Wikipedia's list of counterculture films

You have to love the Wikipedia sometimes. This is a "list of counterculture films" made in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Some of my favorite movies are on this list. The list might lead you to think the counterculture ended in 1984. That's probably about right. The titles and years are from the Wikipedia. The inane comments and actors and directors names are mine.

My favorites=****

Look Back in Anger (1958)
Pull My Daisy (1959) I know Kerouac wrote the text. I think he appears in the movie too.
Shadows (1959)
The Savage Eye (1960)
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)
Dog Star Man (1961-1964)
The Misfits (1961)**** A great John Huston movie with Marilyn Monroe, Gable, and Clift. Marilyn falls for a burned-out cowboy.
Knife in the Water (1962)**** (actually titled Nóz w wodzie) A great Polanski film--better than Chinatown.
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
Flaming Creatures (1963)
Scorpio Rising (1963)
Bande à part (1964)
Guns of the Trees (1964)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)**** In my top ten for sure. Kubrick's best?
Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)**** Russ Meyers. Some people call this the Citizen Kane of B Movies. Three big-breasted strippers kill and go on a tear in the desert.
The War Game (1965)
Blowup (1966)**** Antonioni. . .an amazing film
Chappaqua (1966)
Chelsea Girls (1966) (Andy Warhol)****I wouldn't call it a good film, but it is Warhol, and worth seeing even if you don't get to see Edie Sedgwick or Viva naked. It is four hours long, and done in a split screen, with basically two different movies side by side. It's either the height or nadir of modernism...
Hallucination Generation (1966)
Masculin, féminin (1966)
Morgan! (1966)
The Endless Summer (1966) An interesting surfing movie by the king of surf movies
The Wild Angels (1966)
You're a Big Boy Now (1966)
The Graduate (1967)**** A great Mike Nichols movie. It cleaned up at the Oscars.
How I Won the War (1967) Richard Lester's movie with John Lennon in the cast.)****
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)**** The first movie I dug Warren Beatty in
I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967) One of the first mainstream porn movies
I Am Curious (Blue) (1967) A sequel
Magical Mystery Tour (1967) I thought this sucked. And the Beatles are deities to me.
The Trip (1967) Did Peter Fonda direct this, or just star in it? I'm too lazy to IMDB it...
Week End (1967)
Message for Posterity (1967)
Barbarella (1968) Jane Fonda's breakout movie. She doesn't wear a lot of clothes.
Faces (1968)
Flesh (1968)
Head (1968) - this was a surrealistic Monkees movie--written by Jack Nicholson!
I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968)****
If... (1968) (Malcom McDowell starred, I think)
Maryjane (1968) Do you wonder what this one is about?
Psych-Out (1968)
Revolution (1968)
Skidoo (1968)
Three in the Attic (1968)
Wild in the Streets (1968) **** This is one of the greatest B movies of all time. The voting age in lowered to 16 and a youth becomes president. I have always loved this film! Rent it!
Yellow Submarine (1968)****
Alice's Restaurant (1969)
Easy Rider (1969)**** Great soundtrack. Directed by Dennis Hopper.
The Magic Christian (1969)**** Not as good as the book.
Medium Cool (1969) This is a Haskell Wexler film. This great cinematographer's movies all have stunning camera work. But he was probably a better camera guy than director.
Midnight Cowboy (1969)**** This film still holds up, in a lot of ways.
More (1969)
Putney Swope (1969)**** I saw this at a drive-in in 1969. A fun movie by Robert Downey Sr.
