Customer Reviews

Wild in the Streets [VHS]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

leonard maltin needs a thicker pair of glasses to realize the cult classic we have on our hands here. no, it's not gone with the wind. nor is it apocalypse now. but in terms of capturing that cool attitude of the pre-hippie 60's, mixing fantastic garage rock/surf rock, and a crazy premise (rock star takes over the country by enlisting his fanbase - the youth of america), with an abundance of narcotics thrown in for good measure...you can't beat this one of a kind film. this is one of those movies that few people know about. those that know it though will concur that it's one of the coolest films of the late 60's, albeit somewhat kitsch. just wish i could find the soundtrack. another plus is that it's richard pryor's first movie ever, yet only in a cameo role. tarantino loved this film so much that he tried to track down christopher jones (who had apparently gone awol since the film's release) to play one of the leads in an as-yet-to-be-made pulp fiction. he managed to find him, but jones turned him down. travolta later was asked and he accepted the role that would jumpstart his career again. to put things in perspective, in '68, jones was billed as the next james dean. he unfortunately disappeared from hollywood never to make another film. he was one cool cat that couldn't dig the system...you dig?

During the 1960s, American International primarily introduced low-budgeted movies geared usually for drive-ins. By some mistake, "Wild in the Streets" turned out to be both a hit and a perennial cult favorite. Deservedly so. It is probably one of the most subversive satires ever produced for the American screen. In September of 2004, it was finally released as part of a double-sided MGM Midnight Movies selection on DVD. (The flip side is one of Roger Corman's worst movies, GAS-S-S-S-S, a sophomoric comedy doubtless inspired by "Wild in the Street"'s success. Skip it.)

What is particularly strange is that "Wild in the Streets" appears to have been unreleased as soon as it was released. If you check MGM's website, you will not find it listed in MGM's inventory. Nor will you find it listed as available on Amazon or most places. In fact, the only retail place online you can find it is at BestBuy. However, it does not appear to be available at most of BestBuy's actual stores. Did the idea of a fascistic dictatorship taking over America somehow offend the current Administration or offend executives at MGM? Just a question since I'm not privy to why it's being censored.

At any rate, I would suggest that the movie's admirers buy the DVD when or where they can, since they might not have a second chance. The movie itself was released in 1968 while the Vietnam War raged on -- and on and on and on. This is important to understanding the film in its historical context. "Wild in the Streets" has several premises. The first is that the old fogies in Washington are destroying the country. Although Vietnam is not mentioned (read Iraq, if you want to bring the premise up to date), the draft certainly is on the moviemakers's minds.

The second premise is that 52% of the population is aged 25 or younger, and that America as a nation idolizes youth and spends considerable time and money pursuing the fountain of youth. Young people in "Wild in the Streets" are represented by the tuned-out hippie generation, who, thanks to a charismatic leader, soon become tuned-in.

A popular young rock performer, Max Frost (played by Christopher Jones, who as an actor, always seemed to be channeling James Dean, which was perfect casting for this role), decides that young people are fighting and dying for the country but do not even have the right to vote. In a satirical progression, Max first manages to get the voting age dropped to 14. Next, he succeeds in getting an ex-childhood actress-current acid-freak, Sally LeRoy (brilliantly portrayed by Diane Varsi of "Peyton Place" fame) elected to Congress. Since Max wishes to run for President himself, he needs to get the requirement age dropped from 35, which he succeeds in doing with a little terroristic help involving the lacing with LSD of the Washington, D.C., water supply. Once Max becomes President, he manages to make 30 a mandatory retirement age and 35 an age for people to be incarcerated in concentration camps, where they can spend their remaining days forcibly tripping, thus no longer being a danger to themselves or others. Soon Max realizes that he may one day get his own comeuppance since what goes around comes around.

For a low-budget movie, "Wild in the Streets" managed to acquire a top-notch cast, including Hal Holbrook as a Kennedy-like senator, Millie Perkins ("The Diary of Anne Frank") as his wife, Shelley Winters as Max's monstrous mother (her screams of "I'm young! I'm young!" as she's carted off to a concentration camp are never to be forgotten), Ed Begley as one of the old fogey politicians, and a youthful Richard Pryor as one of Max's entourage, in his first screen performance. The period rock score is equally impressive.

As a major part of Max's political agenda, he intends to make the world safe -- from America: "America is now planning to withdraw from its international commitments to the relief of many, the despair of few. In addition, your armed forces are to be disbanded."

Folks who don't get the satire will most likely hate this movie with a vengeance (and probably hate this review as well). But those who get it, will also get it with a vengeance and will contrive to buy up all the copies they can to give as gifts for like-minded friends.

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.

While this film is not available on its own on DVD, it is featured on a MGM Midnight Movies double feature DVD, available at Amazon, paired with the psuedo youth counterculture film Gas-s-s-s (1971), which is the lesser of the two, in my opinion.

Cookieman108

By the way, see if you can spot Bill Mumy ("Lost in Space") and Peter Tork ("The Monkees") in their bit parts...

I've been checking this amazon website for upcoming dvd releases for quite some time now, and this site is usually accurate. But, MGM MIDNIGHT MOVIES DOUBLE FEATURE just released "WILD IN THE STREETS" coupled with "GASSss". I just purchased this dvd at a local dvd retailer (8/28/04). This website still reads "NOT YET RELEASED, with STUDIO CURRENTLY NOT PRODUCING THIS TITLE"!??????? Not sure why this gem slipped through the cracks at amazon? Anyway, it's a beautiful WIDESCREEN transfer, and even includes the ORIGINAL THEATRICAL TRAILER! FIVE STARS, AT LAST, MAX FROST IS BACK...GEORGE W. LOOK OUT!!!!!!!!

