Product Details

• Actors: Todd Mills, Mark Bernheimer, Michael Bowen, Ram Dass, Timothy Leary
• Directors: Paul Davids
• Writers: Paul Davids
• Producers: Todd Mills, Paul Davids
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Mvp Home Entertainme
• VHS Release Date: May 19, 1998
• Run Time: 80 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304955251
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #451,439 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AS OUTRAGEOUS & MIND-BLOWING AS LEARY'S LIFE, August 24, 2003

By 

Forrest J. Evans "76trombones" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Timothy Leary's Dead (Special Edition) (DVD)

Reviewers such as THE NEW YORK TIMES' Janet Maslin got it right when she called this doc "The right final vision of Leary and his times" - and so did the Toronto Sun which said "Somewhere over the rainbow Timothy Leary is laughing his head off, if he still has a head, that is." Anyone who takes all the scenes in this movie literally (like some of the reviwers below) ought to have his head examined, since the movie makes obvious leaps into psychedelic madness everywhere, including a scene filmed like a silent movie in which a frantic mother cautions her son not to eat Timothy Leary's brain, and another scene in which Leary's opinions about alien abduction are dramatized by an alien hopping into bed with a little ol' lady from Iowa. To those who think Leary's family was shocked by the film, they obviously are unaware that Leary's ex-wife Rosemary invited friends to a private screening in San Fran and gave the film her blessing by saying Tim would have loved it (he passed before its completion). For those who scream it's unauthorized, they should note that Leary not only signed a contract giving the producers permission to do exactly what they have done in the movie, but he cooperated every step of the way, leaving a big hint in the end credits about how to separate reality from the surreal in the film. For more clues, check out the Director's Commentary on the DVD, which deals with the controversy this film created. The bottom line: Any movie about Timothy Leary that doesn't blow your mind doesn't even begin to convey the real Leary, and this one delivers Big Time. Besides, the film wouldn't be doing its job if it didn't make some opinionated fans angry (as well as offend some of the stodgy webmasters of the official Leary website who have been in misery for years because their own effort at a Leary biopic was never released). However, by all means, avoid this film if your mind has fossilized, and you do not want your views about reality (or about who Leary was) to be challenged. Also avoid it if you think you need to believe everything you see in a documentary.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timothy Leary revelation of a daring life., May 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Timothy Leary's Dead [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Timothy Leary comes off as a man ahead of his time: fearless, sacreligious, funny, defiant, quick-witted, iconoclastic. No wonder Richard Nixon called him the most dangerous man alive, he was afraid of Leary's Irish wit...I would recommend the film to anyone who, "thinks for himself," or is curious about a man whose appetite for life was, arguably, as big as the sword-fighter-scientiest explorer's: Sir Richard Burton. I couldn't take my eyes off Leary.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Always a HEAD of his time., July 23, 2005

By 

H. Laurence Greenblatt "Cyber Kung Fu Dude" (Philly) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Timothy Leary's Dead (Special Edition) (DVD)

The best part of this for me was the interviews with Dr. Leary. I have been a fan of Leary's since my Tai Chi coach, legendary martial arts engineer Tom Updegrove, first lent me a copy of Timothy's Exo-Psychology over 23 years ago. Since then I have probably read 90% of his works. Apparently, no one who interviews him has read more than a few blurbs.

Once again, we are treated to having Tim answer some of the most idiotic questions from uniformed people. But being true to his character, he does his best to explain his stance on his past events and theories. Especially enlightening for me was his experiences in jail and the attitude toward the establishments and politics that put him there. Never bitter, Tim appears to take nothing personal, just business as usual for a society in development.

As a CISSP, I have made (and continue to make) a very lucrative career helping secure cyberspace. I owe much of my success to the teachings of Dr. Timothy Leary. One of his lessons that even the most ardent of Leary supporters, Robert Anton Wilson (my favorite living author), Terrence McKenna, Antero Alli, seem to mostly neglect, is what I consider his most inspiring theories, that is, evolution and particularly space migration. For me, Exo-Psychology (now Info-Psychology) remains his most prophetic work and the most accurate map of both past and future history I know of.

While this DVD isn't as good as maybe it could have been, it was a great buy and I recommend it to all Leary fans.

Larry Greenblatt
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