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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
For a man who affected two generations of the counterculture--the beatniks and the hippies that followed them--there's been surprisingly little written by Neal Cassady, despite the fact that he served as muse to both Jack Kerouac and Ken Kesey. In this fictionalized film, Nick Nolte plays Cassady, a man with huge appetites for all that life has to offer. He befriends the confused, questing Kerouac (John Heard), imparts wisdom, and helps Kerouac take on the world on his own terms--and write On the Road. But their friendship is tested by the relationship they share with the woman who would eventually become Cassady's wife, Caroline (played by Sissy Spacek). For a film about two such freewheeling characters, there's surprisingly little real life to this film, though Nolte attacks the role with vigor. Director John Byrum would go on to butcher The Razor's Edge with Bill Murray a few years later. --Marshall Fine
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
My Last WB Archives Purchase,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Heart Beat (DVD)
This is the fifth Warner Bros Archives film I've purchased and it's definitely going to be the last. The quality of all five classic movies has been terrible. DVD's skip, soundtrack volumes yoyo and all the scenes, even those which were originally brightly lit are so dark that viewers can't distinguish which actors are on camera, what the locations are, or whether shots were taken in bright sunlight or dimly-lit rooms. As other reviewers have commented, "Heart Beat" isn't the most factual account of the beat generation's driving forces but it's an enjoyable movie nonetheless and it deserves better presentation than this. At an msrp of almost $30 a film should be superior to the ones sold for a buck in dollar stores and this one certainly isn't. Come on, Warner Bros, if you want serious money for your films get serious about the quality of what you offer for sale.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Nolte Shines In Beat Drama,
By
This review is from: Heart Beat (DVD)
I won't even pretend to be an expert on the Beat movement. I read "On the Road" in college but it didn't leave a lasting imprataur on me. Ditto for Burroughs' "Naked Lunch" which I couldn't get through. I did read Tom Wolfe's account of the Merry Pranksters, "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" as well as Lenny Bruce's bio and enjoyed them thoroughly. I didn't approach "Heart Beat" with high expectations and they were more than transcended. Director John Byrum's film has it's own jazzy rhythms that make it unique and unto itself. We see Jack Kerouac(John Heard) and the Cassadys (Nick Nolte and Sissy Spacek) not as leaders of a movement but rugged individualists who defy the norm and go to the beat of their own muses. The film is immeasurably helped by a powerhouse performance by Nolte as Neal Cassady, a real charmer who may be a ne'er-do-well or a rebel. Heard and Spacek are good in more subdued turns as the friend and spouse who at times are repelled then embrace Neal's antics. The late Ray Sharkey gives a great turn as an Allen Ginsburg type as does John Larroquette as a conservative TV host. Terrific period detail from art designer Jack Fisk, Spacek's real-life husband, and gorgeous score from Jack Nietzche. I remember this film received lukewarm critical and commercial success at the time of it's release but it is definitely a film ahead of it's time.
29 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
angina,
By
This review is from: Heart Beat [VHS] (VHS Tape)
If there is a great movie to be made about Jack Kerouac, and Neal and Carolyn Cassidy, this aint it. "Suggested" by Carolyn's memoirs, writer/director John Byrum's film degenerates into yet another adulterous husband saga. The idea that Carolyn has is that Neal is the muse for Kerouac's writing but since Jack knew Neal and had written On The Road before they met her, Carolyn's insight appears to be limited to the time Neal married her and they lived miserably in suburbia until Jack joined them for a menage a trois. Byrum's stabs at the stifling conservatism of America in the 50's is represented by neighbours of the Cassidy's who come for dinners. Their embarassment over Neal's deliberate rudeness is funnier than their apparent shock at the later threesome. The film proposes that it was Allen Ginsberg's notoriety which propelled publishers who had previously rejected his novel, to suddenly change their mind. The fact that Ginsberg is named Ira here (played by Ray Sharkey, giving the best performance of the cast) and that none of On The Road is heard seems to suggest that Byrum seems to be avoiding copyright problems. The film begins well and Laszlo Kovacs' yellow tint lighting gives it a dated look which is very appealing. An image of Neal sitting in a cafe recalls Edward Hopper. As Carolyn, Sissy Spacek is given a romantic entrance supported by a lovely Jack Nitzsche theme, and it's great to see her with a Veronica Lake hairdo and glamourised. But as soon as Jack and the Cassidy's separate, the energy drops and we get stuck in suburbia, while Jack toils the soil in Mexico, waiting. The notion that Neal has stolen Carolyn away from Jack seems unmotivated since we've hardly seen them together, but clearly this is needed to explain Jack's re-appearance. And the later scenes of Jack handly his fame badly seem surprising considering what a best seller the book is said to be. The interviews we see show hostile hosts. Where was Steve Allen, who was a mad On the Road fan? It is interesting to see how Carolyn believes that the Beat generation, with the berets and beards, is thought of as a bastardisation of Kerouac's ideology based on Neal's freedom, since Neal never presented such artifice. As Neal, Nick Nolte suggests a restless spirit though hardly a bisexual one, as is implied. We don't believe him when he keeps telling us how much he loves Spacek. She narrates and spars well though ultimately she remains an enigma. Perhaps the reason Byrum has used the word "suggested" and not adapted from the memoirs means that information which may have made her more interesting has been lost. John Heard makes Jack dull and ineffectual, and when he does show some life, Heard uses the yelling he would continue with in Cutter's Way before experience provided him with more subtlety. Carolyn tells us that Neal's weakness was his lack of committment and Jack's was his longing for it. At one point Neal tells Jack to get his own life to write about, and one questions whether a writer could complete a book as long as On the Road appears to be if there is nothing of himself in it. Since I haven't read the work, I cannot comment, but the Jack this film portrays sure doesn't make me want to.
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