Customer Reviews

Wild in the Streets/Gas-s-s-s

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Ever conscious of cashing in on whatever trend might have been fashionable at the time, American International Pictures (AIP) focused their sights on the ever-growing youth movement of the mid to late 60s with this frightening (if you were over 60) tale of youthful revolution in Wild in the Streets (1968). Directed by Barry Shear, whose primary credits include TV shows like "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.", "Ironside", and "Hawaii Five-O", to name a few, the film stars Christopher Jones (The Looking Glass War), an actor once thought by many to be perhaps the next James Dean or Marlon Brando, but whose fortunes and star potential faded due to, what some speculate, the strain of having to live up to the expectations beyond his grasp...oh yeah, that and the all the drugs, as highlighted in `Christopher Jones: The E! True Hollywood Story'...also appearing is Oscar winner Shelley Winters (The Diary of Anne Frank, The Night of the Hunter, Lolita), Diane Varsi (I Never Promised You a Rose Garden), Hal Holbrook (Creepshow), Millie Perkins (The Diary of Anne Frank), Ed Begley (12 Angry Men), Bert Freed (Nevada Smith), and Richard Pryor (Silver Streak, Stir Crazy).

As the story begins, we witness an intelligent and precocious boy named Max Flatow (played by Barry Williams, better know as the character Greg Brady, from The Brady Bunch), Jr. grow into a disillusioned young adult who decides to leave home, severing his family ties, and make it own his own (given his mother, played by Winters, I didn't blame him). By the age of 22 we learn he's not only changed his name to Max Frost, but that he's also become a famous recording star, and with the help of his entourage (none over the age of 25), become the head of a multi-million dollar empire. Max is so popular he's courted by congressman Johnny Fergus (Halbrook) to assist him in his senatorial bid by playing at a rally and throwing a good word Fergus' way, hoping, I guess, to rock the vote, or some such thing...Max agrees, but the performance leads to pressure in the form of massive `sit ins' to force Fergus to introduce legislation that would lower the voting age to 15 (the `Establishment' balks but their power quickly fades). Fergus acquiesces (dreams of political power swirling in his mind), and the voting age lowered, and Fergus wins his senate seat, but he has unwittingly opened Pandora's box as soon the once disenfranchised youthful population, who can now vote, begin electing their own candidates (Max eventually takes the presidency) and pushing their own hedonistic agendas towards a groovy future where adults are forced to retire by 30 (hey, that doesn't sound so bad) and then shuffled off to `Mercy Camps' where they are plied with LSD treatments, or `therapy', to keep them on a permanent acid trip (okay, that doesn't sound too appealing). The revolution has begun...and the kids aren't all right...

I enjoyed this movie, although for the first 20 minutes or so I wasn't sure where it was going, but it seemed to find its footing and present an entertaining tale (unless you were among the older generation, to which this might have been a cautionary or every scary wake up call...yeah, right)...Christopher Jones seems to fit his role perfectly as the charismatic Max Frost, the millionaire rock star rallying the angry youth of America, and beginning a movement in California (figures) which ultimately spreads worldwide. Holbrook was also very good as the liberal politician thinking he could harness this untapped power towards advancing his career by schmoozing the youth, but quickly learning his folly once the beast was unleashed...and then there was the stodgy Ed Begley, playing the ultra conservative Senator Allbright..."Youth is not only wasted on the young, it's become a disease!"...'nuff said. I think my favorite sequences involved the scenes where Max and his cohorts, in an effort to get legislators to amend the constitution and lower the age requirements for holding political offices, spike Washington's water supply with acid...which resulted in all these politicians head tripping and unknowingly voting themselves out of existence (Ed Begley pretending to be on acid is quite the experience). This was actually a real-life fear at the time that prompted the mayor of Chicago at the time, Richard J. Daley, to call out some 5,000 national guardsmen to protect the cities water reservoirs, as the 1968 Democratic National Convention was taking place, and protesters were in abundance in the Windy City. There was a creepy, reverse Oedipal vibe coming off Shelley Winter's character towards her son, one that increased as Max's power grew...her desperate attempts to fit in with a generation she didn't belong, so in need their approval and attention, became very annoying, but viewers are rewarded as she couldn't escape her age or the animosity of youth. Ms. Winters is an accomplished and respected actress (I really liked her in Night of the Hunter), but most of the roles I've seen her in involved her playing often obnoxious, annoying, overbearing characters, and here is not different. There was a slightly dark, comic tone ever present throughout the story that later turns ominous as Max become president, using his administrative powers to effect some really radical changes (hey, if it means putting Shelley Winters behind bars, I'm all for it). There's some good music to be had here, if you dig on late 60s rock, with original music provided by Les Baxter and songs by legendary writer Barry Mann...check out Max Frost and the Troopers' performance of the song `The Shape of Things to Come', which would later covered by The Ramones. The ending, despite being completely predictable (and virtually telegraphed), still worked well.

