Thumb Tripping

Bruce Dern glares from the box art of this late period counterculture drama, but he's not the star of the film--merely one of the many quirky characters met by hitchhikers Michael Burns and Meg Foster as they work their way up the coast of Central California, destination: north! Thumb Tripping is a low octane, episodic drama which, like its characters, never really goes anywhere, but is a watchable diversion nonetheless. The film benefits from some nice location work--the brief look at San Francisco's North Beach is particularly good--and there's some pretty decent country and folk-rock songs to enliven the soundtrack. There are no standout performances, but Michael Burns is quite good as the naive lad whose illusions about life on the road slowly crumble away, and Marianna Hill scores points as a bosomy woman in a garish flowery hat.

A Good movie ...see ....nuff said! My onl.y gripe with this is the picture quality on the version i saw ..even so the quality shone through .... the plot is 2 young 'hippies' in the 70s embark on a cross-america road trip ....They (and the audience) then learn some harsh and not so harsh lessos on the way ....some nice performances from ensemble actors including Bruce Dern with a career-best ! ...other odd-balls include a weird lady with her child ..etc ...although they dont make movies like this anymore ...thats a shame ...the 70s was the standout era of cinematic quality and this is a prime example ...you learn from the experience.... forget 'netflix' ..this is where its at ....seek out a viewing .

Thumb Tripping is a little-known hippie road movie made in 1972. It's little-known for a reason. The reason is that it is somewhat poor.... and those who saw it (of which there were few) did not build for it a word-of-mouth reputation of any note. There are a few cast members in it who went on to bigger and better things, notably Meg Foster and Bruce Dern; also the director Quentin Masters would later score a sexploitation hit with the Joan Collins movie The Stud. However, in this film there is very little of interest other than a freewheeling narrative that offers occasional insights into the permissive and casual attitudes of the youth of the late '60s/early '70s. In most departments, Thumb Tripping is a tedious, dated, muddled and totally forgettable misfire.

Young hitch-hikers Gary (Michael Burns) and Chay (Meg Foster) make their way around California together, hitching rides when they can and spending evenings under the stars. Gary is a kid from a decent background and a home in Connecticut who has chosen to postpone going to college in order to "discover himself"; Chay is a more freewheeling type who just wants to experience the here-and-now while she is still young. During their wanderings, Gary and Chay come across various weird types and sometimes find themselves caught up in bizarre adventures. They're picked up by road-racers Smitty (Bruce Dern) and Simp (Larry Hankin) who threatens them with a switchblade; later they hitch a lift from an embittered woman (Joyce Van Patten) who has hated hippies since her daughter ran away to become one; another time Chay finds herself being ogled by a middle-aged trucker (Mike Conrad); and in their final "thumb trip", they find themselves travelling with dysfunctional husband-and-wife alcoholics (Mariana Hill and Burke Burns).

The episodes come and go without leaving much of an impression, partly due to the fuzzy soundtrack (which renders much of the dialogue inaudible) and partly because of the thoroughly uninteresting main characters. Michael Burns gives a non-performance that may one day be recommended by doctors as a cure for insomnia, while Foster fares little better as a dislikable female lead whose character seems to think she's free and happy but in reality is just a self-centred slut. The gallery of background characters are far more fascinating than these two, but they come and go too quickly to make much of an impact. The script (by Don Mitchell, from his own novel) has no idea where it's going and merely ambles along from one pointless situation to another. Where Easy Rider was similarly plot less and freewheeling, at least it had interesting characters and situations, and charismatic performers. Thumb Tripping has none of that and is a very tough film to endure from low-key beginning to unsatisfying end.

Essentially a simple story of a young man and a young woman who make a chance meeting on the beach and are heading in the same direction, so they decide to thumb it together. While their mutual attraction grows by hormones and without the unnecessary element of romance so foreign to most young lovers, they are exposed to a series of characters who give them rides and who indoctrinate them to the dangers and wonders of life on the road. Bruce Dern and Michael Conrad are standouts as two of the drivers who move them along the highway.

There is some coming of age for both youngsters, mixed with heartbreak born from confusion and jealousy, but ultimately harmless. Again, it's really a simple, enjoyable story about a couple of hitchers.

The film treats with some of the hippie concepts from the early 70's of free love and free rides and tends to show that, as the Steely Dan song goes, "Only a fool would say that."

My best friend and I were hitchhiking along the PCH when we were stopped due to the movie being shot in front of the Big Sur Lodge. We were given $5.00 and a free meal at the Lodge to perform on the side of the road, play our guitar and tambourine and dance. The story was written by someone who had no idea how hitchhikers and hitchhiking was like at the time. Remember, this was not long after the Manson massacre. The characters were contrived, and totally unrelatable. Easy Rider was so much more entertaining and the story and characters, while obviously fiction, were relatable. The quality of acting (Dern and Foster excluded) could have been better using one of the many hippies on the side of the road. Oh, and our piece ended on the cutting room floor.