Customer Reviews

Psych-Out / The Trip

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

The Trip and psych-Out, two great movies in same package, on DVD...sounds too good to be true, and is too good to be true, I'm afraid, since BOTH of the movies are shorter versions from the originals. So be aware, if you are about to buy this DVD, you won't get the whole movie. The movies have really been mutilated, I was really angry to notice how ridiculously they have been cut. Especially Psych-Out suffers from this mutilation. Since I'm writing my thesis about the 60's films, I really feel these movies earn a better treatment. I feel cheated, but I quess there is no way getting your money back if you live in Finland like I do. So, be aware, it's a rip-off. I'm afraid that we serious movie collector's still have stick to our precious VHS!

I know Psych-Out pretty well, so I was very happy when it was released on DVD. Unfortunatly, scene after scene on this disk has been edited, or cut short, so they could fit two movies on one disk, I guess. Max Julian's excellent acid trip is practically cut out of the movie. You miss him paint 'love' over the stop sign as he babbles "beautiful... really beautiful." You might notice that 'Incense and Peppermints' ends abruptly early. This is really awful. I'm sorry to say it, because I've wanted this movie on disk for so long. What more can I say? A fun movie, but you don't get all of it on this disk. I haven't been able to bring myself to see if they left The Trip intact, it's a weaker movie though. These movies are worth adding to your collection. It's just too bad you don't get the whole movie. Why did they do this?

Was there nothing that modern technology could do to make the soundtrack to "The Trip" listenable? It sounds muffled and dialogue is sometimes hard to follow - I don't recall having this problem when I saw the film theatrically. Maybe they were trying to re-create the drive-in speaker experience. And why on earth edit "Psych-Out," truthfully the better of the two films? Extras are okay, and thanks for the letterboxing, but this should have been a four-star reissue, at least.

I was very disappointed with this DVD. The sound reproduction was abysmal. The video wasn't very good either; although, I can understand why transfer of a film after 40 years might result in less than optimal video. What I can't understand is why so much of the original footage was deleted from these DVDs.
CONCLUSION: A Big Disappointment.
RECOMMENDATION: Don't bother.

This disc is so worth getting just for the mini-documentaries included for each. If you have any interest at all in filmmaking, they're even better. Director Richard Rush discusses his technique for the film "Psych Out." If you're familiar with the concept of rack focus, he discusses how he shot his film built entirely around that concept. Using it in lieu of cuts and fades. Fascinating! There's also technical stuff about "The Trip" and how they achieved the special effects. Even funnier is the fact that Roger Corman dropped acid for research purposes! (What people will do for their art!) Bruce Dern is highly amusing as he discusses how drugs ruined people's work ethic and habits back in the day (hmm, he wouldn't be including Jack in that, would he?). Bruce also does quite a fine Nicholson impersonation. Overall, both films are worth seeing. I love the look of both, with beautiful saturated colors -- they don't make film stocks like that anymore. The films are pristine, too, with little evidence of scratches and whatnot as so often you get when older movies are transferred to DVD. "Psycho Out" is extremely funny. There's a wonderful love scene that looks like one of those old black light posters brought to life. Lots of bad acid trips. And a gay couple is presented very matter-of-factly, like, hey, this is set in San Francisco, no big deal. I never even realized that the two characters were a gay couple when I first saw the film years ago on television. The things you learn from DVD viewing! Anyways, this is a must-have DVD, a real bargain, and a potential learning experience for film students. Get it! It's a trip!

This version of Psych-Out was made from a full screen version, where the left and right sides had been cropped. Then to make this version, they cropped the top and bottom so the image would fit a modern 16:9 monitor. What you see when you watch the version on this DVD is a small rectangle that was cut from the center of the original movie.

The full screen version showed up recently on broadcast TV, and I wanted to see the parts that had been cropped off the sides, so I got hold of a copy of this DVD. Although this DVD is labeled "widescreen" in the description on Amazon, it actually shows less of the original movie than the cropped full screen version. I'd say anyone who buys this on Amazon is entitled to a refund because the term "widescreen" implies, incorrectly in this case, that you are getting the entire original image.

