Customer Reviews

The Strawberry Statement

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

It is a shame that this video is as expensive as it is, because I want to own it. I saw this movie in 1970 over in Hawaii, and again with friends in San Francisco. The serious nature of the Vietnam war protests were touched upon in this movie. The performances were pretty well acted and the awkwardness of Bruce Davison as a young man in love, and finding the REAL WORLD was a treat to watch. We were all awkward during that time of our lives. For young people, see this movie and try to understand what people were trying to do back then.

I enjoyed it, but it doesn't make much sense unless you've read the book (OK, even then...)

The film is loosely based on James Kunin's book of the same name. An undergraduate rower at Columbia University in 1968 feels vaguely sympathetic towards student protesters but remains on the sidelines. He meets a radical girl, falls in love and gets involved. He winds up in a campus sit-in and gets beaten up when the cops clear the building.

BOOK WEEK once described Kunen as "...a soft-core radical - a kind of New-Left Charlie Brown..." which kind of fits; he was a Gene McCarthy supporter. The movie isn't especially preachy but the final scene doesn't QUITE work as a summing up (not anymore, anyway!)

I saw this movie in late summer 1970, and saw the video in the '80s, and was fairly impressed both times. The climax of a brutal police clash with unarmed students at a university was realistic and memorable. The weird pieces of humor, like a student jumping in a mud puddle to be radical, and a spontaneous sexual encounter, were entertaining but much less realistic. The real attraction of this film is the soundtrack, which I see is not available on CD. It had great songs by CSNY, Neil Young, Thunderclap Newman, Buffy Sainte-Marie, plus classical fragments that my high school English teacher loved in 1971.

Loved the era, loved the movie and especially loved the soundtract. Early Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Neil Young!

Saw it in the theater when first released. In contrast with several other attempts to convey the feeling of the student movement in the context of those days, Strawberry Statement almost got it right.

First. The music. The soundtrack is not only wonderful but really works with the film. Thunderclap Newman's 'Something In The Air", Neil Young's 'The Loner'...

The film is not about Kent State, as an earlier reviewer writes. It's about the Columbia upheaval which resulted in the takeover of several campus buildings by students in protest of the university's decision to destroy a Harlem playground in order to build a gymnasium, as well as more general unhappiness with its connections with Dow Chemical and the war effort.

I was at Berkeley in the 'sixties, not Columbia, but we certainly knew what was going on elsewhere in the world. This conflict was playing out in Mexico City and Prague and Paris, too. In New York, the crackdown by the authorities was extremely violent, with hundreds in the emergency room. The school was then closed for the rest of the semester.

It's hard to portray those days, especially the politics of it and the crowd scenes. The street fighting I saw was very real, and I haven't seen it in any fictional account, not even this one. But Strawberry Statement is much, much better than failures, such as 'Getting Straight'.

Very much worth seeing. And if you're under 40 and want to know how it really was, this is at least a pretty good hint.

I was 14 years old when I first saw this movie in 1970, which was opening for "Woodstock." When Neil Young's "Down by the River" came on in the soundtrack, my life was changed forever. It started both my journey into politicalization and into the joys of rock & roll. Can't think of any other movie that has made such a strong impression on my life, and I've seen a whole lot of movies (thank God for TCM!). This may not be a mainstream movie and may not have a lot of appeal to those who weren't around at the time, but I've been looking for it for a very long time and am really glad it's finally available. For the record, I still own the book and the original soundtrack on vinyl!

I was 18 and grew up in a communist country. I saw the movie and I was a different guy who walked out from the cinema. It was the right movie at the right place and at the right time.

The movie goes back to the "good old days" of 1968 when protest against the war and student uprising was at the forefront of the news. I lived through that era and can feel the spirit. It details the student takeover of a university in a believable way and the brutal suppression of that takeover. Although I use the term "brutal" it was probably the only way to restore peace at the school since the authorities were too permissive early on and allowed it to grow. It does resonate with some of our current problems concerning the "war" and suddenly becomes timely. It's set against a tender love story and the casting can only be characterized as brilliant. The lead characters win our hearts. It brought back a lot of fond memories.

This is an old movie fictionalizing the mood and the reason of the May 1970 Kent State Riots/Massacre. It sneaks up on you, is harsh, bland, and sometimes dumb in this realistic portrayal of the disaffected, angry, populist student uprising against the war in Vietnam, which resulted in the death of four students by National Guard Troop's firing into the crowd.
I had the unlikely entre into the movie in the filming which took place in Stockton, CA in 1972 (?) when I took comp time from my desk work to see what was going on and became an 'extra' all-of-a sudden.
I'd wondered about the film, later, and finally bought my copy through Amazon...to see if they kept my footage in the picture. They didn't. In fact they apparently had to re-shoot most, if not all all of it, in San Francisco...with the blurb at the onset that other cities had not 'cooperated' with the filming...saying "Strawberries are irrelevant." There is some violence portrayed in quick cuts, some gratuitous sex (mostly referential) and a couple of shots of brief nudity, but the movie seems to quite fairly portray the student part in the anti-war movement...and its unfortunate consequences for the students. I got mine on sale from Amazon. It only cost $23.95 with shipping...total.

Strawberry Statement [VHS]

I saw this movie w/ my Dad when I was in 7th grade(1969). I fell in love w/ the music and bought the album. Still have it. I saw this online and had to purchase it