A Moving Picture: Psych-Out (1968)

So, anyone remember the 60s?


Really? You're that old and reading this? I thought you had to go to the store to get hemorrhoid creme.

Seriously though. It was the time of peace, love, and rock and roll. Oh and drugs.

Lots of drugs.

Psych-Out was part of that era's cautionary films about recreational drugs. It's about hippies, psychedelic music, getting high, and the consequences. Jack Nicholson wrote the script, but after the director thought it was too experimental, a few other writers came in and rewrote it. He didn't get a writing credit, but he did get to write the lead character and play him. Ironically, even though he played one of the main characters, the posters only advertised the female lead and Dean Stockwell. He played one of the supporting characters, but Nicholson got his name in tiny letters with the rest of the cast on the poster.

The movie is about a deaf runaway named Jenny, who is looking for her brother, Steve. Jack Nicholson plays Stoney, a hippie who tries to help her along with his friends. He plays in a psychedelic band called "Mumblin' Jim", and when she sees them at a coffee place, they try to help her out. Along the way, they run into thugs that are also looking for Steve, and Jenny is taken into the hippie lifestyle. A friend of theirs gets high on STP and starts seeing everyone as zombies and even tries to cut his own hand off which was a pretty funny scene. Stoney and Jenny eventually get romantic and sleep together. However, Stoney is a hit it and quit it guy. So, of course, he's kind of an ass to her afterwards. Dean Stockwell plays Dave, who is Stoney's friend, and he doesn't like how he treats Jenny. What does he do about it? He tries to get with Jenny. Dave finally explains to her how Stoney is a hit it and quit it guy and doesn't like Jenny the way she likes him. Then Stoney walks in on them, gets jealous, and yells. In her frustration, Jenny downs a whole glass of STP laced kool-aid and goes on a massive trip. I'm not going to summarize the rest of it, but it does end tragically.

It's a really weird movie. It's interesting in a totally morbid way. You know it's a bad movie, but it's interesting. It's also really weird to see Jack Nicholson younger with a trashy ponytail and Dean Stockwell as a hippie.