..is one of the famous lines you will hear and see in this great Psychedelic Trip of 1968. Directed by Richard Rush, and with a fabulous cast. I had not really heard of many of the actors, then did some investigating on my own. Of course we know what happened to Jack Nicholson; Adam Roarke (plays Ben) died in 1996. What a handsome and good actor he was!!! Also Susan Strasberg (also passed on in 1999) adorable and wonderful! She was the hottest thing going at this time in 1968, and Richard Rush was happy to have her play Jenny Davis, the young deaf runaway looking for her brother (played by Bruce Dern). I had not heard of Max Julien before, he's great, and actually the "baby of the group" (born in 1945 while the others born around 1937, 1938.) So he was 23 when he made the film. Dean Stockwell is terrific as "DAVE", the guy who believes that "all the games gotta go, or else it's just a plastic hassle"!!! I just love his manner of speaking ("Games again, Stoney?") and his great hairstyle with the headband. He's very 1968~~ and such beautiful eyes/lashes on him!!! Also Henry Jaglom, who plays the artist Warren, and goes on a bad trip and his buddies go and rescue him. Look for a group called "THE SEEDS", & of course, the beloved STRAWBERRY ALARM CLOCK. One of the best scenes in this film is called THE BEADS OF INNOCENCE, the music and the "critical focus" of the camera, as Richard Rush puts it in his commentary. Very nice film! sorry they edited it! I noticed some stuff cut short, but thought oh well. Would like to see the longer version of this movie. Either that, or Please Richard Rush, put this out on it's own!!! And add the cut scenes and stuff you may have in the film can at home! Five Star Movie! I watch it over and over. So, Tune In, And Trip Out, to Psych Out!

Psych-Out, weird from the start, but a true classic in every sence of the word. The film has some really good performers in it; the greatly missed Susan Strasberg, who stars as a young deaf lady looking for her brother in San Fransico, Dean Stockwell and Jack Nicholson and others. It has a soundtrack that is outstanding, featuring The Strawberry Alarm Clock and The Seeds and a very important anti drugs message. A film NOT to be missed!

I had never seen The Trip before, Susan Strasberg also appears, though not as prominent as she was in Psych-Out, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper (always welcome) and Bruce Dern (who has a minor, but pivotal role in Psych-Out). IMHO it's not as well acted as Psych-Out, but it's enjoyable. Another important message about the dangers of drugs. An extremely weird movie!

Both movies come complete with some interesting features. Interesting to see how American International (maker of these movies) changed with the times, from early 60s Beach Party, to late 60s happenings with these movies.

I cannot recommend this movie enough, especially for Psych-Out, which is a true classic!

I was so pleaed to see both these movies on a single DVD cause I was going to buy both of them anyway. First off Psych out shows Jack Nicholson in his heyday as 'Stoney' a hippie in the haight ashbury district of San Francisco smack dab in the middle of the hippie movement with lots of great sixties psychedelia and a wonderul soundtrack and a good storyline. Next on the double bill is 'the Trip' the reason I bought this DVD;It was written by Jack Nicholson and stars Peter Fonda,a man who just went through a divorce seeks his friends guidance in an LSD trip to better understand his problems but as the hallucinations grow and the confusion of the trip set in you are guided on a trip through the city from paranoia to horror to ecstacy and you in the end are as unsure of things as he is cause you all in'all experience what he experiences. Truly brilliant film making for a truly surreal glimpse into the often misunderstood world of psychedellic drugs. You get the impression LSD is neither glorified or villified just documented.

Really great double feature! Psych-Out features a new documentary interviewing Rush, Kovacks, Dick Clark, and a bitter Bruce Dern! Fun! Then you get a real great looking and sounding print of the film. Nice to see that Nicholson couldn't really act much back then too! He's perfected his "Jack" character so well that he literally turns it on and off for the cameras. Then, suddenly, Dern walks in and blows Nicholson's "talent" away. To top it off, Dern's hippie wig is even more silly than Nicholsons, yet his acting is superior. Great music to boot: The Seeds and The Strawberry Alarm Clock!
I'm going to watch The Trip tonight, and expect nothing less than what I got with Pysch-Out. In fact, I will be so "loaded" that this film should blow my mind!