SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Konterr Brilliant and touching

Taraparain Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Phillida Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

James Iliff Arthur Penn seems to portray the hippie culture in a very honest light. He doesn't directly appeal to the opinion of mainstream America, or the establishment "square" opinion of the counterculture, but rather appeals to the counterculture itself in the form of a cautionary tale. In Alice's Restaurant, he does not poke fun at and satirize the hippie culture like in I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!, nor does he dramatize it and glorify it like in Easy Rider. Instead, the hippie culture is portrayed in a series of events much like real life experiences of real hippies. At first, the youth gravitated towards the hippie culture and the commune system for its freedom, sexuality, and drug-use. However, as time wore on, the commune ideal began to crumble like many other communist societies do- hippies begin to realize they are leeches on society, and in their valiant efforts to 'stick it to the man,' they incidentally remain reliant on the establishment to live. Alice's restaurant portrays the joys of commune life. In two particular scenes- the Thanksgiving dinner and the final marriage ceremony- life as a hippie is free, careless, and exciting. Everyone is happy and relaxed, there are no problems, and they can freeload all they want. This appealed to many people in the counterculture, and the film even reinforced these sentiments. However, it also appealed to the establishment's ideals. In one scene, Arlo is thrown out of the window of a restaurant for having long hair, as long hair is the stigma of the counterculture movement. This reflects some of the violence of the establishment against the hippies, and demonstrates the daily struggles of being a member of the counterculture. This may have portrayed the establishment as evil and hateful, however by the end of the film, the opinion of the establishment is subtly expressed.As the film progresses, the audience begins to realize the pitfalls of the commune system. One member of the commune falls victim to drug addiction, and overdoses on heroin. His death shows a dark side of the counterculture that is rarely expressed- drugs can be a gritty and terrible thing, and with freedom comes much responsibility to keep such addictions at bay. Free love and drug use may be fun and care-free for awhile, but drug overdose and the epidemic of STDs clearly show that there are consequences for such a lifestyle. Also, on a much more subtle level, in the last shot of the film we see Alice longingly staring at the camera after Arlo has just left the commune. This takes place just after the marriage ceremony, which was the last effort of Alice's husband, Ray, to reinforce the commune ideal. As Ray romantically expresses his ideas of somehow opening another commune, Alice begins to realize the ultimate flaw of the counterculture, and despairingly awaits what will be come a terrible, fruitless marriage. Opening more communes certainly will not fix the problems of the current one- yet it is a common idea expressed by many communistic societies on the brink of destruction. If just one more- one more- commune were to be built, everything would be fine. Every commune begins well, but all suffer the same fate. Ultimately the members of the counterculture are freeloaders on the establishment society, and cannot survive once all resources have been used up in one place. Another commune in a different location may solve the problem momentarily, but unless the commune lives off the land and becomes self-sustaining, it will always fail. This is the limitation of the hippie culture, and this is exactly why such an alternative lifestyle is no longer widely existent today in America. It burnt itself out- and Arthur Penn offers this forlorn prediction in that final shot. Everything has fallen apart, Arlo has given up the commune life for the time being, and Ray is desperately grasping at straws to keep it together and stay sane and happy. Even though Alice has a Restaurant, and a way to make money, ultimately the very hippies they surround themselves with in the commune will suck it dry and move on. In Alice's Restaurant, the counterculture is revealed for what it truly is- fun, refreshing, and irresponsible. The "squares" may not have any fun, but they get things done. Ultimately, the establishment, with all its lousy rules and regulations, stigmas and dogmas, was right- and Penn did an excellent job of gently telling this to the counterculture. The hippie youth went to see the film and surely enjoyed it, but most likely left the theatre with a slight unease and a nagging sense of dread.

imfunnnyright This movie changed my life. The whole lifestyle of the people, always looking out for one another just really made me think. It depicts the harsh reality that the young free spirit long hair society had to live in, yet always keep the bright side of things. It shows how even with all the peace love and happiness, the pressure of the world can make you crumble, and break down. It shows the transition from the people of the depression to the hippies. It has my favourite billboard campaign ever. And I wish i could get a picture, the whole "Keep America Beautiful, Cut your Hair" Idea. There was one scene that brings a tear to my eyes, when they are in the cemetery and the one girl is playing Joni Mitchel's Song to aging children. It just moved me. Definitely worth watching again and again. On another note, apparently, you would want to look into this, but the Trinity Church that Ray and Alice live in is still around and is like a shrine type thing now. Also apparently, I don't know the truth to it but Arlo still plays there now and then, which wouldn't surprise me because he still plays, he's playing a 38th anniversary for Woodstock on August 15th 2007, at the original site of Woodstock in Bethel.

tavm Alice's Restaurant is a time capsule of the attitudes of young people during the late '60s as experienced by folk singer Arlo Guthrie and his friends like the married couple Ray and Alice Brock, played here by James Broderick (Mathew Broderick's father) and Pat Quinn. Very much of its time, Arthur Penn's film tries to mix the humorous with the dramatic with uneven results. Some of the most touching scenes are those of Arlo with his father, folk singer Woody Guthrie (played here by Joseph Boley) and those of Ray and Alice after the drug death of a friend. There's also a nice musical duet with Woody's friend Pete Seeger and Arlo in Woody's hospital room. The most funny scene was the one concerning Arlo's attempts to get more urine for the draft board. Look for Shelley Plimpton, who had married Keith Carradine and gave him a daughter, actress Martha Plimpton, as Reenie who is a 15-year old girl who tries to seduce Arlo and M. Emmett Walsh as a Group W sergeant. Though nominated for Best Picture of 1969, Alice's Restaurant seems dated now. Ray and Alice's remarriage at the end and the followup makes this one of the most bittersweet movies I've ever seen...

JoeytheBrit If Alice's Restaurant were to be made today it would most likely be filmed in a much grainier, true-to-life fashion, cinema verite wed to the modern taste for close-ups and hand-held camera. It's a style that adds an immediacy to the subjects that it films – and that is something that is badly lacking from this film. Alice's Restaurant stands now as nothing more than a curio, failing completely to capture or convey any sense of how life was like for the draft-dodging members of America's counter-culture. The best films that set themselves up as a form of social document succeed because they always make the era they have captured come alive; they give you a taste and a feel so true to the times that it is almost tangible. Alice's Restaurant simply points the camera at a group of people who possess ill-defined motivation and an almost complete lack of direction: change the hairstyles and the clothes and what takes place on screen could be taking place anywhere at any time in the past fifty years.Arlo Guthrie is no actor, but he's actually quite good in this because you do feel that, while he's obviously acting, he's also trying to be himself and so you get some insight into the man. He's invited to have sex by four different women in this film which is a bit of a stretch to be honest, but other than that he's entirely believable, despite lacking much presence on the screen. Patricia Quinn exudes an earthy vitality as Alice, while James Broderick as her husband Ray seems strangely at odds with the rest of the cast. Maybe it's his age or the cowboy-ish clothes, which make him look something like a good ol' boy, but he never really seems to fit in and fails to convince as the kind of man to whom Alice would be married.For all its counter-culture credentials the film, and its characters, ultimately resort to the most conventional of social traditions. The Brocks live in an old church, long abandoned by most of its ageing congregation, and seek to salvage their relationship by getting married once again while, at their reception, Ray drunkenly bemoans the gradual dispersion of their friends, with whom he wishes to found a commune. That's love, marriage, family and friendship,themes that, while not wholly exclusive from the social group the film examines, nevertheless make an unlikely topic. Maybe that explains why, like most of the rest of us, the hippie generation have today turned into their middle-class suburbanite parents.