Wonderful Movie

People are voting emotionally.

Blistering performances.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Based on his folk song, Arlo Guthrie plays himself. He's facing the draft and joining the counter-culture. His father is in the hospital with dementia. He encounters and befriends various people. He and his friend are arrested for a massive case of littering but they get off easy as the blind judge fails to see the evidence. He's called up for the draft but his littering conviction keeps him out of the war.Arlo Guthrie and his song come from a time and place. I'm not familiar with it. I'm sure there is great meaning to some of this film. I'm not privy to it. To me, it's simply a rambling journey following a less-than-charismatic lead. He's not really an actor. He's playing himself in the most casual way. This is a time capsule of a certain time. It meanders too much to be a compelling narrative but it does have some interesting aspects. It's respectful of the counter-culture. There are a few funny cute moments. The second half is more surreal and therefore much better. This is one weird movie.

This is such a beautiful movie. In some ways, Arthur Penn was truly the cinematic voice of the '60s, at least in America. The decade was a mass of contradictions, and, no, I don't think I'm the first to say that. In the face of Vietnam, racism, and political division, young people everywhere suddenly pulled together, until drugs pulled them apart. The casualties weren't all on the battle fields of Southeast Asia, as Penn and Herndon's screenplay aptly demonstrates. Comedy and tragedy go hand in hand in this adaptation of Arlo Guthrie's simple-minded (yet edgy) song. I can still recall the chill I felt at Shelly's funeral--"Songs for Aging Children," indeed! But this is really Alice and Ray's story. Drugs may have been the Trojan Horse that ultimately destroyed the movement, but the sexual revolution put the troops in disarray. It's fine to say that we are free, even in marriage, but somebody always suffers. The iconic final scene, of Alice in her wedding dress standing at the church door, is a haunting reminder of the ambivalence we all felt at the end of the '60s. And what a memorable performance from Pat Quinn!

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...

A moment in the life of a folk singer, Arlo(Arlo Guthrie)who spends time trying to make it in the music biz by doing the bar scene while also frequenting at a hippie commune/restaurant derived from a former Catholic church. His many numerous acquaintances are a major part of this story as we get to know those who hang around the commune. Arlo also pays visits to his ailing father, Woody. We see the humor, tragedy, and response towards living the hippie lifestyle.Alice(Pat Quinn, who is simply delightful)runs the kitchen at the commune often tired of her man, Ray's(James Broderick)constant decisions to bring more and more off the street for her to cook for. She's the surrogate mother for those that choose this way of living, but often yearns for more. The tragic element of the film is Shelly(Michael McClanathan), a young man trying endlessly to kick a nasty drug habit and loved almost as a son by Ray & Alice. We see in a love-making scene that Alice also cares for him sexually. They try their damnedest to keep him off the pipe, but seeing the agony of that decision leads us to believe it's only a matter of time before he caves in.Through Arlo's narration, we get some witty interludes such as the "littering" sequence where Deputy Obie(William Obanhein)obsessively goes completely by the rules in exact, hilarious detail. The sequence where Arlo goes in for his numerous tests to see if he's fit for Vietnam is also quite funny(in that sequence, there's a hilarious cameo from a young E Emmet Walsh as a fast-talking test-giver).But, the film depicts the characters and dialogue with such richness, intelligence, and heart..there isn't a false note amongst the cast. The film's subject matter and portrait of this lifestyle rings true. The narration is marvelous and the film keeps that tone pretty much throughout.