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) Russ Meyer ****
Catch-22 (1970)**** Not as good as the book. A Mike Nichols movie with an all star cast.
El Topo (1970)
Five Easy Pieces (1970)****
Getting Straight (1970)****
M*A*S*H (1970)**** Another of my favorite Altman's (are they all on the counterculture list because Altman smoked a lot of pot?)
Performance (1970) A Rolling Stones movie I think.
Punishment Park (1970)
The Revolutionary (1970)
The Strawberry Statement (1970)****
THX 1138 (1970) George Lucas' tragically underrated and almost forgotten film.
Watermelon Man (1970)
Woodstock (1970)**** I love this movie, including much of the music.
Zabriskie Point (1970)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)**** Whew. Disturbing, a great use of music, and McDowell's best work I think (although he is pretty good in Entourage).
A Safe Place (1971)
Billy Jack (1971)
Gas-s-s-s (1971)
Harold and Maude (1971)**** A tearjerker by Hal Ashby with Bud Courte and Ruth Gordon.
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)**** Tied w/ Nashville as Altman's best in my booklet.
Shaft (1971)**** But I'm talkin' bout Shaft...
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971)****
The Last Movie (1971) I saw this Dennis Hopper directed movie, but don't remember it. That's OK. Hopper probably doesn't remember making it.
Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) With Beach Boy Dennis Wilson and James Taylor****
Vanishing Point (1971)
W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971)
Drive, He Said (1971)
Cisco Pike (1972)
F.T.A. (1972) F*** the army!
Pink Flamingos (1972)**** Jon Waters
The Final Comedown (1972)
Fritz the Cat (1972)
Last Tango in Paris (1972) Never understood this movie's appeal other than seeing Maria Schneider naked.
Silent Running (1972)
Electra Glide in Blue (1973)
American Graffiti (1973)*** Lucas' second movie.
Flesh for Frankenstein (1973)
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
The Final Programme (1973)
Godspell (1973)
The Harrad Experiment (1973)
The Holy Mountain (1973)
La Maman et la Putain (1973)
The Wicker Man (1973)
Serpico (1973)***
Themroc (1973)
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)
Steppenwolf (1974)
Dirty Duck (1974)
The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat (1974)
The Trial of Billy Jack (1974)
A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
Zardoz (1974)
Sweet Movie (1974)
Tommy (1975)**** A messy but interesting flick.
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) One of my all time favorite movies. Cazale and Pacino are heartbreakingly great here.****
Nashville (1975) **** A stunning, gorgeous, brilliantly casted masterpiece by Altman. This may be my favorite movie. Ever.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Lisztomania (1975)
That's the Way of the World (1975)
Helter Skelter (1976)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (1976)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) David Bowie stars.
Opening Night (1977)
Coming Home (1978)
The Deer Hunter (1978)****
The Last Waltz (1978) The Band. Controversial but wonderful.****
Up in Smoke (1978) Cheech and Chong ****
Apocalypse Now (1979) Coppola's third greatest movie****
The China Syndrome (1979)
Hair (1979)
More American Graffiti (1979)
Over the Edge (1979)
The Rose (1979) Bette Midler
Out of the Blue (1980)****
Repo Man (1984) I haven't seen it since it came out, but I loved it then...****
Suburbia (1984)
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Video and lyrics: Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues

