Product Details

• Actors: John Doe, Adam Horovitz, David Anthony Marshall, Judyth Thurman, Biff Yeager
• Directors: Abbe Wool
• Writers: Abbe Wool
• Producers: David Swinson, Bill Stankey, Nancy Israel, Peter McCarthy
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New Line Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302572061
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #160,153 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This loping, easygoing road movie throws together familiar ingredients--a pair of mismatched traveling buddies, a series of encounters with unusual strangers (the "prophets" of the title), and a personal quest to quench demons from the past--for a journey that doesn't strike out into new territory but provides an amiable trip for its wandering souls. Rocker John Doe (formerly of the punk band X) is a working stiff whose journey to deliver the ashes of a friend to their final resting place in Eldorado, Nevada, becomes something of a New Age odyssey. Joined by Sam (Beastie Boy Adam Horowitz), a lost youth obsessed with the ubiquitous Motel 9s that dot every truck stop and crossroads, the two wrangle their motorcycles down desert highways like Gen-X Easy Riders, only without the drugs, the rednecks, or the '60s soundtrack (the excellent score by Pray for Rain also includes songs by Doe, former X-mate Excene Cervenka, and the Pogues). Cameos by weathered 1960s icons Timothy Leary and Arlo Guthrie join David Carradine as a guitar-playing hermit and John Cusack as an insane, food-throwing anarchist. Director Abbe Wool (who wrote Sid and Nancy) is content to watch the world ramble by from the back of a motorcycle and enjoy the company--which makes entertaining viewing if you like the personalities and an interminable trip if you don't. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not-quite impossible dream, April 14, 2002

By 

Arthur L. Ranney (Platteville, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roadside Prophets [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"Roadside Prophets" is a small movie with a not-quite realized vision. On the negative side, the acting is occasionally awkward and the dialogue clunky, but the film is rich in literary allusions and cultural critique. On the surface, it's a typical buddy film. On the other hand, not many buddy films feature two guys on ancient motorcycles searching for Eldorado so they can spread a Fat Bob tank full of ashes as a tribute to someone who was electrocuted while playing a video game in a strip bar. The point of the movie is not to glorify the end product, but the process. That is, living life the best way you know how, with the full realization that the end product is just that -- the end. John Cusack has a memorable cameo in the film, but others -- such as David Carradine's and Timothy Leary's -- actually have substance, where Cusack's is a triumph of style. As in life, the main characters meet people who have things to say, some profound and some profoundly silly. Dismiss those roadside prophets at your peril -- those who seem the most insane may well be the wisest people you'll ever meet.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Roadside Prophets, January 22, 2000

By 

RiverCave (MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Roadside Prophets [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"I saw the movie and my head was reeling with adventure....then a week afterwards on the side of a dirt road while in the country with bro-in-law.....we saw a motorcycle for sale, parked next to an RV. on a lakeshore, this guy with gray hair said he spent his summers here in northern MN.,was retired, and every spring returned and sold his bike he'd ride in Florida during the winter months, living in his RV. I knew it was a sign from God. Here was a real Roadside Prophet, just like in the movie,offering me advice and showing me how to ride it. I bought it right there on the spot. I live for my weekend roadtrips now, running into Prophet after Prophet just like David Carradine/Arlo Guthrie's/Timothy Leary's characters portrayed, off the beaten "Media Battered Path."This movie gives us meaning...it's about "Being." Just living in the moment,as we were born to. Recognizing when to "Let go, Let God" without reservations and not looking back, knowing the best is yet to come. Get the movie. Get the meaning. Spirit demands it Your destiny is at hand. (P.S. A bike with whitewall tires helps too)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beer! Gas! - Ride Forever!!!, May 1, 2002

By 

Jeremy Cuccuini (Denver, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Roadside Prophets [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a great road movie with awesome cameos that keep it intelligent and funny. Althought the movie starts out kinda slow and the acting is slightly awkward at times, the movie picks up fast and the messages shed during the road encounters are life-lasting and true to heart. Ad rock is very funny as Sam the drifter- even hysterical at times. One of my own and friends favorites through college, it is a timeless tale of friendship and life lessons. I don't even like motorcycles but this movie makes me want to ride the desert. Easy to compare to as the "Easy Rider" of the 90's. Watch this movie!