An American Hippie in Israel

I believe that Markastzm's review gets everything right, except one very thing. Indeed, he is correct that the mimes and the sharks both represent "The Man", and also that the film does not refute hippie ideals, but rather shows the unrelenting glee "The Man" takes in squashing those embracing those ideals. Markastzm is wrong, however, when he states that "Neither the characters, the actors, nor the director take themselves too seriously". There is an interview with two of the actors on the blu-ray disc and they indicate that took all of this very seriously, and that - to some extent - they all naively thought they were making a important statement. And it is precisely this that makes this film such a jaw-droppingly WTF oddity. Tedious to no end, but also fun in the right mindset with the right group of friends.

Have you ever wanted to see what it would have been like if a man LESS talented than Ed Wood had made a Billy Jack movie? No...but apparently someone did and the resulting atrocity, "An American Hippie in Israel" is one of the worst films I've seen...and I've probably seen more bad films than the producers of "MSTK3000"!

The story is mostly nonsense. But from what I was able to gather, an American veteran of the Vietnam war is tired of death and he becomes a hippie who runs away to Israel. Periodically, mime-like white-faced guys in top hats appear and try to kill him or his friends. In one scene, the pair manage to kill EVERYONE but the lead and his three friends...even though they are standing among those gunned down by the white-faced guys. But all he wants is to be happy and live in peace with his new Israeli hippie friends.

This movie is considered one of the worst films ever made and in Israel it's obtained cult status...sort of like "The Room" in the USA. Why? Because although the story is total nonsense, it is clearly the BEST aspect of the movie! The sound mixing is nutty...with either heavyhanded music OR long periods of silence. It seems they had no idea how to use incidental background music! The cinematography is best described as amateurish. And, the acting is beyond amateurish...as amateurs had to be significanty better. The worst of it, however, is that folks keep taking off their clothes. Now you'd THINK this could only improve the movie, but they are so unattractive you feel like yelling at the screen "Put it back on!!!". Yes, these are really, really, REALLY unattractive hippies.

My daughter summed it up best when she said that she much preferred the commercials the Plex channel inserted into the movie. Yes, it's that horrible. But, it might be a good film to watch with friends who like seeing terrible movies...or perhaps not because it rarely is even unintentionally funny. Amazingly, however, it manages to actually be WORSE than any of Ed Wood's films...even "Bride of the Monster" or "Plan 9 From Outer Space".

By the way, it's really sad that the basic plot (which soon gets lost) is actually interesting...a man, tired of death and society choosing to drop out. Too bad it didn't stick to this...or have competent writing, singing, directing, cinematography, editing or acting.

This feels like the people who made it actually believed in it, in the Hippie credo. It also feels like they kind of made it up as they went along and don't really know how to make a movie.

The best scene is a silent nightmare sequence both in a funny way and in an inspired way--too bad the whole film can't live up to this level. And the basic idea of a hippie Lord of the Flies is good too. But the action and violence is all laugh out loud poorly done and the long scenes of hippie talk need better actors or an actual script.

The music is quite good at times but gets repeated as do the nice travel shots out into the barren wilds.

The surreal nature of the two "Mine" figures and much of the rest of it feels like a stage troop decided to film a half rehearsed stage show and that's what we have. Camp by definition.

Is it slow, well let's just say scenes go on as long as possible, sometimes that has a retro, you-should-have-been-there quality. Others make you glad you can fast forward.

It's well worth a look if you either like and or like to laugh at hippies at their pure core. Also a little different as it's sort of a culture clash of American Hippie and Euro Hippie. They just needed some real actors and a real filmmaker to put it over, though the lead isn't bad and looks the part. Oh yes there are naked hippie chicks.

A fun, if pokey, movie that you have to see just to say you've seen it all. Get with it.

An American Hippie in Israel (1972)

** (out of 4)

American hippie Mike (Asher Tzarfati), angered from what he saw in Vietnam, heads off to form a civilization where love and peace is everywhere. He ends up in Israel where he meets three fellow hippies and they head off to an island for fun times.

Here's another film that was pretty much forgotten to time but Grindhouse Releasing managed to save it and turn it into a surprising hit in the midnight circles. AN American HIPPIE IN ISRAEL isn't as crazy as some of the others film that the company has rescued but it's certainly a weird little film that's hard to explain. I'm going to guess that writer-director-producer Amos Sefer had big ideas about peace and happiness but the film manages to be a laugh riot at times with its silly dialogue before turning into a downright bizarre nightmare.

The biggest flaw with the film is certainly the screenplay, which doesn't seem to know what it wants to do because the majority of the running time just seems to be dialogue- free while the four characters walk around, smile, laugh, get naked and just wonder around without any purpose. Some of the scenes drag on to a point where you'll want to scream at the director to yell cut or for a producer to walk on camera and ask what the hell is going on. Just take a look at the sequence where the American, speaking English, and the Israeli, speaking Hebrew, argue because they can't understand one another. Several scenes just drag on to the point where they become annoying and aggravating.

The performances are pretty much what they are but I must say that Tzarfati was "good" to the point where he keeps you entertained. Shmuel Wolf, Lily Avidan and Tzila Karney play the three other hippies and all of them are at least interesting enough to keep you involved in their story. The dialogue gets some of the biggest laughs because it basically sounds like a non-hippie trying to write hippie dialogue. It's quite laughable at times and perhaps this is why so much of the film is dialogue-free; because what dialogue there is is pretty bad.

