Pull My Daisy

Although this "short" is very hard to find - you are most likely going to have to hunt for a bootleg copy somewhere - it is worth the hunt for anyone who understands the historical context of the picture. It was the only film the beats ever made, and the highlights can are to be found in the narration by Jack Kerouac and the musical score (classical / be-bop / jazzy) done by David Amram. The themes are typical of the beats and of Kerouac - railroad brakemen, beer, poetry, pot.. etc, but in all seriousness this is a rare gem and gives a brief look into the consciousness of the beat poets / writers. Kerouac sounds drunk and probably is drunk, but that just adds to the aura and humor of the film.

A humorous almost innocent short film starring the Beat poets, alas not Kerouac but the narration which he wrote and speaks is beautiful and funny. In my innocence I was amazed to see the group passing around pot (*I know it was tobacco!) on camera. Thankfully this time capsule is available for viewing online (Open Culture) together with a clip of the poets visiting an East Side bar, filmed at the same time.

I, too was taken in by Kerouac's writing when I was adolescent. Free sex with willing babes, philosophy, drugs, travel, adventure, freedom to the max - what could be wrong with that? Why women would be interested in his lifestyle was less apparent to me. He could obviously talk for days and nights. Which together with his ability to remember conversations word for word for a long time makes me think of someone with a light touch of autism. Also the distance to others that is apparent in his writing. In the end he came across as a troubled and melancholy soul. This film gives us a rare view of the environment he spent part of the fifties in together with his chummy beatniks, where a myth was born (and is still being fed by some). You also get his voice over which runs the length of the film and is much like his writing. Endless associations and playful word games, stream of consciousness as they call it. One of the things that now puts me off is the negative depiction of women, in this film and in beat culture overall - unless they are the kind who are easily subordinated and available. Delphine Seyrig as the mother who actually feeds her son and takes him to school is the bad guy here. As is the Bishop's mother with her unamused expression - here you have them both, the mother and the wife from a beat perspective. Seyrig later went on to direct "Scum manifesto", no doubt fed up with a--holes like these jerks who never did the dishes. The talented David Amram wrote the score and plays some horn. He has called Kerouac a genius and one of the greatest of communicators, and I wouldn't mind having spent time with Jack. But I would rather have spent that time say, with Henry Miller, who was more joy than sorrow, and a better writer. Having said his, I too can feel nostalgia when I think of the beat era. I once went to a reading by Ginsberg and Orlovsky and was moved to tears and laughter like the rest of the audience. But, if you want the real story rather than the myth, read Carolyn Casady's "Off the Road" for starters. Btw, this film can be seen at google video.

One of the more quintessential displays of the era of Beat poetry and Bop music. Set in a NYC apartment, the movie is narrated by Jack Keoruac and portrays the life of an artistic 'family'. From painter, poet, and musician, the movie moves quickly without any particular place to go. It strikes at the heart of the movement and should be avoided by anybody who cannot stand the sometimes 'zoned' out babble of this generation. Enjoyable and short, the film fits a small genre of the American experience.

The background drama is interesting, I think, and not well known. Like Subterraneans, this story was transplanted from one coast to another.

The Cassadys lived in the scenic foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the neighborhood was gentrifying in the years they were there. Many of the cultural contrasts in Beat epics were actually suggested by the various Beats and Pranksters playing off against the ritzy neighbors in Monte Sereno. There really was a bishop and his wife visiting in the Cassady home one evening while Ginsberg and Corso were there.

Milo is a stand-in for Neal Cassady, of course, and the resentment and struggles against wife Carolyn are not made up neither. The rhythm of the commentary over the action is exceptional. I don't know where I have seen the like.