This is the famous opening of the Pennebaker movie Don't Look Back. In some ways, it was one of the earliest music videos. The movie/mockumentary Tim Robbins starred in and directed, Bob Roberts, has an excellent parody/tribute of this scene. Bob Dylan's lyrics appear below the video.


You may need to click twice to see the clip...


Subterranean Homesick Blues
by Bob Dylan

Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he's got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It's somethin' you did
God knows when
But you're doin' it again
You better duck down the alley way
Lookin' for a new friend
The man in the coon-skin cap
In the big pen
Wants eleven dollar bills
You only got ten

Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talkin' that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone's tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the D. A.
Look out kid
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don't try "No Doz"
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows

Get sick, get well
Hang around a ink well
Ring bell, hard to tell
If anything is goin' to sell
Try hard, get barred
Get back, write braille
Get jailed, jump bail
Join the army, if you fail
Look out kid
You're gonna get hit
But users, cheaters
Six-time losers
Hang around the theaters
Girl by the whirlpool
Lookin' for a new fool
Don't follow leaders
Watch the parkin' meters

Ah get born, keep warm
Short pants, romance, learn to dance
Get dressed, get blessed
Try to be a success
Please her, please him, buy gifts
Don't steal, don't lift
Twenty years of schoolin'
And they put you on the day shift
Look out kid
They keep it all hid
Better jump down a manhole
Light yourself a candle
Don't wear sandals
Try to avoid the scandals
Don't wanna be a bum
You better chew gum
The pump don't work
'Cause the vandals took the handles
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Eight Years Ago Today. . .President Bill Clinton Was Acquitted!

Eight years ago today, President Bill Clinton was acquitted in the U.S. Senate. The House of Representatives impeached Clinton on Dec. 19, 1998, and charged him with perjury and obstruction of justice during Lewinsky scandal investigations. The public was fascinated by the machinations of Linda Tripp, the blue dress, and tales of Oval Office sexual encounters. However, they also considered the march toward impeachment a partisan witch-hunt, and not germane to national affairs, and not an impediment to running the United States.

The public in general, while disgusted, considered this investigation to be possibly even less important than the earlier one investigating "Whitewater." In January, 1999, two impeachment counts were tried in the Senate. On February 12, the Senate acquitted Clinton.

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Lyrics to Johnny Cash's 25 Minutes To Go

These are the lyrics to a Johnny Cash tune from the At Folsom Prison album. When I was in Austin earlier this year, we heard Roger Wallace cover this song in a show at the Hole in the Wall. Wallace's rendition moved me. I later wrote him and asked if he had recorded the song, and could he send me the lyrics. He told me—without even hinting I was an imbecile—that it was a Johnny Cash tune Cash recorded at Folsom Prison (the same concert that made A Boy Named Sue famous)...

25 Minutes To Go

by Johnny Cash

Well they're building a gallows outside my cell I've got 25 minutes to go
And the whole town's waitin' just to hear me yell I've got 24 minutes to go
Well they gave me some beans for my last meal I've got 23 minutes to go
But nobody asked me how I feel I've got 22 minutes to go
Well I sent for the governor and the whole dern bunch with 21 minutes to go
And I sent for the mayor but he's out to lunch I've got 20 more minutes to go
Then the sheriff said boy I gonna watch you die got 19 minutes to go
So I laughed in his face and I spit in his eye got 18 minutes to go
Now hear comes the preacher for to save my soul with 13 minutes to go
And he's talking bout' burnin' but I'm so cold I've 12 more minutes to go
Now they're testin' the trap and it chills my spine 11 more minutes to go
And the trap and the rope aw they work just fine got 10 more minutes to go
Well I'm waitin' on the pardon that'll set me free with 9 more minutes to go
But this is for real so forget about me got 8 more minutes to go
With my feet on the trap and my head on the noose got 5 more minutes to go
Won't somebody come and cut me loose with 4 more minutes to go
I can see the mountains I can see the skies with 3 more minutes to go
And it's to dern pretty for a man that don't wanna die 2 more minutes to go
I can see the buzzards I can hear the crows 1 more minute to go
And now I'm swingin' and here I go-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o!

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Photo: Jack conducting anatomical research with an assistant

Anatomía (del griego, anatomē, ‘disección’), rama de las ciencias naturales relativa a la organización estructural de los seres vivos. Es una ciencia muy antigua, cuyos orígenes se remontan a la Prehistoria. Durante siglos los conocimientos anatómicos se han basado en la observación de plantas y animales diseccionados. Sin embargo, la comprensión adecuada de la estructura implica un conocimiento de la función de los organismos vivos. Por consiguiente, la anatomía es casi inseparable de la fisiología, que a veces recibe el nombre de anatomía funcional. La anatomía, que es una de las ciencias básicas de la vida, está muy relacionada con la medicina y con otras ramas de la biología.
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The Real Big Bird a/k/a the Diatryma or Gastornis

Taken by David Fuchs; reconstruction of Diatryma

Ever since I learned of their existence in this story in The Seattle Times I have been fascinated by this seven foot, 350 pound Big Bird Diatryma, or, Gastornis, that used to walk in my old haunts along the Green River in Southeast King County. Also living there were 18 pound horses, and tiny hippopotamuses (or hippopotami).

