I first saw "Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me" (1971) at the base theater during my Air Force days. I found it intriguing enough to track down a paperback copy of the source novel which had a cover photo from the film.
The title comes from Memphis street sweeper and musician Furry Lewis' song "I Will Turn Your Money Green" ("I been down so long/It seem like up to me"). The Doors referenced Farina's book in Jim Morrison's song "Been Down So Long".
Richard Farina's novel was based largely on his college experiences and travels. Although published in 1966 it was written while Farina was a student at Cornell University in the late 50's and references 1958 several times. It is full of pseudonym references to Cornell (Mentor University), to Ithaca (Athene), and to campus landmarks. In the book the fraternity dinner is held at the Delta Upsilon house. In the film one character reveals it is the Phi Delta Theta house.
The film is an incredibly poor adaptation, poorly directed with decent production values although the quality of available DVD's is too marginal to really tell. Not surprisingly the story in the film version is quite condensed and simplistic. Choices of what was included and excluded are inexplicable. The music is awful. Primus is adequate but he was over thirty and looked it, playing an early to mid-20's college student, so you have to suspend considerable disbelief.
The book and the film are very derivative as the central character - Primus as Gnossos 'Paps' Pappadopoulis - is basically a somewhat tedious version of Kerouac's Dean Moriarty (thought to be Neal Cassady). Kerouac's "On The Road" was published in 1957 so I am surprised that the similarity was not a major issue.
Both Dean and Gnossos figure loosely as heroes. Incredibly flawed heroes who tend to abandon those who love them and feel no remorse whatsoever at their poor judgment and horribly timed actions. But heroes nonetheless.
The psychedelic scenes hold up reasonably well although they do little to advance the narrative. The film opens with its strongest scene, not surprisingly the one occasion when they are faithful to the source material. Marion Clarke plays Pamela Watson-May a very proper and confident British student at Cornell negotiating the subletting of her student apartment to Farina's alter ego. Freshly showered and in a loosely tied terrycloth robe she absolutely captivates her visitor and they end up taking a tumble in the hay so to speak.
Farina gave this a mix of casually erotic elements that have a huge appeal. A nice example in the sexy teacher-librarian-computer geek overcomes her inhibitions genre. The film does not do nearly as well with Farina's other erotic fantasy, the love interest in green knee socks. Instead of an evil user she is turned into an early manic pixie dream girl.
I'm glad the film was made as it gives exposure to the book although I wish it had been made better. I think it would have received a better reception if it had been promoted as a "R" rated student film. With a first and only time director, a modest budget, and a pretty green cast it would qualify for that designation.
