his own funeral. Apple juice and a visit to the laundromat also play quite significant roles. This is a must see for anyone interested in 60s pop culture, and is still one of the most entertaining psych movies. Take 'The Trip' or you'll regret it forever!

Paul Groves (Peter Fonda), a television commercial director, is in the midst of a personality crisis. His wife Sally (Susan Strasberg) has left him and he seeks the help of his friend John (Bruce Dern), a self-styled guru who's an advocate of LSD.

The film was directed by Corman, written by Jack Nicholson, starring Bruce Dern with a beard, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper. How can that be bad? The biggest problem is that the plot is relatively weak and relies heavily on some wild kaleidoscopic visuals. That may not be a problem -- I mean, there are still great actors and a dwarf -- but it is a noticeable flaw.

To be honest, I thought I would grow quickly bored with this movie since I heard that all it was is a bunch of cool psychedelic effects and not much else. Well, I actually found it interesting. After an opening five minutes with some bad acting I rolled my eyes but the movie got better....and Peter Fonda's performance got better. Fonda plays Paul, a TV commercial director who goes on his first LSD trip. He thinks he might learn something from it and does. You start to lose track of what reality is just like Paul does. Dennis Hopper has some interesting scenes and Bruce Dern is good as well. Having never touched acid, I can't tell you how realistic the effects are but found them interesting to watch. In order to do research, director Roger Corman took LSD and had a pleasant experience. Bruce Dern however has never taken it so found his role as someone who was kind of an expert on the matter, a challenging acting job. However, Jack Nicolson wrote the script and I expect he did plenty of research...he-he. Surprisingly, a pretty cool movie, dude!

I originally became interested in finding this film due to my introduction and interest in the soundtrack. The music is performed by the late 60's self-proclaimed "American Music Band" known most often as THE ELECTRIC FLAG... A life-long fan of the somewhat psychadelic (as heard in THE TRIP), but more over horn/blues/rock band, the recording of THE TRIP that I first heard on a roadtrip to California (how fitting) is what sparked my search for a copy of THE TRIP.

I must say that the backwards line of hearing the music first and THEN seeing the film, caused me to have vague (but passionate!) expectations of what would be contained in the film. Yes, a "typical" portrayal of the late 60's acid/drug scene some might say, but I beg to differ. The film is about a man (Peter Fonda) who is distrought with life and looks for an answer through acid. The trippy, psychadelic scenes to follow make for a colorful kaleidescope of imagery and that, if nothing else, is a treat for the eyes! But later - dark, bleak scenes of medieval death contrast with a looming carnival funhouse feel. Through ecstatic highs and eerie lows, Fonda manages to come out of the trip with a new perspective - what he had hoped

for in the first place. But here is where one may say there really was no plot and in the end there was no lesson either. But, once again, I beg to differ. I enjoy delving deep into what seems to be merely innocent and aesthetic on the outside, and searching for what seems hidden amongst clowns on the inside. In the end, I got more than one message from the film, but I will let you, the viewer, decide for yourself what (if anything) you got from it. There, of course, is no wrong answer.

Having never (unfortunately) gotten the chance to live during that era, my curiosity is peaked and sometimes calmed by exposing myself to all that surrounded or grew from that era - be it music, poetry, film, literature or what have you. And though I can't proclaim to tell you that you will like or dislike the film, I can really only recommend for you to check it out. Because it is entertaining. Because it is superb filming. Because it is an early music video. Because it has a great American soundtrack. Because it is history. Because it it another time we can now only remember. Because it is one man's tribute to the often misunderstood era of peace, drugs, and a more innocent way of life. Because it is America... and because it made me come away with a new thought, and new ideas in my head, and if thats not something, I don't know what is. Thanks for reading.

This virtually plotless film is about an advertising executive, going through a divorce, who decides to experiment with LSD.

Most of the film, and obviously the whole reason behind making it, are the psychedelic "trip" sequences. That is the main problem with this film. While the hallucinations initially look impressive and quite enjoyably surreal, they lose their impact quickly and soon become quite dull.

However, the film can be quite enjoyable as a snapshot of late sixties Californian psychedelia (all the weird, colourful paintings on walls, and almost every second sentence ending in "man").

Peter Fonda is quiet bland as the executive, but Dennis Hopper is worth watching in his role as a drug dealer.

It is worth watching if you're interested in late-sixties psychedelia, LSD, Peter Fonda or drug movies, others may want to pass.