Alice's Restaurant

This excellent film was written by my late screen writing teacher Venable Herndon, but I saw it and fell in love with it long before I took his class.

It manages to be both good humored and effortlessly profound at the same time. The recruitment scenes are hysterically funny. I miss movies with this laid-back quality. A lot of people are adverse to this type of loose narrative structure, but since almost every flick and TV show has such a rigid structure why can't the rest of us have a couple of films to ourselves.

The final shot of Alice's Restaurant with all its beautiful ambiguity has affected me more than the final shot of the "Searchers" every time I've seen it. It manages to celebrate something and take it with a grain of salt at the same time. Hurrah for the director of photography!

A beautiful trip all round.

I bought this film on dvd, not really knowing why, as I didn't much care for it when I was younger. I saw it in the movies and it failed to capture the fun and humour of the song. Looking at it now, especially towards the end, I see it much differently. Maybe Arthur Penn was trying to capture the end of the Hippie era. Alice looks devastated as she watches her world and perhaps her dreams fall apart. Was all the innocence and freedom false? I think this film was before it's time. Regardless, it is probably the best depiction of a hippie "slice-of-life" ever made.

After seeing all the negative criticism, I just had to say a few words in the films defence. ALICE'S RESTAURANT is unconventionally produced, but it DEFINITELY has themes running through out it.. It deals with some profound issues about the era, particularly the concept of the pursuit of happieness. Note the significant change in tone in the last section: The marriage ceremony and party at the end brilliantly convey the idea of the characters trying to "be free" and have a good time, but that if there is aimlessness in your life, there will be a sadness there and you won't know were it is comming from. True, it also helps if you like folk music (witch I do). I found the scenes of Arlo by his father Woody's bed side quite touching, especially when he is performing with Pete Seagar. And of course, seeing the ALICE'S RESTUARANT MASSECREE acted out is delightful.

Those who write complaining that the movie isn't like the song are missing the point. The movie isn't about the song, nor is the movie supposed to be based around the song. The movie merely includes the song - and some events in Arlo Guthrie's life in the 1960s. Get over the fixation about the song and you might begin to see what the movie is about.

Alice's Restaurant is about life and loss, and the traps we allow ourselves to get caught up in. It's about addiction, youth, anarchy, death, and aimlessness. It's a celebration and a lament for all those things.

ALICE'S Restaurant (3+ outta 5 stars) Maybe not one of the best movies of the '60s but it is definitely worth checking out... as a sort of time capsule if nothing else. This was an "establishment" movie designed to cash in the popularity of the then-popular folk song by Arlo Guthrie. They got Arlo to star as himself... as well as several of his actual friends and acquaintances of the time... even the actual police officer who arrested him for the incident described in the song. Considering its mercenary intent the movie is a lot better than it has any right to be. This may not be one of director Arthur Penn's best movies but he definitely gets the most out of the concept. Guthrie now says that the movie is more of a version of what the straight world *thought* the hippie movement was all about rather than what it was *actually* about... with that in mind the movie still paints a pretty good picture of the times. Guthrie is a low-key performer but he definitely has some screen charisma... resembling a baby-faced Bob Dylan at times. This could be considered one of the first full-length motion picture music videos.