Mondo Mod

Far from a great documentary but fun to watch for the various Los Angeles locations. Weird mix of titillation and anti-drug messages. I couldn't tell whether this was pro or anti teens and LSD. I was a kid in the 60's and this was fun to watch for the clothes, cars and music but incoherent story and at times looked like the director was on acid. Curio piece just take it too seriously. The interviews look stilted and awkward, what little acting this had was very bad. The Whiskey a Go-Go scenes were my favorite and really took me back to that era when my Dad would take me to places that had live music.

How they got LA DJ Humble Harv to narrate this is beyond me..they must have thrown some serious cash his way.

Most of the reviews of the DVD of "Mondo Mod" and it's counterpart of the same DVD package "Hippie Revolt", fails to mention the most interesting element of each film. And that is the commentary track on this DVD that is totally synced-up with movie. Johnny Legend and another person with him (sorry I forgot his name) Provides probably the most observant commentary about each film and what they experienced in that period. In fact, it is absolutely a delight to listen to! They were there! They can describe what the real story is behind the film footage. The movies alone with the original soundtrack only rates a 3. But with the commentary track I rate each film an 8! Please everybody if you buy or rent the DVD, don't ignore the commentaries. Highly recommended!

While the Mod era got most of the hype and coverage, the Hippies had their own little spots here too.

We cover the LA area here. We get a good look at the dirt bike races and surfing scenes. A tour of the local clothing shops as well. It's interesting to see the fashions displayed without even a hint of irony.

A few rock bands are shown too. Local acts, many with the greaser look still. But a few are showing Beatles influence too. And in all honesty. the groups and songs were pretty good.

The inevitable scenes of riots and protests are here too. Along with an acid fueled orgy at the end. Lots of close-ups of girls in go-go boots and minis dancing as well.

Not a bad doc at all. The DVD has "Hippie Revolt" as an extra. That's for 60's completests especially.

A teen hippie and surfer explains the world of the sixties with surfing, hippies, LSD, bickers, juvenile delinquents. Man do I wish that I lived in that time, but unfortunately I was born in 1981. This is quite a great colorful film, with long scenes all about the many goings on in the sixties. The party scene at the end was the best scene. Recommended!

Most of us who see this will watch the Something Weird presentation which pairs this with "Hippie Revolt."

"Mondo World" is the more miss-able of the two films. It has its moments of unintentional humor that we watch Something Weird films for, but they are few and far between. Probably the best moment is when a women is trying out a dress in a ill-lit boutique looks at the owner and says, "Could this be made any shorter?" The dress coming down to about a centimeter below her crotch. The film never defines "mod" but shows a collection of unrelated phenomena. Outside of the drug use, they might unnerve a grandmother in Kansas, but no one else. Guys with short hair on surfboards? Guys on dirtbikes? It's not a cultural revolt, it's people with a little spending money and leisure time, although the leering narrator seems to think differently. For the most part, this film seems to be the kind of second feature shown at drive-ins intended to bore people into putting away the speaker and leaving after fifteen minutes or so.

"Hippie Revolt" aka "Something's Happening" is a little more worthwhile; it at least works as a cultural document. Noteworthy in the running time: scenes of the Haight-Ashbury district of the time, which it is claimed had about one person every six square feet. I don't know if that was accurate, but the people did seem packed. The camera panned for a minute on a weekly community group seminar on how to avoid gangbangs, venereal disease, beatings and starvation, letting us know that not all was peace and consensual sex among these young, pad-crashing transients. Then the film moves to a commune called "Strawberry Fields," where it was revealed that the locals had problems with these hippies moving into the area. As no one seems to be doing anything productive, I might have problems myself. The property probably is still an outdoor slum thanks to these people. Mostly this part of the film lets us know that people zonked on drugs can sound really, really dumb. "The total presence of God and the total absence of God, it's like, the same thing," says a nubile young girl in a short dress, while a man nods in agreement; no doubt wondering how much more of this crap he will have to listen to before she will let him get into that dress.

Easily the best part of the disk is the extras. You get to see previews for sleazy, and I mean, sleazy, roughies like "Smoke and Flesh" and "The Dean's Wife." And deleted scenes from "Mondo Mod" showing nudity. (If and when you see a nice body in these extras, keep in mind: she's probably expecting her first great-grandchild right about now.) Best of all were the posters of drive-in movies shown while a voice-over used a drive-in in Greenville, SC plays. I found it amazing that two movies, "The Miracle of Birth" and "Birth of Triplets" were advertised here over and over. I didn't know 'birth films' were a genre? Either that, or obstetricians were a big part of the drive-in audience....