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Seeing as how I was quite young at the time Gas-s-s-s (1971) aka Gas-s-s-s... or, It May Become Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It came out (diapers, pacifiers, the whole bit), I'm curious to know if this whole `youth counterculture' film genre had just about run its course (run out of gas, you might say...oh man, I slay myself with my relevant comments)...and while watching the film, Roger Corman's last directorial effort for AIP, I'd say so...written by George Armitage, who would later direct Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), and directed by Roger Corman (The Masque of the Red Death, The Wild Angels), the film features a number of actors including Bob Corff, whom later found his calling as a voice teacher, known as `the authority on voice technique in Los Angeles', Elaine Giftos (The Student Nurses), Bud Cort (Harold and Maude), Talia Shire (The Godfather), along with Ben Vereen (All That Jazz) and Cindy Williams (American Graffiti) in their first, major on screen roles...oh yeah, watch for the writer himself, George Armitage, appearing as the character Billy the Kid...

As the movie begins, we learn the military/industrial complex has been brought down by its own hands due to the accidental release of a nerve gas that kills anyone over the age of 25...subsequently, the ne'er-do-wells have inherited the Earth through no effort on their part ...or so it would seem. The more things change, the more they stay the same as soon the conservative youth begins to rain on the free love parade trying to maintain the status quo, driving a couple to leave behind the bad scene that is Dallas in search of a hippy nirvana somewhere in the desert of New Mexico. Along the way they hook up some like-minded folk, and eventually get captured by a gang called the Warriors, a fascist group of dune buggy driving high school jocks (with their own marching band) who subsist by raiding nearby towns, looting and pillaging what they need. They manage to escape and keep on keeping on finding respite at a musical festival of sorts, the main performer being Country Joe and the Fish. Pressing forth they finally reach their destination in a New Mexican pueblo where everyone gets by doing their own thing, whatever that may be...until the Warriors show up...now comes the conundrum...how to resist the impending onslaught without resorting to violence? I'll tell you what, by this time I was looking forward to a little head bashing mayhem, but none was forthcoming...

Now the story I just described to you would probably fill up 30 minutes of celluloid, but know this film is about 79 minutes long...so what was used to pad out the rest of the running time? A whole lot of nonsense...seriously, this film is one big, long psuedo counterculture unpleasurable masturbatory flogging. There was some real potential, but it quickly devolved into an inconsistent exercise of unfettered, unstructured silliness taking potshots at the `evil' establishment via continually trying to illuminate the audience to the hypocrisies inherent within the system. The humor here is as about consistent with that of a bad Monkees episode, only there it was good natured ribbing of convention, while here it comes off as crude and sophomoric. I gotta tell you, this post adult world, even in a comical sense, sucks...here's a dose of the lame humor (vaudevillian, at best) I'm talking about...at the beginning of the film, we see the cops chasing a hippy, who eventually runs into a church, donning a priest outfit. A cop comes in, mistakes him for a man of the cloth, and ask if he's seen anyone run inside the church...the hippy/priest replies "Could you describe him my son?", "Long hair, weird clothes, looks like a real troublemaker to me.", to which the hippy/priest replies "No, there hasn't been anyone like that around the church in a long time." Which then the camera focuses on a statue of Jesus...get it? You see because Jesus had long hair and wore strange clothes...I guess...and I love how the film equates sports with fascism as we witness a group of high school jocks, dressed in football jerseys and shoulder pads, loot surrounding towns, participating in all sorts of training exercises to hone their skills, including barbarism, chasing and tackling women, throwing Molotov cocktails, etc. And the slyly witty social commentary doesn't stop there... check out the part where the group tries to retrieve their stolen car, and participate in a gunfight where no bullets are shot as the only ammunition is yelling out the names of macho actors like Gene Autry, Tom Mix, James Arness, John Wayne and so forth, the more macho the actor, the more likely the kill...see how clever the film is? As I said, I was disappointed with this feature as it just rambles around trying to be witty in a laid back kind of way, but just really has no heart, soul or redemptive value other than perhaps being a sort of hippy time capsule that even hippies probably wouldn't want to revisit. As far as the direction, it seems Corman, knowing it was his last directorial effort for AIP before moving on, phoned it in, especially after he got hold of the script, seeing what was in it, and I can't blame him. Oh, yeah, great way to end the film, by the way (I'm being facetious)...the movie basically paints itself into a corner (you know, the whole having to deal with the Warriors conundrum I mentioned earlier) and then proceeds to completely cop out because the writer couldn't come up with a better idea...I guess that's what happens when you only have about 20 or 30 minutes of actual story. I will say some of the music was pretty good, but other than that, the rest is a flop...

