The Trip

How can you not like this film? The cast is incredible, but most Roger Corman films have great casting as we all know. Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Salle Sachse, Dennis Hopper, Susan Strasberg, Dick Miller (Of course), Luana Anders, Peter Bogdanovich and written by Jack Nicholson!! Can you imagine what was going on during the filming of this? Wonderful hippie special effects as Fonda goes on his "Trip". And I truly enjoyed the soundtrack. Especially the theme song. If anyone knows how I can get a copy of the soundtrack, let me know. This film is a real curio and it reminds me of the old days when a bunch of young guys with very little money just went out and made a film. I don't think this film is endorsing LSD, but all that type of stuff was pretty new back then and this was just a film that was taking a chance. All those hippie type of movies are fun to watch and this one is certainly interesting!

Unapologetic rendering of an acid trip, told without much melodrama and a great deal of nervy style. A square television director (Peter Fonda, trying his best to look like a nerd in a V-neck sweater that would do father Henry proud!) takes LSD and drops out. Screenplay (by Jack Nicholson!) certainly cuts right to the chase--no pussyfooting about here--but there's no story to tell. The film is less an essay on the drug culture than it is a chance for director Roger Corman to get "freaky". In a way, this is an early precursor to "Easy Rider", but it was made by a lot of talented people all with bigger fish to fry. ** from ****

Once again, like many films of the same time, The Trip is often misunderstood for a campy, cheap exploitation of a once vibrant time 'too often reduced to nostalgic simplicities.' The Plot goes as follows: Peter Fonda plays a film director that is bummed out by his wife (Susan Strasberg) and pending divorce. So to cool out, he takes LSD from a psychologist-type who is making records of 'controlled' LSD experiments (played by Bruce Dern). The film seems to hold it together during the first 30 minutes or so, but loses it's place when the weird acid trips happen (note the creepy scene where Fonda dies and goes to some kind of hell inhabited by horsemen, knights, and dwarfs). Overall, this is an entertaining little time capsule filled with twists and old film techniques. But I still cannot stress enough the arrogance of a man who tries to capture an LSD trip on camera for the silver screen. Even though the film did do moderately well at the box-office (for 1967, that is), mind expansion enthusiasts, like myself, might find the LSD depictions to be a bit funny at times, and the dialogue to be typical for a film of its kind. But for all personal shortcomings, I recommend this film because it is a true original.

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.

This is an interesting film that will entertain. 'The Trip' has a 'Reefer Madness' quality to it, with a strange message about acid and it's effects.

Sets for this film have an expressionist imagery to them. The art direction is an explosion of patterns and colors. You get a psychedelic fun house feel all through the film. The use of lighting/shadows and old film techniques give a dreamy quality to the scenes that you will not forget.

Although dated by today's standards, the film is easy to watch and quite creative. And 'The Trip' does have a message: "I'll deal with it tomorrow."