Product Details

• Actors: James Franco, Jon Hamm, Mary-Louise Parker, David Strathairn, Bob Balaban
• Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman
• Format: Color, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, French
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Oscilloscope Laboratories
• DVD Release Date: January 4, 2011
• Run Time: 84 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0042U9B3G
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,273 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

James Franco gives a career-defining performance as the young Allen Ginsberg-poet, counter-culture adventurer, and chronicler of the Beat Generation-in Howl, the audacious film from Academy Awardr-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman. Franco as Ginsberg recounts the road trips, love affairs, and search for personal liberation that led to the most timeless, electrifying, and controversial work of his career: Howl. Pushing the limits and challenging the mainstream, the passionate and provocative Howl and its publisher found themselves on trial for obscenity, with prosecutor Ralph McIntosh (David Strathairn) setting out to have the book banned, while defense attorney Jake Ehrlich (Jon Hamm) fervently argues for freedom of speech and creative expression. The proceedings veer from the comically absurd to the passionate as a host of unusual witnesses (Jeff Daniels, Mary-Louise Parker, Treat Williams, Alessandro Nivola) pit generation against generation and art against fear in front of conservative Judge Clayton Horn (Bob Balaban).

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Bringing Poetry To Life--An Ambitious, But Overstuffed, Love Letter To Allen Ginsberg October 8, 2010

By K. Harris HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWER

Format:DVD

How do you bring the written word alive on the screen? "Howl," in depicting the famous Allen Ginsberg poem, does so ingeniously. But the beauty of the poem is interspersed with scenes of a much more conventional nature as well. The film is divided into four specific segments--the 1957 obscenity trial, a famed 1957 interview with Ginsberg (played ably by James Franco), the 1955 public unveiling of the masterwork "Howl," and an animated representation of the work in question. Then there are some flashbacks that accompany the various segments as needed. It is a lot of material for a film that runs less than ninety minutes. It is a credit to "Howl" that it works so well--but I also wonder if more impact might have been made by limiting the focus somewhat. Sometimes less is more. Also, by being so reverent to Ginsberg and the source material (the interview, most noticeably)--ultimately, I felt less emotionally connected to this fascinating character than I'd hoped.

It is actually the animation in "Howl" that stands out the most. On some level, I felt that the filmmakers had this inspired idea of how to present "Howl" (the poem) in a visually compelling style--but then had to come up with other secondary material to round out a feature film. The film comes to life with these sequences. Franco's interpretation as he reads "Howl" can be distracting, however. I know he is channeling Ginsberg, but the awkward cadence of his delivery disrupts the smooth flowing imagery. A small point, though, because I found the animation in "Howl" extraordinary and interesting. As a small film, on its own, I think it would have been a rousing success and brought "Howl" (the poem) to a new generation.

The other segments are nice enough. The 1955 reading and flashback scenes, done in black and white, provide context to Ginsberg and his era (that good ole "Beatnik" generation). We see glimpses of Ginsberg with the various loves of his life--they are fleeting moments, not particularly developed, but they do help to enhance the meaning of "Howl" (the poem). The obscenity trial, which was leveled against the publisher and not Ginsberg (Franco is not even in this part of the film), is pretty standard courtroom fare. It's well done, if not especially revelatory. With Jon Hamm, David Strathairn, and Bob Balaban as the court officials and Mary-Louise Parker, Treat Williams, Alessandro Nivola, and Jeff Daniels on the stand--you know it's impressively acted. It is the interview sequence in which Franco gets to shine. Franco's frankness is both convincing and illuminating to how Ginsberg conceptualized his poem. But again, as it is based on transcripts, we learn only as much about Ginsberg personally as he tells us.

