Alice's Restaurant (1969)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Arthur Penn

Writers:

Arlo Guthrie (song)
Venable Herndon (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

20 August 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

Where the heads of all nations meet

Plot:

A cinematic adaption of Arlo Guthrie's classic song story.

Plot Keywords:

Narration | Revivalism | Episcopalian Church | Unwanted Kiss | Drug Overdose

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Arlo Guthrie	...	Arlo Guthrie
Patricia Quinn	...	Alice Brock (as Pat Quinn)
James Broderick	...	Ray Brock
Pete Seeger	...	Himself
Lee Hays	...	Himself - Reverend at Evangelical Meeting
Michael McClanathan	...	Shelly
Geoff Outlaw	...	Roger Crowther
Tina Chen	...	Mari-chan
Kathleen Dabney	...	Karin
William Obanhein	...	Himself - Officer Obie
Seth Allen	...	Evangelist
Monroe Arnold	...	Blueglass
Joseph Boley	...	Woody Guthrie
Vinnette Carroll	...	Draft Clerk
Sylvia Davis	...	Marjorie Guthrie

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:11 | USA:GP (edited for re-rating) (1970) | USA:R (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Great Barrington, Massachusetts, USA

Company:

Elkins Entertainment

Trivia:

Arlo Guthrie's co-defendant in the littering incident actually was named Richard (Ricky) Rhodes, a local 19-year-old (Guthrie was 18 at the time).

Goofs:

Continuity: The scene where Alice spends the night in Arlo's rented room, that same night the boots Alice was wearing were black. The next scene when morning came Alice was seen putting on brown boots.

Quotes:

Arlo Guthrie: [unable to fill his urine-sample jar, at his Army physical] Anybody got some to spare?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Decade Under the Influence (2003)

Soundtrack:

Songs To Aging Children

fun and incendiary, it's a nifty flashback and more than a little resonant

You've seen the kid with the long hair who's told 'cut it', and won't. And then there's a misunderstanding like the one in the story of Alice's Restaurant, where it's a weird downward spiral where garbage, the law, and Vietnam get intertwined. The actual dramatization of the events that are detailed in the now traditional Thanksgiving album (only because, I guess, Arlo is having Thanksgiving dinner at Alice's) is about as faithful as imaginable, but I'd say the scenes earlier on, when Arlo has just come into town and isn't able to really stay at any pad for too long due to his long hair and his inability to conform to playing music right in classes. These are subtle jabs at the outcast of the times- not simply as a 'hippie', as Arlo Guthrie is a little too folksy to be a typical hippie, albeit not too far removed for Woodstock- and as a mostly one-sided take on the issue of the 'hippies', it doesn't demonize one side, while not making bones about showing the upright citizens as those who are close-minded.

Filled with some great tunes, and an attitude to film-making by Arthur Penn that reflects its creator in a somewhat lighter, though no less socially conscious mind-set than Bonnie & Clyde (except less disguised), Alice's Restaurant is imperfect entertainment and a glimpse of the period that will appeal to anyone at all interested or remember all-too-well the socio-political troubles. It's a capsule, but not too shabby with age; plays probably as the first side of a double-billing with 1969's Easy Rider.