Featured Audience Ratings

• AJ V

  
  Yes it's an off beat off key kind of movie, but that's not always good. I thought this movie was pretty boring for the most part. Maybe that's because I'm not familiar with Guthrie's work outside of the film, but I think the movie could have been more… More
  Yes it's an off beat off key kind of movie, but that's not always good. I thought this movie was pretty boring for the most part. Maybe that's because I'm not familiar with Guthrie's work outside of the film, but I think the movie could have been more cohesive and entertaining. Overall, it's okay, though.

• Randy T

  
  One of those 'generational anthems' that's more endearing because it's a tad off key. Arlo Guthrie's semi-autobiographical homage to his father and his friends.

• Adam M

  
  Arlo does well, playing an observer, almost pure of heart; he deals with his own mortality in his father's death from Huntington's; a hippie idyll wise about the delicate equilibrium that keeps their way of life together

• Lanning :

  
  Compare a film like <i>Hair</i> with this one, a tribute to and expansion on Arlo Guthrie's sometime anthem for America in the 1960s. For those who refer to Guthrie being portrayed as a "draft dodger," I think a second look might prove worthwhile. In fact,… More
  Compare a film like <i>Hair</i> with this one, a tribute to and expansion on Arlo Guthrie's sometime anthem for America in the 1960s. For those who refer to Guthrie being portrayed as a "draft dodger," I think a second look might prove worthwhile. In fact, the heart of irony in this story -- and there is irony around every corner -- is that Guthrie, through a series of bizarre and somewhat amusing happenings, finds himself in a position where the draft actually dodges him. Because he is a litterbug who is caught, because he has appeared in court due to his littering, and because he is convicted of littering, Arlo is deemed unfit for military service. <p> To say that this film captures and celebrates the spirit of the 60s is to do it a gross injustice in a way. Irony rears its head throughout this movie, pointing to the devastation wrought by drugs upon the addicted and how "free" love actually can damage relationships. All in all, this is hardly a free wheeling laugh- or love-fest, and neither is it a wholeheartedly approving celebration of those freedoms of individuality, self-expression, and guiltless indulgence "enjoyed" by the "hippie" generation. This film, coming out in 1969, is a very serious, although non-judgmental, end-of-an-era look backwards at the flower powered 60s. <p>Perhaps the most heavily participatory and indulgent characters, Alice and Ray, played beautifully by Pat Quinn and James Broderick (Matthew's dad), are also the most victimized. While the freedom of their lifestyle does not kill them, as it does Shelly, the hardcore drug-addicted motorcyclist, it certainly does nothing to bring them closer together in their marriage. There is a yearning in both to move their marriage to a higher plane, but from the beginning to the end, it is, ironically, their inability to make their love transcend the circumstances of their lives and lifestyles that gives the whole movie its underlying tragic tone. <p> This is well worth the watch. If only they could all, as the song says, get anything they wanted -- except Alice. This is a major stumbling block for husband Ray, who is ironically, in the end, one of those who cannot and does not really ever "get" her.

• John B

  
  I didn't like it. I never felt any affinity for the characters nor did the story grab me. I suspect I'm not getting something.

• cody f

  
  This movie drags at the beginning and the end, but it is very entertaing in the middle. It's a very unorthodox film based on Arlo Guthrie's 18 minute song of the same name. Arlo Guthrie does a good job, but at times his lack of acting skills does affect the film. It's… More
  This movie drags at the beginning and the end, but it is very entertaing in the middle. It's a very unorthodox film based on Arlo Guthrie's 18 minute song of the same name. Arlo Guthrie does a good job, but at times his lack of acting skills does affect the film. It's about a bunch of hippies and the movie is defiantly a product of it's time. It has some great characters and the film ends with a amazing tracking shot that is very powerful. A interesting film that's a little too long.

Read all 6 featured audience ratings