"Howl" is a good film with elements of greatness. My only real disappointment is the biographical element in the film. Ginsberg's interview documents his journey from normalcy, to a mental institution, to a life in the professional world, to his acceptance of a counterculture. I'm sure it would make a terrific film in its own right. But "Howl" introduces us to Ginsberg, the man, but never really lets us get close to him. So as much as I admired the film--ultimately, I was not very connected to it. Interesting and intellectual, "Howl" succeeds best when dealing with "Howl" but lacks some of the insight into its author that would have taken the film to the next level. There were just too many aspects in "Howl" introduced to follow them all through. Courtroom drama, biography, artistic interpretation--it's a lot for a little film. But I did very much enjoy "Howl" and recommend it--especially to those interested in the subject matter! KGHarris, 10/10.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Portrait of a Major Poet...and Philosopher January 5, 2011

By Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

HOWL is a well-chosen name for this excellent movie. Yes, it indeed is a study of the creator of that significant poem - Allen Ginsberg - but the film seems to be more focused on bringing the audience to a level of appreciation of the impact that particular poem had on the world - of censorship, of bringing to the attention the parameters of varieties of sexuality and emotions, of the so called concept and rise of the Beat Generation - than it is in portraying the life history of the poet himself. Writers/directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman have combined archival footage of the real Allen Ginsberg and moments in the cafés where Howl was read along with very fine animation to relate the grotesque feelings of the poem in a way that enhances our understanding of this important work, and with that they have gathered an exemplary cast of actors to recreate the people that surrounded Ginsberg's life and experience with the courts.

The film begin with the 1957 obscenity trial held for the 1955 creation of the poem Howl: the Judge Clayton Horn (Bob Balaban) hears the prosecutor Ralph McIntosh (David Strathairn) bring testimony from a variety of 'experts' - Gail Potter (Mary-Louise Parker), Professor David Kirk (Jeff Daniels), Luther Nichols (Alessandro Nivola), and Mark Shorer (Treat Williams), and then hears rebuttal from Ginsberg's attorney Jake Ehrlich (Jon Hamm) who is also defending Ginsberg's publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti (Andrew Rogers). And while the trial proceeds the audience is taken back to the year of the poem's creation with Allen Ginsberg portrayed with exceptionally fine acting by James Franco. Ginsberg relates his mother's insanity and the effect of him, his own hospitalization for insanity, and his coming out with lovers Neal Cassady (Jon Prescott), Jack Kerouac (Todd Rotondi), and Peter Orlovsky (Aaron Tveit). Each of these actors offer polished portrayals and truly give a sense of the meaning of a counterculture that emerged as a result of Ginsberg's masterpiece poem.

One of the beauties of this film is that it offers the audience all the information about this period and this event and this poet with astute brevity (the film lasts only 84 minutes), making the impact all the more personal. James Franco as Ginsberg, whether reading Howl or responding to an off camera interviewer, is a completely realized performance. Time will prove what an important film this is. Grady Harp, January 11

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Poem Of A Movie October 2, 2010

By Jym Cherry

Format:DVD

"Howl" is the story of the obscenity trial surrounding Lawrence Ferlinghetti publishing Allen Ginsburg's Howl. Told from Ginsberg's perspective it isn't formatted like a usual movie, but more like a poem with different alternating stanzas.

The stanzas breakdown into an interview with Ginsberg circa 1957, an animated rendition of Howl, the trial, the Six Gallery reading that brought the beats and Howl to mass public awareness, Ginsberg writing Howl, and his meeting and falling in love with Peter Orlovsky.

James Franco plays Ginsberg and while not a nuanced or fiery performance you do get the feeling of what it would be like at the time of the obscenity trial to sit down with Ginsberg and talk about Howl, from how it got started to what it meant to him to write it, and the literary merits of it.

The stanzas mesh seamlessly, and intricately. For instance, the animated Howl that is interspersed with the live action works very well on its own but also in the context of the movie. If you're not familiar with the poem it provides a reference point as to what the controversy was in the first place. The trial scenes with Jon Hamm as Ferlinghetti's defense lawyer, and David Strathairn as the prosecutor provide comic relief, especially more so because the dialog was taken right from the trial transcripts. If obscenity trials are good for anything it's getting straitlaced attorneys to say things that in a different context would be considered obscene.

The movie also doesn't avoid or ignore Ginsberg's homosexuality. As a matter of fact, it's an intricate part of the movie since Howl was Ginsberg's first flash of accepting that within himself as being a part of himself, and normal.

All the performances in "Howl" are good. Everyone delivers even if they aren't asked to do much except "be" the characters they`re supposed to be. Most of the attention is focused on Franco as Ginsberg and he proves that there's more to his acting than what's seen in franchise movies such as "Spiderman."