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Sha Na Na Video: At The Hop (Woodstock Festival 1969)

I was a little shocked when I first saw Sha Na Na perform in the movie Woodstock. I didn't really know the difference between Doo Wop and Perry Como. If you grew up when I did, it was all Beatles, and British Groups, all the time (and around '66, Dylan, and the emerging American bands and musicians like Love, The Doors, Chicago, Joni Mitchell , The Grateful Dead, The Zombies, and others). But Sha Na Na played 50's music, and we just couldn't hear it. It was only later I came to appreciate Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, the Doo-wop bands, Elvis and the other 50s music. Sha Na Na's spirited performance at Woodstock helped change all that, and I think their performance, in some ways, helped ignite a revival of earlier music, and probably helped lead to that great movie The Buddy Holly Story starring Gary Busey. This is absolutely the best and most frantic performance of this song I've heard.

Poem: Changes 35/Progress

The sun rises over the earth.
We have another day.
That is progress.
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John Lennon Video: Watching The Wheels

I remember this song playing that terrible December day (Dec. 8, 1980), when John Lennon was assassinated. I was at home on the Upper West Side of NYC, and could hear dozens of sirens. Just a few blocks away, John Lennon had just been shot.

I was listening to Vin Scelsa on the WNEW-FM 102.7, and he broke in crying, telling us his good friend John had just been killed at The Dakota. Friends like Jerry Melin called, and my friend Cheryl Hardwick called and insisted we needed to drink some wine together. Of all the stupid killings over the years, this one hurt the most. It's hard to convey how much this one hurt. 27 years later, things have not much improved. No one knows what the years would have brought, but I don't think it would have been so bad to hear John's take on the 21st century.


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The New York Times May No Longer Be Actually Printed In Five Years

This echoes Michael Corleone telling Kay "The Corleone family will be entirely legitimate in five years." But I think the New York Times may keep its promise. Arthur Sulzberger, a very rich dude, owner, chairman and publisher of the most respected newspaper in the world, is in the middle of a transition from print to internet. He may be thrown out of the wagon before it gets there, however. Morgan Stanley, his banker, recently seems to have launched a campaign that will cost Sulzberger control of the paper.

"I really don't know whether we'll be printing the Times in five years, and you know what? I don't care either," said Arthur Sulzberger.

Read the story by Eytan Avriel on haaretz.com here. This is a shocker. The New York Times is a great 'paper, and it hurts to think of the day when I can't carry it along with me. We have subscribed every since we moved from NYC 25 years ago. It's hard to picture the day when we are cut off. Sure, we'll still be able to print it all out on 8 1/2 x 11" paper. But that is not the same. On the other hand, when is the last time you saw anyone under, say, thirty holding a newspaper?
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Painting: Old Glory

. . .click the painting to enlarge. . .

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Poem: Changes 34/ The Power of the Great

1
A goat butts against a hedge
It cannot go backward
It cannot go forward

2
You can give up
Your stubborn ways
And not live to regret it

When your inner worth rises
And comes to power
Its strength passes the median

That deadly middle point where
You rely on your head of steam
Asking what's next instead of what's right

3
The gates of success begin to open
Resistance falters
And you forge ahead

If you perservere chiseling away
At the resistance
The obstructions fall into pieces

4
Your power may not show
Like a prairie schoover

Whose strength lies in its axle

Your tenuous hold on earth

Is disguised by a long shadow

When you are tethered

To the ground

By the soles of your feet
And a theory of gravity.

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