Customer Reviews

Timothy Leary's Last Trip [VHS]

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

 

 

As this story starts out, you get the excited feeling that you are about to witness an in-depth and expansive insight into Timothy Leary... suddenly a tall lanky kid (the son of an unknown Merry Prankster) leads you on a goofball idiotic history of the Merry Prankster 60's.. He talks to you like you are 7 years old and continually tries to sensationalize word, "LSD", like it is a mind shattering word that will just blow you over with the way he says it. His sensationalist attempt fails and just makes him look really naive and stupid.. You tire of the performance 5 minutes into the show. It seems obvious that the age group this is intended for must be the teeny bopper group. Timothy Leary is hardly in this movie, except for a few occasional places, it's instead devoted to Ken Kessey and his merry pranksters and everything they did in the 60's. They eventually meet up together near the end of Learys life and Kessey exploits the situtaion to steal the show with his "warrior philosophy" in which leary describes later as "I just played along" You get the feeling that most everyone who attended didnt really know who leary was, except that he was connected with l.s.d. in some way. Most had never read any of his work.. He must have secretly been very lonley towards the end.

Timothy Leary was a big brain, no doubt, just explore Exo-Psychology (a work that modern day psychology has never really been able to decrypt) He made some genuine and important contributions to psychology, he was a real pioneer and a Galileo of his time.. it's sad that he should be used in such a lame and cheap attempt to make some bucks or to fulfill the ego's of the those that missed the 60's and want to take advantage of a spotlight shining on a greater person.

BEWARE! This video isn't really about Tim at all. It is more about the Merry Pranksters than anything else. I thought I would find a good documentary about one of the most brilliant men of the century, the man who wrote Exo-Psychology, the man who served prison time with a smile on his face. This film merely exploits Tim's memory.

Unfortunalty, this film has very little to do with Tim Leary's life, work or death. In fact, it is more of a bad documentary that tries to glorify the Merry Pranksters. The film was made by OB Babbs whose real interest is exploiting Leary's fame to make a few bucks and talking about his parents (he goes on and on about growing up with the Merry Pranksters and yet seems to understand them poorly). If you are interested in a childish view of the Merry Pranksters, buy this film, if you are actually interested in Timothy Leary, whatever you do, DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS!

To conclude, it is just a documentary (that barely deserves the title) compossed of footage of the M.P. lumped together in a manner that suggests that Babbs edited it himself and spend about 10$ in the process. The information in the film about Leary was less than what could be found in an encyclopedia.

This is a historic work of art about the counter-cultural changes of the nineteen sixties. The previously unreleased, live Warlocks (Grateful Dead) music makes you feel like you are going back to this magical time and place, and is worth the entire cost of the DVD alone.

Some of the reviews here are surprising to read; anyone knowing Leary but not knowing Kesey & the Pranksters needs to go to the psychedelic library and work up a decent knowledge. As someone who's studied both Leary and Kesey extensively over the years (some of it documented at my "Feed Your Head" website at [...]), I found "Timothy Leary's Last Trip" an appealing, entertaining and occasionally arresting movie.

The first half is a recap of the early/mid-1960s LSD scene, when both Leary & Kesey rose to prominence. There's lots of Prankster 60s archive footage, some of which I didn't immediately recognize, and which may be unique to this feature. There's also some interesting old Leary footage, the bulk of it from a circa 1974 interview also seen in "Timothy Leary's Dead". There are some minor errors to the chronology and presentation, the most amusing (possibly a Prank?) assigning Wavy Gravy's name to a photo of Tiny Tim!

The second half of the movie concerns Leary's last trip, which turns out to be 2 trips -- one to a Hog Farm get-together in 1995, with some historically important footage of Kesey & Leary hanging out together. There's also contemporary interviews with George Walker, Wavy Gravy (looking great, like an old Polynesian tribe chief), and Kesey & Leary. Interspersed throughout is an interview with Leary from a studio (or his home), which I think is unique to this movie. There's some on-stage footage with Dead type music and Pranksters in costumes, and Leary giving the event his benediction.

Leary's "second last trip" is a meeting on Internet between himself and Kesey, shortly before he died. It's pretty amusing to see the funky connection and very old-skool Netscape browsers 10 years later. Not much of importance is said, it's mainly an exchange of greetings.

The director O B Babbs (Prankster legend Ken Babbs' son) appears as a narrator here and there, and does a good job; and his handsome male-model looks are no drawback. There's a certain student film feel to this, but those familiar with what's been coming out of the revived Prankster nexus in Oregon will recognize and enjoy the home-made charm. Sentimentality is present, and may have been given a boost by the passing away of Jerry Garcia around this time, but considering who we are dealing with, there's certainly room for, and a need for, documentation.

Like "Timothy Leary's Dead" this movie has some specific, minor flaws, but combining these two fan-oriented DVD features you get a terrific view of Leary, the modern (post-1960) history of LSD, and a substantial dose of the equally important Merry Pranksters.

Good movie if ur interesting in how timothy leary is ending his wonderous life. The narrator is Ken Babb's son and he is horrible with weird dialogue as if he just learned about acid and timothy leary 5 minutes ago. Meets with Kesey which is pretty cool energy between them.

Maybe the detractors should view this again- I found that there was plenty of footage of Leary- the subject matter revolved around Leary's LAST trip- and in no way implies that it is a biographical work- perhaps you should read the description before you make a judgement- if you want a biography of his entire life, perhaps you should have looked in a different direction- this piece is about the Merry Pranksters' personal relationship with Leary, which came through very clearly- I thought it brought home the point it was trying to make very adequately- that Leary embraced his death with welcoming arms, and even planned for it.

Big, bad, boring disappointment. I thought it and Syd Barrett's First Trip would make good bookends. So I bought both. What a waste of money. A better title for the Leary movie would have been, "A Day in the Life of Prankster Progeny Preparing to Meet Someone They Never Heard Of", but that wouldn't fit on the box.

The other reviews must be for a later edition as mine includes a--rather graphic--posthumous decapitation of Leary for preserving his head cryogenically. This was later revealed to be a hoax. Perhaps it was then excised from the DVD.

This film is art. it is made from the heart and shares the integrity of The Pranksters relationship to Tim Leary. the reviewers that dissed it don't understand the place it comes from. the "unknown prankster" mentioned by one of the negative reviewers is KEN BABBS, Ken Kesey's partner. The creator of the film is OB Babbs who grew up within the Pranksters. They resurrect the bus and take a magic trip to pick up Timothy Leary and together go to Camp Winnarainbow, Wavy Gravy's place. Tim is in it alot & is having a great time. it's a heartwarming tribute and a blessing for the viewers to see Tim just before he passed away. RIP Tim & Ken. Enjoy this terrific film!

This thing was horrible it barely had anything to do with Timothy Leary, I was realy let down and if you are a true Leary fan dont check it out, its not worth the time, but if your some wannabe acid head then this movie is for you.