I'm not going to ruin the final fifteen-or-so minutes of the film but they're certainly crazy and makes very little sense. A lot of the laughs from midnight crowds probably happens to what the four "turn into" and there's no doubt that you could really rip the film a new one because of it but at the same time it's a pretty bleak vision. AN American HIPPIE IN ISRAEL isn't a masterpiece or a complete disaster. It's an interesting little film to say the least.

Very little has been written in English (including on IMDb) about this film that had apparently fallen off the map. Recently, Grindhouse Releasing has acquired prints, with a DVD in the works. HIPPIE has also gone on to become a midnight movie hit in Israel: http://israelity.com/2011/01/09/hippie-sighting-in-israel/

Note: Because the film is so obscure, I have included a much more detailed synopsis of the plot than I normally do. If you want to preserve your innocence about the story, I suggest you skip to the headline - "End of Spoilers" below. But, believe me, the plot synopsis doesn't compare to the experience of watching the film!

************** PLOT SYNOPSIS - SPOILERS **********

AN American HIPPIE IN ISRAEL (aka THE HITCH-HIKER aka RIGHT ON!). A bearded dude named Mike (Asher Tzarfati) from NYC arrives in Israel without any real plans or friends to stay with. He hitches a ride with a free-spirited Israeli theater actress (Lily Avidan). Mike says that he is traveling the world after having served in the evil Vietnam war with all of it's "Button pushers!" They immediately make love and then set out to find other free spirits. In the course of an afternoon they pick up another hippie couple (Tzila Karney and Shmuel Wolf) who, in turn, hook them up with a larger band of free spirits (the male, Wolf, speaks only Hebrew). They go to an abandoned building to sing some folk songs, smoke weed, drink a lot and start screwing - in other words, an idyllic hippie gathering! Now, it must be noted here that a pair of mysterious white-faced mimes with machine guns are following Mike around. They first appear right as he is picked up hitch-hiking. Now, they show up in the abandoned building and gun down and kill everybody except for Mike, the actress and the first couple they hooked up with.

Bummer. But, this little massacre isn't going to stop Mike. The quartet are now off to a desolate island where they will show the world that you can just be free and happy all day in a commune-like atmosphere. Along the way to the coast-line they pick up a goat at a market and Mike drifts off to nap and daydream (he calls it a "flake out"). His daydream turns into a nightmare as he swings a giant hammer to destroy giant reel-to-reel "computers" in slow motion. Only, the camera director Amos Sefer uses was apparently not able to properly achieve the slow motion effect he wanted so Mike "acts" in slow motion as well! That's amusing, but, you ain't seen nothing yet. Wait until they get to the island!

After stopping to pick up an inflatable raft and some food and booze, the quartet (and the goat!) paddle out to the island, leaving their car on the shore. That night it's a grand party of food, drink, sex and loud proclamations to the world that they are "FREE! FREE! FREE!" They pass out and wake up the next morning only to find that their raft is missing. Frantically, they search the island, but the boat is gone - and so is the goat! Mike says he can swim well, so he'll just swim to shore and get help. Wouldn't you know it, but, there are sharks in the water! The two big plastic sharks are amusing as they re-appear a few times and always at the same depth in the water and the same distance from each other.

Trapped! The island has no vegetation and apparently the water has no fish save for a few crustaceans (and the sharks), so the quartet immediately switches from idyllic heaven mode to outright panic. Soon, it's "Lord of the Flies" time and the four at each other's throats. And, when I say "soon", I mean in a matter of minutes! Not hours or days! The guys literally turn into cavemen, reduced to grunts and groans and they even grab the women by the hair and jerk them around. Then, the goat shows up. Instead, of joining forces to trap the goat for them all to eat, they bash each other with fists and rocks until they are left in a big heaping pile of humanity. Meanwhile, back at the shore, the two Mimes show up, jump into the quartet's car and drive away.

The End.

******** END OF SPOILERS ********************

Now, if all of that seems like a fairly orderly and scripted film, let me assure you it's not. Save for the last 10 or 15 minutes on the island, everything in the film seems only vaguely written. The actual dialogue seems mainly improvised and the scenes of walking around and driving shamble on and on with a folky muzak backing score. Still, I kind of enjoyed the hippie vibe to a certain extent. It plays out somewhat realistically like it would in life with Mike drifting from place to place (he mentions he had been in Europe, including Rome just before coming to Israel). Of course, nobody really enjoys watching someone else's home movies! The bigger issue is just what message Director Sefer is trying to convey. The movie doesn't make Mike a very sympathetic character, but, it does seem to be in accord with his Anti-Vietnam and free spirit attitudes. It's not really a surprise that even in a movie with a somewhat moralistic 'warning' against the hippie ideal, that the movie itself indulges in nudity, sex and drug use, for many a film going back to Cecil B. DeMille's biblical tales have done so (DeMille always got away with more sinful stuff from the censors because of his biblical themes).

Mike's daydream about raging against the machine ("Button-Pushers!") is also echoed in the two Mimes (Robots, perhaps?), who could be interpreted as representing "The Man". But, the whole 'Lord of the Flies' ending, uh, flies in the face of those themes. Heavy, man.