Go Ask Alice

Well, I for one actually believed that "go ask alice" was the true story of a teenage girl. But it turns out it was written by an older woman as a cautionary tale on the evils of the day. As a result, for me at least, I had a hard time sitting through the movie. The acting was not very good, either. Though it was interesting to see Mackenzie Phillips in her first starring role. I think she should have written the script, seeing as how she did a lot of drugs at the time.It probably would have been a little more believable.Robert Carradine plays Bill. You may remember him from Revenge of the Nerds and Lizzie McGuire. Or you may not remember him at all. Oh, yes, they DID cast William Shatner as the father. AND Andy Griffith as the priest. But the one thing the movie didn't include was the best line from the book---"another day, another blowjob"

I remember watching this with my sister and parents when it was first broadcast on TV. For it's time it pushed the envelope though realizing by today's standards it's kitschy with innuendo and a carefully crafted script to keep it within broadcast standards of the time. It was very good, and did a fair job of scaring some kids to not try drugs. I think the most our group did as teens was 8 people sharing a joint which had no effect; though, sadly I did know friends and kids in school to totally screw up with drugs, a couple died. It served it;s purpose at the time, it would be fodder to today's teens that hear much worse watching television commercials, that are barraged worse than the drug culture of the late 60's early 70's. I love Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplanes original version of Go Ask Alice "White Rabbit" which they did not use in the film.

The movie was decent, but it left so much of the amazing imagery out. Also, the book really examines Alice's relationships with people and her feelings of loneliness. The movie was not personal enough. There is an intimacy in reading Alice's diary that draws you in and makes you really experience what she felt. I thought the movie approached this too much as a public service announcement.

I had to view this movie as part of a drug prevention program in junior high school('73-'74). I was between 12 and 13 years old at the time. The early 70s were turbulent and the drug culture was making its way to small town America. Unfortunately, the movie, in my opinion, made the drug scene seem cool while the straight kids were portrayed as "geeky". I personally thought that Alice was the coolest person in the world! I think the film could have achieved more balance and probably been more effective as "drug prevention" material had it presented the straight kids in a more appealing light. While I cannot say that it was the catalyst to my own "issues", it certainly did fan flames that were smoldering. I rated it 9 because watching it is nostalgic and I do think it is a fair representation of the drug culture during that time in history...not a 9 for it meeting its original intent...in that respect I don't think it succeeded. Most of the girls I knew wanted to be like Alice...including me!

I hope the movie is released one of these days because it would definitely bring back memories. I have not seen it since I was in Junior High School in the late '70's (they used to show it at school, perhaps as a scare tactic) but I still remember the book and the movie as having a profound influence on why I never touched drugs. I now understand this was not a true story but at the time I couldn't get over "Alice's" story and the consequences of using drugs. I still own a copy of the book and re-read it from time to time. I would love to see the movie again but wouldn't be surprised if I found it very dated and wonder why it affected me so much back then.