The picture, presented in 16X9 wide screen (1.85:1), for both these movies, looks really good and the English mono comes across clearly. The only special feature for both films is a theatrical trailer. I'm giving this release four stars primarily for Wild in the Streets, and the fact I really like and support this Midnight Movie double feature , and the price is nice...I heard in the not so distant past Sony has acquired the MGM catalog, so I'm hoping they will continue with this format...well, ideally the format would include two good films, but I'll take one good one along with one stinker...

Cookieman108

This is not a particularly good film, but it is an interesting look at the sixties through a somewhat astigmatic point of view. I use clips from the movie in a sixties pop culture class at the university level. The song Fourteen or Fight is a good example of the sixties attempt to "Rock the Vote."

It was a good reflection of the time and culture of that era. And to think that these are the people running our government today!! How ironic, I wonder if they still remember their youth.

This movie is a throwback! I remember seeing it from a perspective of a young person as I must have been about 12 when I saw it in the theater. It's a fun movie that prompts family discussions however the kids might find the videography outdate.

This was a hard movie to find. My step father really wanted this movie (Wild in the Streets) and no one could find it and finally I found it on here. He was very grateful and it arrived in amazing time and in mint condition.

Saw Wild In The Streets & Planet Of The Apes at a drive-in in New Jersey in 1968, when I was 9 and both movies came out! Quite a mind-blowing double feature, especially for a kid who had barely heard of, much less used, any type of drug. . . or petted an ape.

But seriously, this is a great B-movie, however much it might have contributed to the death of "the '60's" as we knew it. Brady Bunch, indeed! (Read first review for reference).

Pot Byrne

- Wild in the Streets -
I first became aware of this cult-classic in the early 70's from a late-night television broadcast as a kid. It was somewhat amusing and, at the same time, troubling to a kid at a pre-adolescent age. But the movie haunted me for its implications into adulthood, and I at least in part, attribute to it some of the influence in developing a conservative worldview. Though the film is a parody in many ways, the truth is often told in jest.

A young Max Flatow, Jr. is born to a controlling shrew of a demanding, unwilling mother (Shelley Winters) and a henpecked father during the early 50's post-World War II crop of affluent baby boomers, and grows up an only child in the quintessential white, middle-class suburbia of the era. The dawn of radical cultural revolution is beginning to emerge in society in the mid- to late 60's when Max, Jr. reaches early adulthood, and he becomes its biggest victim, embracing the drug and music culture wholeheartedly. The scene of a young Max producing LSD in his own basement lab, openly unconcerned about his oblivious parents' knowledge, as well as constructing a bomb, which he says will be used to blow up his father's new car, reveals the absolute anarchist mentality of this character early in life.

Running away from home early in life to strike out primarily in a career as a rock music idol, Max (now going by the name Max Frost) makes it big in several endeavors - it's never described what these other industries are, but a ticker tape machine becomes a fixture at his residence. His charismatic appeal among the youth makes him a formidable force in shaping the cultural landscape, and he capitalizes on this mega-star status to push some of his ulterior intentions that are suggested early on: he performs his own song, "Fifty-two Percent," to hammer home the fact that the youth population in America has attained critical mass.

