AboveDeepBuggy Some things I liked some I did not.

Sexylocher Masterful Movie

Stellead Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

HEFILM 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.

markastzm I am dumbfounded by the wholesale inability of any of the other 21 user and critic reviewers to comprehend the message of this heavy handed & straight forward allegorical film. Do yourself a favor and just watch the film. Do not read any of the other reviews before doing so as they all miss the main points in a big way. Don't even read the rest of this review until after you watch the film. Okay, I'll assume the reader is back now after watching the film, or has disregarded my warnings and has read at least some of the other reviews and has a basic knowledge of the plot. Let me clear up a few of the misconceptions you may now have. This is an anti-war, pro-hippie anti-establishment movie. The ultimate descent into barbarism in the end is not the condemnation of the hippie ethic that other simple minded reviewers seem to believe it is. It is also not a statement of apocalypse or that we are all doomed to misunderstand and fight each other in the end. It is simply an examination of the the human condition and our predisposition to return to our primitive nature in the face of resource scarcity, communication difficulties, and deliberate pressures put upon us by those who seek to profit from our misery. The artificial sharks are not simply the worst fake shark props ever made. The "mimes" are not just characters to drive the plot. The sharks and the mimes are the same characters. They are both the symbolic representations of "the man", the establishment, the militarized powers that be. They are the proximate cause of the descent into barbarism on the island. If not for the presence of the sharks, the four would not be squeezed into the resource limited confines of the island. They would have access to the car, their source of freedom and access to a means of survival. The sharks were deliberately conceived to be surreal so that the viewer would immediately recognized them as simply a new incarnation of the mimes. The language barrier combined with resource scarcity leads to a complete breakdown. It simply demonstrates that under difficult conditions of high stress which can arise quickly even the most kind and good natured individuals with the best of intentions can be pushed to the basest levels of human behavior. I think that it is incorrect to interpret this as a flaw in the hippie ethic. It is merely a revelation that an inability to communicate and cultural barriers are human foibles that can destroy even the most high minded ideals. In the end, it is the final scene, not addressed by a single other reviewer that truly tells the tale regarding the message intended by this film. The two mimes, with smug smiles on their faces get into the car and prepare to drive away in the stolen automobile of their victims, satisfied in accomplishing their work of turning loving caring beings into a pile of bloodied slaughtered lambs. In the final shot of the island Mike even grabs the dead lamb and pulls it onto the pile of their bodies making them as one sacrificial mass. This movie is symbolic and allegorical, but come on people, it is not nearly as hard to understand as every review I have read makes it out to be. It is not disjointed, contradictory or unclear in the nature of its message. It is "the man" who is the enemy as embodied by the mime/sharks, and we should all Beware The Mimes! This is a fun movie. It is funny, dorky, freaky, surreal, goofy, with good music, beautiful scenery, a message, artistic intent, a sense of humor in general and about itself as well. Neither the characters, the actors, nor the director take themselves too seriously. There is a definite impression that they had a great time making this movie and meant to inject a bit of over the top campiness into it. It is not the greatest movie of all time, but it is definitely worth a watch and is definitely a period piece that was worth the restoration and reissue done by Grindhouse. If you try to enjoy this movie on it's face, without an interest in trying to understand it's message, I think you will be disappointed and perhaps walk away with only a mild and mistaken appreciation of it as a B movie cult novelty at best. This movie can be much more than that to one who views it as a light-hearted, zany, counter-culture alternative look at both the beauty and frailties of the human condition and as an explanatory tale which cautions against falling prey to the powers that be who seek to divide and conquer in their pursuit of power and profit.

belfer94 This bizarre movie was made by a former lifeguard turned short film maker, stars fairly good actors (some of whom were stars on the Tel Aviv theater stages for years to come) hamming it up or just given odd direction, has an alright but VERY repetitive score by one of Israel's greatest composers, and contains such unforgettable scenes as the "STOP PUSHING BUTTONS" speech, a psychedelic dream sequence involving smashing giant tape recorder things with a sledgehammer, a hippie-palooza in an abandoned warehouse, random toplessness, cardboard sharks, loooooooooong wandering across desert islands, and the main cast screaming out "Wonderful Feeling!" over and over. The insane ending has to be seen to be believed. If you can get your hands on this film (or if that DVD ever comes out), get some friends over and get ready to riff the hell out of it: this film is plan 9 quality stuff, and I love every minute of it.

Joe Stemme 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.