Rainbow Bridge

oh, how those criticvs love to rip apart low-budget movies outside the box. In '70, that expression was unknown but the hippie culture was still going strong (though after Altamont, Kent, State, Isle of Wight, and losing Janis Joplin, the surge lost a lot of momentum).

one attractive feature is that viewers cannot make headz or tailz of this film until about the fourth FULL viewing. plus...and this means kudos the creative side: we are never sure if the actors are actors! now, that is acting! and directing! we have our hippie-corporate head liaison visiting the Meditation Center in Maui...just to see how the money is being wasted. Pat Hartley, very sexy in her hippie-tight jeans, makes the trek....she encounters many obstructions of the establishment, on the way.

she falls mesmerized by the true love, peace, contentment - dreal *harmony* she finds. her enthusiasm is then further increase when the man, THE hippie musician icon of the day, Jimi Hendrix arrives to rock out! Hendrix's performance is the centerpiece of the film, but it comes well *into* the proceedings. a great performance.

baby boomers, esp. those a tad too old for Elvis and just young enough for The Beatles, invite yourself to join the peaceniks.

OK. Its not really a movie about Jimi Hendrix or a Jimi Hendrix concert. And yes it has a lot of hippie oriented nonsense in it. Still its a good window into times gone by. I remember seeing this in the theatre when it was released and thinking WOW what a great movie... I bought it recently and I still look at it fondly. Its worth the cost just for Hendrix's ROUSING Dolly Dagger.

A fun "BLAST FROM THE PAST".

and/or the heart and the mind, a term, antahkarana, in Sanskrit or a yoga. This rather pretentious title for a "cosmic surfing film" features surfing by Mike Hynson, a surfer who's model with low rails resembles a thin Phil Edwards model(Endless Summer fame), and his Maui buddy Les Potts (hashish inside the surfboard) at small Maalea (highlighted by a Greenough inspired inside the tube looking out sequence), a red-hot David Nuuiwha (U.S. Champion) doing sideslips and smooth turns, B.K.(Sunset beach legend), Herbie Fletcher(the guy perpetually arching on the nose off the point at San Onofre), and others filmed upside down and backwards to resemble a drug experience. Surfing is used as a metaphor for "the spirit of 1969" or peak of the counter-culture or drug deluded "revolution" that a few of us experienced. The film explored sexuality, drugs, yoga, aliens from space, music, ecology, nutrition, astrology, and science during an extended "rap" discussion by an ensemble of acid laced hippies, a philosophic young follower of yoga, a obviously deluded earth-mother talking about our "space brothers", and an interesting scientist. Of course, the best rap is by a drunken Jimi Hendrix, which is printed on the inside sleeve of the out of print "Rainbow Bridge" album on Warner-Brothers. You can find it for about $25 on EBAY. The film features "Dolly Dagger" as she arrives in Los Angeles, hitchikes to San Diego airport, down the Pacific Coast Highway through Laguna and San Clemente, past Black's and Swami's, enroute to Hawaii. She has been sent to "inspect" the Rainbow Bridge Meditation Center on Maui to make sure no one is wasting money, which is a laugh. During this trip the film mixes sound and scenery to pull off visual metaphors. For example, you hear a 747 airplane as a seagull takes off from the beach, a dog barking as a drill instructor marches recruits, et. al. Once on Maui, Dolly Dagger gets high, and pops around talking drivel with the other hippies. She is obviously an uneducated moron, and was a famous groupy. If you read a few of the books on Jimi Hendrix, one of them documents in her in detail. She is most famous for her ability to score drugs and sucking the blood from the finger of Mick Jagger. She is also buck-toothed and ugly. How did Hendrix fall in love with her? Anyways, the film climaxes with an outdoor concert by Jimi Hendrix. This is Hendrix at his best, near the end of his days, as Mitch Mitchell slams at the drums along with the lackluster bass of Billy Cox. Despite the absence of Noel Redding; this is the best footage of Hendrix in concert you will ever see. If you are a Hendrix fan, I suggest you fast-forward to the concert. If you want to see the surfing, there isn't much. The film needs to cut everything but the surfing and the concert. The soundtrack album on Warner Brother is worth buying, too.

For anybody who came of age during the late 1960's/early 1970's,this film will probably be a feather in your cap. This film,shot mostly in a commune in Hawaii that seemed to be centered in various realms of spirituality was directed (?)by Chuck Wein, a former hanger on with Andy Warhol & the Factory clique (a few of which appear in this film). The film seems to be pure improvisation, as there is no screen writer mentioned in the credits,and the cast made up of various members of the commune. Don't try & make any kind of sense out of it (at least in the traditional way,anyway). The film seems to be very organic in it's presentation (shot in 16mm,which vies for it's kitchen sink,do it yourself look). The obvious highpoint of the film is the participation of Jimi Hendrix,who in addition to being filmed at a concert overlooking a volcano,also makes a non musical appearance,conversing with some of the various denizens of the commune. I suppose experiencing this film loaded to the nines on whatever psychedelic drugs one can get their hands on is a "must" for this film (but so were other films of this nature produced between 1967 to 1975). All I can say is, fish out those love beads that have been hiding in that back drawer for the last 30 plus years,turn on that black light,roll another number & drop this in your DVD/VHS player & get 'yer groove on.

This is very much about the 60's and Jimi Hendrix and I just absolutely love this movie and its sense of humour ... Hat's off to Hartley as she makes her way to Hawaii for a private concert with Jimi Hendrix. Man, I wish I was from the 60's.