“The Last Movie” (1971)
A few other films on this list have production stories that ended up dwarfing the contents of the actual film itself, but none are quite like “The Last Movie.” Dennis Hopper, fresh off “Easy Rider,” got carte blanche to direct the movie he’d been wanting to make since the early ’60s. The result is not only one of the most fascinating films-about-filmmaking ever constructed, but a meta experience that could only have been produced under the youthful fervor of the counterculture to which Dennis Hopper, Kris Kristofferson, Peter Fonda et al. belonged. Not unlike abstract expressionism in painting (listen to this great Hopper interview from 1982 for more on that), “The Last Movie” goes out of its way (or conventional frame) to show you the tools it uses to make its film, as it follows the experiences of a doomed set in Peru. Later on, Peruvian locals create their own film using sticks as cameras after one of the American stuntmen from the earlier production (Hopper) makes a decision to stay away from the fake consumerist world of Hollywood and its approach to the artistic process. Hopper was in the midst of alcoholism and drug abuse during the entirety of the shoot, and influenced by his friend Alejandro Jodorowsky, re-cut the finished film to turn it into a non-linear anti-plot incident, defying all conventions. Dialogue was juxtaposed with songs on the soundtrack and an unwieldy use of jump cuts, resulting in a messy affair that many critics couldn’t get behind, even while the film won an award in Venice. Its commercial failure depressed Hopper, who didn’t direct another film until 1980’s “Out of the Blue.”
“Punishment Park” (1971)
If you want to get real, real deep into the angst of American counterculture through cinema, look no further than Peter Watkins’ “Punishment Park.” The irony is that Watkins is an Englishman, and his mockumentary follows a fictional British and West German crew, but that just adds an objective layer on top of what some films like “If….” and “Daises” already underlined: 1960s counterculture had no borders. Watkins’ dainty narration is a cross between David Hyde Pearce and HAL 9000 as he details mock trials of several youths of the time: those who have long hair, determined minds, and are vehemently opposed to the on-going Vietnam War and daily oppression at the hands of an immoral government. The titular park is the desert, which is offered as a choice (in lieu of prison) for those found guilty by a tribunal of professors, journalists (and one ‘Mary Jergins,’ credited as housewife first and chairman of “Silent Majority of United States” second). Watkins intercuts scenes in the desert of young 20-somethings running for their life from apathetic law enforcers, with fiery cross-examinations and speeches in the trials. The film is littered with quotable dialogue (“How the fuck you gonna overrule the constitution?” is a personal favorite) and is so raw and organic with its performances and emotional resonance that you really get a palpable sense of that late-’60s/early-’70s atmosphere.
“Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” (1971)
A blaxploitation classic that may not be as cinematically deep as the rest of the films mentioned here, but is just as important on a cultural level. In his own words, Melvin Van Peebles explains how the story of “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” came to him while he was on a cliff and facing the sun as a film about “a brother getting The Man’s foot out of his ass.” The dawn of blaxploitation cinema gave rise to the independent voice of the disenfranchised African-American populace as a response to mainstream cinema’s attempts to stifle that very same voice. In many scenes from films mentioned here, we’ve seen how issues of race and diversity struck a major countercultural chord, but none reacted to them as brashly as Van Peebles. It’s the legend of a young orphan-turned-sex-worker-turned-fugitive called Sweetback (Van Peebles) who kills a racist white cop, uses sex on account of his impressively large penis to get out of trouble — Van Peebles had to pretend he was shooting a black porno in order to dodge the unions — and becomes a cinematic icon that influenced a whole generation to speak up and be heard. With no studio wanting to finance it, Van Peebles (with some help from Bill Cosby) put up his own money and made the film for a mere $50,000 – doing his own stunts and shooting unsimulated sex scenes. This bite-sized analysis explains the cultural importance of ‘Sweet Sweetback’ and the vehemently politicized message underneath the film’s raw and exploitive surface.
“The Holy Mountain” (1973)
The most talked-about film from Mexican madman Alejandro Jodorowsky is very much in the surreal and phantasmagorical vein of something like “Valerie and Her Week of Wonders” — except way trippier. The counterculture period dished out plenty of films that directly tackled the druggy highs of the late ’60s and early ’70s — “The Trip,” “Psych-Out,” “Ghetto Freaks,” etc. — none of which are particularly any good. Leave it to “The Holy Mountain,” distanced by a few years from the peak of the movement, to create an experience that, frame by frame, seemingly pulls you under the spell of heavy hallucinogens (Jodorowsky and his crew did indeed take LSD and mushrooms during production). Embracing the hippie culture in more creative ways than any film on the list, “The Holy Mountain” tells the story of The Thief (Horacio Salinas), a Christ-like figure who follows a shit-to-gold-turning alchemist (famously played by Jodorowsky himself) towards a promised land, along with seven other “people” who personify a major materialistic aspect (weapons, toys, cosmetics, politics, etc.). Its satirical polish rubs off quick to reveal a scathing social commentary on the materialistic world that the counterculture movement opposed so soundly: Religion is undistinguishable from the occult, money is burned as ritual, and the “Pantheon Bar” is hippie nirvana. Considering “El Topo” from a few years earlier as well, Jodorowsky claims his films are meant as more of a spiritual than political awakening, but David Church rightly calls it how it is: “the somewhat apolitical nature of the hybrid mysticism in his films is political in itself because of how it defies the institutionalisation of religion within national and cultural contexts.”
Other counterculture gems that you would do well to seek out include Hal Ashby’s screwball black comedy “Harold and Maude,” “Lions Love (…And Lies)” as another example of how women directors (in this case Agnès Varda) reacted to the movement, and the Roger Ebert-penned musical fiasco “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.” Needless to say, the groundbreaking five-and-a-half hour rockumentary “Woodstock” is a must-watch. It’s also fascinating to see how some major names tackled the times, with Jean-Luc Godard’s “Weekend” and Ingmar Bergman’s horror “Hour of the Wolf” as the best of the lot. Michelangelo Antonioni also reacted in his own way by directing the critically panned “Zabriskie Point,” which is worth checking out just to see how a hugely influential European director handled himself in late-’60s America.
The more obscure titles that haven’t quite transcended their context but are still worthy of discovery include “Alice’s Restaurant,” “Wild in the Streets” and “The Strawberry Statement.”
That’s it from us, folks. Share your thoughts on this list and tell us what some of your favorite counterculture moments and movies are in the comments below!
