This was one that I shoulda left in my memory. Somehow I’d convinced myself this was the quintessential late 1960s picture. It is, though, only average. The story is kinda poor and the documentary-lite footage really isn’t THAT remarkable either. Also: one could argue that this film is extremely exploitative. What Wexler famously did was drop his actors in the middle of the 1968 Chicago riots and gave them one direction — stay in character. It was a unique move — however, if you feel that the 1968 demonstrations were a righteous uprising of a large group of people fighting for peace and justice, then to “borrow” that background for your little (poorly developed) story may just not be that cool. And when you learn that the famous line (“Look out, Haskell, it’s real!”) was dubbed in later. . .it just makes me thing the whole endeavor is lame. Yet there is enough meta-textuality to keep any undergraduate busy though — indeed, I recall writing a paper on this one back in the day. And that’s where the movie belongs. It’s history, not entertainment. Maybe I should never revisit “Zabriskie Point” or “Le Weekend” lest a second viewing ruin those, too.
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Jordan Hoffman is a New York-based writer and film critic working for The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Thrillist, Times of Israel, NY Daily News and elsewhere.
He is the host of ENGAGE: The Official Star Trek Podcast, a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and challenges you to a game of backgammon.