Magic Trip: Ken Kesey's Search for a Kool Place

This could have been a movie reminiscent of those often celebrated sixties. However, the people portrayed in this home movie avant la lettre, were far from average. Their ways of living and what we saw thereof was on a safe distance from our own memories of that time.

I can understand the attraction of the 100 hour film footage that was left behind. But condensing it into a feature film length, does not work. For starters, we got a super fast intro of characters, leaving unclear who was who, and what tied them together. Secondly, the purpose of the journey was left equally unclear (maybe there wasn't any). Thirdly, it kept us wondering about the vast number of practical aspects for such a journey, like money, groceries, repairs, petrol, and so on. Of course, all this only proves that I wouldn't have blended in with this company, being much too serious and too organized for such a journey to even think about.

Anyway, it offered a nice excuse to show TV and movie fragments of that time, and pictures of every-days lives and streets. Also, we saw repeated police checks for no reason, demonstrating that their overall appearance (painted bus, haircut, clothes, etc) was "different". A nice side effect was that we saw and heard VSOP music fragments of that time, working well to refresh our memories. Similarly, it showed us how progressive people dressed in the sixties. Could that be all there is to fill 107 minutes of film, and keep our attention span??

All in all, what we saw was kaleidoscopic, to say the least. On one hand, it was interesting for some­one who grew up in that time (like me) but nearly forgot all about it (I did). On the other hand, it did not go beyond the family album level with pictures from the past. Leaves us wondering how more than 100 hours of film footage and sound fragments could have survived the continuous chaos these people used to live in. Again, this question proves that it was not my kind of company. Maybe good for us that they existed, important as they may have been as a catalyst for cultural changes, if only to practically demonstrate how to detach yourself from the daily grind and drop all common conventions.

READ THIS: Quick summary: At the very beginning you may notice its made my "history" something or other. This in away sums up what to expect from this movie, its fun til about half way through and then its just dreary facts about what happened. I watched sunshine makers and think it was 100X better ...just down to how it was directed and presented

I loved seeing the antics that went on with the bus but the overall feel of the movie left me feeling dry and kind of sad.

I felt sad because it didn't really go into enough depth on any of the characters or the philosophy of their movement. It was nice to see such rare content but it didn't go into enough depth is any one area. What i mean by this is it didn't focus down on any body or anything. If they focused more on ken and his life and showed us who everyone was in relation to him i might have felt more of a connection with the characters and enjoyed it more.

But the worst thing about this movie is it was divorced from the messages that these pioneer's of the 60's propagated.. the fact that the "merry pranksters" were even too excitable and "free" to sit down and get into the complexity's of the psychedelic philosophy with leary was something that was really lost within this movie. It didn't successfully show the excitement and exploration that these people were engaged in... all it did is vaugely show what happened..

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Magic Trip is a real-time documentary, cobbled together from 40-year-old film, about a cross-country trek just prior to the big hippie invasions of the mid-to-late 1960s. It's a time capsule, and it's a highly informative one for those of us who weren't there. It's a jumping-off point to explain the lovefests, the Be-Ins, the protests, the marches, the Woodstocks, and the Altamonts. It's a relic of its time as well, but it's also a genuine look at a mostly far-gone time.

It's 1964. The sixties, we're told, didn't really begin in 1960 (or 1961) but rather in November of 1963, when Kennedy was killed. The nation's innocence was lost, and the younger souls - our baby boomers - looked for something to help guide them into the future. The plastic days of picket-fenced houses and nuclear families were disappearing. People needed something new. That something new, it turned out, was LSD - a perfectly legal substance at the time.

Ken Kesey was the author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a writer of some reknown. In '63, he and a few friends were visiting New York City and witnessed the preparations for the following year's World's Fair. Kesey, who lived in Oregon, determined on the spot that he'd grab some people and make a trip across America to the fair. The group would up too big for a station wagon, so an old International Harvester bus was procured and customized, including plenty of filming equipment. The bus was painted in an array of bright, friendly, psychedelic colors, and off they went.

The group called itself the Merry Pranksters, and everyone had his or her own nickname. Along for the ride was Neil Cassady. Never heard of him? You should read Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road; the character of Dean Moriarity was based on Cassady. Cassady was a real character, a speed-taking oddity who drove like a maniac and had zillions of stories to tell. All he needed was an audience.

Like most documentaries, this movie will be enjoyed best by those who were present during that era and by those who wish they were. If you're not emotionally invested in the story, you might think you're watching a bunch of wackos on drugs careen about the country, having sex every three seconds and dropping acid. You'd be right, but you might not enjoy it much. And surely not as much as the participants did.

If I recall, the movie uses nothing but the footage shot during the trip to New York, with some new narration by actor Stanley Tucci. This lends quite the feel of veritas to the proceedings; it's exactly like watching home movies, at least if your family is a little deranged. But drugs or not, what's interesting is that we see hardly any real conflicts - people get along, for the most part, even when some leave the trip before reaching the final destination. It's a good-vibe film, and none of it feels manufactured.

I guess that's what I find most appealing about Magic Trip. It's honest, and it's fun. It gives you a glimpse into those sometimes twisted times - times, it should be noted, look like a cakewalk compared to what we have now. In '64, we weren't even heavily into Vietnam, and the anti- hippie tone had yet to sweep the nation. The bus got pulled over numerous times, but since hippiedom was so new, cops just figured the occupants were college kids out having fun. Ah, for those times now.

I read Tom Wolfe's novel and was pretty impressed. I watched this movie and wasn't. In the novel the pranksters have a clear underlying philosophy to their antics and as such mark an important historical beginning of the 60's youth counterculture. In the novel there is a recurring theme railing against the crass materialism of America at the time and a continuation of the artistic beat movement of the 50's. In the movie we're pretty much simply given an advert for LSD. As I understood it drugs and sex were used as a MEANS to a greater understanding and a new philosophy of life. But what we witness in this film is simply irresponsible self gratification and mindless hedonism which I guess is what eventually burnt the 60's out. Maybe Wolfe made it all up and this film represents the reality? If so it was a big disappointment for me. I'm with Kerouac on this one. I'd share a beer with him on that sofa in New York and have a good moan about what a bunch of irritating,vain, stupid,shallow, self indulgent pricks they all were.

Ken tries for years to edit this film and make it work. He couldn't. And there's good reason: it's really not interesting or compelling. It's basically one tedious home movie.

And not a good one.

For all the talk of LSD trips and hte like, these people seem pretty normal. Kesey certainly was. After teh whole magic bus thing he led a very quiet family life in Oregon and taught at the university.

This documentary is very disappointing. It doesnt capture the times or the spirit.