Flashback

I have seen this movie a few times now and it has nothing to do with my attraction to Kiefer Sutherland (well maybe a little to start with!) The plotline is that Agent John Buckner a straight laced F.B.I agent has to get Huey Walker (Dennis Hopper) a hippie from the 60's who has been on the run for twenty years from San Francisco to Spokane, with disastrous Consequences. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, this film is about self discovery. With plot twists around every corner it makes for compulsive viewing for all ages, and leaves you with a good feeling at heart. If like me you are not a child of the sixties it makes you wish you had a time travel machine, if you were then you'll be dusting those flairs off! A classic old fashioned feel good movie.

For the most part, this is an enjoyable "flashback" for most folks, a look back at the wild and crazy late 1960s. I would have enjoyed it more without all the blasphemous exclamations out of Keifer Sutherland's mouth.

For those who loved the '60s and its hippie-far Left political and cultural stances, this will be a nostalgic remembrance of those days. For those who think that period was the beginning of the end, morally and culturally for the U.S., this film will demonstrate that, too.

Regardless of where one is politically, the film moves very fast, is very entertaining, and has almost no credibility. In parts, it's just embarrassing it is so ludicrous.

Dennis Hopper is very believable as the ex-"hippie" and Carol Kane is a hoot as the "flower child." The rest of the cast, led by Sutherland, is nothing but irritating.

Also, the soundtrack of '60s songs is excellent.

Huey Walker(Hopper) is an hysterical character to watch in this film as a hippie who is very Abby Hoffman like. He is arrested by John Buckner (Sutherland), a tight-assed, republican, FBI agent. What is supposed to be a simple task of transporting a prisoner turns out a harder job than expected for Buckner. As they make their way from San Francisco to Spokane, they encounter many obstacles. From a kind hearted prostitute to a crooked sheriff to a Haight Ashbury leftover played brilliantly by the ever wonderful Carol Kane (Scrooged, Taxi). Watching Walker and Buckner try to out smart each other is fuuny as hell, and chemistry between Sutherland and Hopper is great. You see the geninue friendship between them. The funniest scene, of which there are many, is when Walker is down on his knees, covering his face in mud. Buckner instucts him to then put one hand in the air and one on his heart and sing "Mammy". The humor however is nothing more than a vehicle for the true meaning of this film : You Can't Change Who You Are or Where You Come From. That message is perhaps best expressed in the lines:

Buckner:So you're a phony? Walker:Yeah so? Buckner:Just like me.

I give this movie my highest rating: 10 stars!

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A really good early 90s film (set in the late 80s) with great performances and strong, nuanced writing and humor and a few intriguing plot twists and turns. Highly underrated and barely remembered, it made its mark on me when I saw it back then and I never forgot it. Glad to see it on digital release recently.

Great movie! Lots of good one-liners, reference to old movies, quotables, etc... Good performance by Dennis Hopper as a "Prankster" Hippy and also by Kiefer Sutherland as an FBI Agent in denial. Carol Kane as the communal Flowerchild is a treat as well.

As with most older Dennis Hopper films, he plays the aging Hippy like noone else can. Makes you feel bad that poor old Huey himself didn't make it to Woodstock. ;)

Quote (by Hopper's character Huey Walker): "Did you know that all condoms have a serial number on 'em? No? Then YOU must not have had to ever roll one down FAR enough!"

Classic.... :)