This script is one of the most brilliantly subversive, in your face, provocative for its own sake pieces of filmwriting ever to happen. Think Luis Bunuel gone Hollywood. The whole idea here was to make a film that would scare the hell out of middle class america, throwing its worst nightmares (a youth culture taking over the USA with drugs, rock music, pansexuality, etc.) unto the screen. Everything that the filmmakers could think of to offend and frighten was allowed. It is a marvelous piece of paranoic moviemaking, vastly entertaining, original, even with a neat score (by Boyce and Hart, I believe). Interestingly, it was the young audience which rejected the film as too aggressive and hostile while older crowds appreciated it for its audacity and willingness to be outrageous (ex. the deadringer impersonating of Hitler's speech mannerisms when Frost becomes president). The film goes from one taboo breaking episode to another with filmmaking savvy. The ending is perfect. 60's classic, yes, but it deserves more recognition for being the type of film that keeps you wide awake and alert, wondering what will happen next. BTW, Chrsi Jones (the lead) was in one more movie. I think it was called 'three in the attic".

One movie I never forgot.....1968 stars Hunky Christopher Jones as the leader of the youth movement to take over America.. I said "Right On!" (I was 15 when I saw it) My 16 year old now who saw it shakes his head and said "What were you thinking?" Finding irony at the end....we all get old (if we are lucky!)... Richard Pryor, Hal Holbrook and the recently deceased Shelly Winters also star in this classic representation of the 60's youth. Enjoy the trip back in time! Very interesting...A "Boomer's movie...Peace!

I recently acquired this movie, and was taken back in time. I actually remembered all the songs on the movie, and thoroughly enjoyed the performances. Chris Jones was compared to James Dean in his time, and left Hollywood too soon. He did a few more movies, Ryan's Daughter, and Three in the Attic,among them. The movie takes you back to the sixties, and brings them back to life with a moving, funny, and scary plot of America's drug influenced youth taking over the country,It's a bizarre film, but one of my favorites, it really makes you think.

...but believe me, for a lot of us back in the late 60's, it became a manifesto. Let's face it, one feature of the late-or-post-adolescent mentality is an obsession with rights that others have but they don't. We were potential cannon fodder in Nam, all guys who could be drafted were getting drafted, but back then we couldn't vote. This film offers a scenario where rock singer Max Frost (Chris Jones), bush league Jim Morrison who sings more like David Cassidy, child of a disfunctional home himself, runs for President. His retinue consists of black power soldier Stanley X (played by Richard Pryor in an rare non-comic role) and a girlfriend Sally LeRoy (Diane Varsi). Those who think Hillary was bad, picture a First Lady wasted on acid 24/7. On the other side of the Generation Gap is Max's own mother (Shelley Winters), not exactly the couragious middle-ager Winters would later play in "Poseidon Advanture". Max's direct opposition is the crotchety Senator Albright (Ed Begley Senior--yep, the "St. Elsewhere" star is second-generation). The premise here is that the Older Generation has all the power, starts all the wars and sends their children off to fight them. Yes indeedy, the Boomer Liberal mentality is in full force--the Establishment runs the whole show and the have-nots get less than zero, any war America is in, we started, hey man, what a lousy country we got here. Sound familiar? So Max takes over by getting Sally elected to the Senate because she's over 21, they slip acid to the rest of the Senate and all the excesses of youth become required by law. I hope the producers of this flick didn't really mean it to be taken seriously because a lot of us airheads did just that. Kin yew say "wet behind the ears"? I knew yew could. You'll notice a "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" touch in the ending, which I won't give away here. It's probably the one scene in this flick that makes the most sense.

I can watch this movies over and over and over again and just "Listen To The Music" or really get into the movie and find the humor/satire. I can't wait until HBO/Cannon Video realizes "The Shape Of Things To Come" and releases this movie on DVD! Talk about a buying frenzy!!

A bit of video evidence courtesy c. 1967. It opens with a DavidLynch-like anti-LeaveItToBeaver docu-drama plea to the elderly (that is, those over 30 years old), to 'leave those kids alone!' The screenplay is peppered with rebellion (for the sake of rebellion), promiscuity (for the sake of promiscuity), and illegal actions (for the sake of...). Shakespearean trained actor Christopher Jones turns in a splendid psychopath-...-President who hypnotizes western civilization with the aid of LSD. Hal Holbrook plays it straight throughout as the greedy power-mad U.S. Senator willing to trade his offspring for a shot at THE BIG TIME. Prepping for THE POSIEDON ADVENTURE, Shelley Winters flings herself into the role of domineering mother with an undignified alacrity. That is, she's quite entertaining. A yuteful Richard Pryor plays a drummer-...-anarchist who would clearly rather be assembling pipe bombs and molotov cocktails in the privacy of his crib. The psychadelic score was not arranged by Georgio Moroder, but is none-the-less catchy and memorable. The climax is quite chilling (compare to "Green Eggs and Ham"), and is sure to leave the veiwer bemused. A three joint collectors alert, stow it away with Billy Jack, Barberella, and My Dinner With Andre, and you're sure to be a hit at the "RIPLEYS BELIEVE IT OR NOT FILM AUCTION 2100". Then, I have a copy in showroom condition. Take it for a c-note. ...