The popularity of Max is noticed by a liberal senate candidate from California, Johnny Fergus, who seeks to further his own political career by hitching his wagon to this youth cult phenomenon. One of Fergus's main campaign promises is lowering the voting age to 18. He arranges for Max to perform at one of this campaign speeches to clinch the vote of the young. But, unknown to Fergus, Max has his own plans which include utilizing Fergus's campaign for his own political ends, which culminates quickly into the death spiral of the remainder of the movie.

A major weakness of this film is not explaining how a proven terrorist (Max follows through with bombing his father's car) and illicit drug producer/pusher could evade the law unscathed and eventually make it big politically. But, ignoring these fatal flaws, the movie, for all its outlandish scenarios, makes a cogent point. I believe the theme of this film is contained near the end in one of Max's major political speeches:
"...some of us have changed this for ourselves already, but now we're going to change it for everyone."

How can this be allowed to happen in a free America? But in case the viewer questions the extent of these "changes," they are laid out painstakingly in the ensuing speech. And the mechanism for these changes is also articulated:
"You give me the tools, you give me the laws, give me the power!"

By the end, an unrecognizable America results, one fundamentally remade (where have we heard that before?) with a megalomaniac at the helm. The film mockingly presents this new American society as one of unprecedented peace and prosperity, but juxtaposes that image with the concentration-camp-style oppression of those who would stand in the way. Its images were shocking, especially for a late 60's production, showing in graphic detail the militant oppression of a totalitarian regime (reallocation of children taken from those too old) and the grotesque image of a self-hanged Senator Fergus before his drug-numbed wife. Even homosexuality is suggested as an emerging part of this new "movement of youth freedom" that is sweeping the nation, with Max's right hand man an admitted homosexual with the "hots" for Senator Fergus.

The film's implications may have been unthinkable at the time, but many of the abominations presented have been prophetically realized.

- Gas-s-s-s -
I made it through this disaster, but can't comment much on this movie other than calling it an extended episode of The Monkeys 60's television show. The extreme, pointless histrionics that are so characteristic of the flower-power hippie culture is on full display here (see the "Billy Jack" sagas and "Easy Rider" for other examples); a couple of minutes is more than enough. The film is more a showcase of the radical music of the era and the "peacenik" mindset that pervaded the 60's anti-war movement. It was kind of fun seeing a young Cindy Williams (of "Lavern and Shirley" fame) and Ben Vereen in prominent roles, but other than that, the film had no real appeal on any level.

This is an interesting two-fer for the time capsules. "Wild in the Streets" demonstrates directorial flair by Barry Shear. You will be in awe at how much he gets onto the screen with what was probably a minimal budget. The script has moments of brilliance but ultimately it struck me as nasty teen wish fullfillment. Great closing line, though. Not to be overlooked is a terrific Mann-Weill song score with "Shape of Things to Come" as a standout. Roger Corman's apocalyptic "Gas-sss" floats by on good vibes and an enthusiastic cast of youngsters. Sporting a Monkees-style script the jokes are hit or miss usually the latter but that's forgivable. Cindy Williams as a rock'n'roll lover and Ben Vereen as a genial Marxist are standouts. Terrific Southwest ambiance. View these flicks as products of their time that for the most part don't date very well.

What a twist in this movie.you got to see it.Disc in great shape and clear picture.

"Wild in the Streets" is aptly named since it is a very wild film, very unusual and original in premise. Christopher Jones, a James Dean lookalike, who sounds like Brando when he speaks, plays a charismatic rock singer in the late sixties. When they lower the voting age to fourteen, he gets elected President of the U.S. and puts everyone over the age of thirty in LSD concentration camps. Shelly Winter provides one of her extremely over the top performances as his mother. You must see the scene where she is interviewed by Pamela Mason -- it is a scream to watch and hilarious! Also, the soundtrack is wonderful and one of the songs "Shape of Things to Come" was on the hit parade and is a great rock tune. The opening of the film literally jumps out at you, filmed during a rock concert featuring Chris/Max Frost and his band the Troopers (Diane Varsi, Richard Pryor, Kevin Coughlin) who all also give give good performances in the film. The movie is highly recommended and is one of my all time favorites. I even own the soundtrack album and also, the Max Frost & the Troopers original album, with songs that didn't make it into film. Go rent this or better yet buy it. You will definitely want to see it over and over again.