What Happened to Kerouac? (1985)

58% of users liked it
(686 ratings)

This powerful documentary shows Jack Kerouac's unique creative process and rise to fame as a writer, while also shedding light on his turbulent personal life and his decline to an alcoholism-related death. Kerouac is the Beat Generation icon best known for his counterculture manifesto ON THE ROAD.… More This powerful documentary shows Jack Kerouac's unique creative process and rise to fame as a writer, while also shedding light on his turbulent personal life and his decline to an alcoholism-related death. Kerouac is the Beat Generation icon best known for his counterculture manifesto ON THE ROAD. He possessed unparalleled genius, but also suffered from uncontrollable personal demons that ultimately caused his demise. The film chronicles his chaotic yet fertile career in which he produced an astonishing number of novels and made history collaborating with artists such as Allen Ginsberg. The sometimes contentious relationship between Kerouac and author Neal Cassady factors significantly into the story. Cassady joined Kerouac on many of his road trips and unwillingly served as a character in Kerouac's literature. Kerouac never embraced the spotlight as his work fully consumed him. Instead, the film details how, through unsuccessful marriages, other relationships, and fathering one child, Kerouac yearned for a normal life.Archival footage illustrates some of Kerouac's most notable public moments, including a moving, harrowing appearance taped just a year before his death. Through intimate interviews with fellow authors, relatives, and friends, including entertainer Steve Allen, author William Burroughs, poet Allen Ginsberg, and ex-wife Edie Kerouac Parker, filmmakers Richard Lerner and Lewis MacAdams elicit a touching, well-rounded picture of this brilliant but troubled artist.

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 36 min.
Directed By: Lewis MacAdams, Richard Lerner (II)
Genres: Documentary, Special Interest

On DVD: Aug 5, 2003

No Critic Reviews Found…

Featured Audience Ratings

Christopher M

I've been all hot for documentaries lately so I really wanted to check this one out, being as it focused on Jack Kerouac, a favourite writer of mine and a leader of the storied Beat generation in America during the 40s and 50s. The film alternates between interviews with the… More
I've been all hot for documentaries lately so I really wanted to check this one out, being as it focused on Jack Kerouac, a favourite writer of mine and a leader of the storied Beat generation in America during the 40s and 50s. The film alternates between interviews with the people (mostly other writers of the same generation) who knew him best including Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and William S. Burroughs, it also operates with still photographs and some film footage, and (thankfully) represents well Jack's actual writing by including several recordings of him reading passages of prose and poetry, set to various images indicative of his middle-class American background. What Happened to Kerouac isn't an exceptionally well-made documentary, but it is effective in what it tries to do and respectful to its subject. The interviews are all insightful and the accounts they give of living with Jack are often very entertaining. It's great to hear the recordings included - Kerouac's writing an undeniably rhythmic, free-flowing nature that comes across in his jazzy, energetic reading of it. This is a documentary anyone should see who is a fan or has read any of Kerouac's work, or is interested the Beat generation (and how can one not be, really?), but there's not much here for anyone else.
Mike T

A slightly unfocused documentary, but as a fan of the subject, I found it appealing anyway. There are great moments in some of the archive footage and interviews.

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What Happened to Kerouac? (1985)

No Critic Reviews Found…

Featured Audience Ratings

Christopher M

Mike T

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