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Alice's Restaurant

Hollyfeld, here. Damn, has it been two weeks since I’ve written a Look Closer...? How time flies when you’re WORKING YOUR ASS OFF. Seriously, I have no ass right now. (That’s how much I’ve been working.) But that’s no excuse for my lateness, so I’ve decided to make it up to you, the readers, by making March a Theme Month. Why, you ask? Two reasons: 1. A specific mission will help me get off my (now non-existent) ass and write more, and 2. I have noticed an annoying trend in my reviews for this column.

Thus far, all but one of my reviews have been for films released in the Nineties. Now, this is not a completely unforgivable sin (I mean, cut me some slack... I spent most of my life in the Nineties), but it does seem a bit contrary to the purpose of Look Closer... Most movies in history were made before 1990, after all, and to overlook them seems more than a little hypocritical in my view. So, throughout all of March, we will only be looking at films made before the nineties began (although I may make an exception for some Oscar coverage), and we will begin with the little-known classic Alice’s Restaurant.

"You can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant."

Excepting Alice, that is. Alice’s Restaurant was adapted from the song "Alice’s Restaurant Massacree", written and performed by Arlo Guthrie. The song, originally eighteen minutes long, is pretty much a long monologue about Arlo’s real-life experiences during the sixties that eventually led to him being declared too immoral to be drafted into the Vietnam War. The humorous part of it all is that the worse thing young Arlo ever did was be arrested for littering, a story which takes up a bulk of the song and a large portion of the film.

But whereas the song Alice’s Restaurant begins and ends with his litterbugging experiences and how they affected him, the film widens its focus to encompass more numerous aspects of Arlo’s life in the sixties. It begins with Arlo’s attempts to (legally) avoid the draft by entering college, and then getting kicked out for, ostensibly, being a hippie. Eventually, Arlo moves in with Alice (Patricia Quinn) and Ray (James Broderick, Matthew’s father), who live in an old church in Massachusetts with some other friends. Alice’s Restaurant never fails to depict the lives of these people honestly and with complexity, particularly in the case of Alice and her love for her husband, and a recovering drug addict who stays with them.

Although the film maintains a somewhat whimsical nature throughout the bulk of its running time, there are certain moments when Alice’s Restaurant takes on a seriousness that reminds you that the story occurs in the real world of the sixties, and not some idealized version. It is genuinely heartbreaking when Arlo, not a care in the world, greets his friend come home from Vietnam, and notices that he has a hook for hand. "What’s that?" Arlo asks. "What’s it look like?" the friend replies. And the conflicting reactions of Ray and Alice upon learning that their friend, the recovering addict, has fallen off the wagon leads to a truly emotionally taxing sequence. Ray explodes with anger, while Alice explodes with love and sympathy.

Also particularly sweet is Arlo’s relationship with his father, the legendary singer Woody Guthrie, who is only seen in his hospital bed, paralyzed by a hereditary disease (which Arlo would later contract). Arlo is frequently called away from events of the main storyline to see his father, who is expected to die at any time. Although his father has no dialogue in the film, the relationship between father and son is clearly a very strong and loving one. To us music fans out there, perhaps the most memorable (and truly touching) scene in the whole film is when Arlo, along with Pete Seeger (playing himself), sing Woody’s "Car-Car Song" to him in the hospital room.

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But to everyone else, the most memorable sequence will probably be when Arlo finally has to sign up for the draft and get "injected, inspected, detected, infected, neglected and selected." The scene is a merciless satire (although I have been informed that it is mostly accurate) of the draft selection process. After Arlo takes a urine test, he is told that he has not provided enough for a good sample, and having none left of his own, asks if anyone in the bathroom has some they could spare. And of course, when Arlo sees the psychiatrist and tells him, flat out, that he "wants to kill. Kill! Kill!!!" and jumps up on the table. Then of course, the psychiatrist jumps up on the table with him, yelling, "Kill! Kill! Kill!!!" in four part harmony, with feeling (to paraphrase Arlo). Arlo is told that he is the kind of man the army wants, and that there is just one question... "Have you ever been arrested?" Arlo, never telling a lie, then explains the story of the Alice’s Restaurant Massacree. "Kid, did you ever go to court?" And Arlo continues his story until the officer, disgusted, tells him to go to the "Group W" bench, where they put those men who may not be moral enough to murder women and children in Vietnam. It’s a priceless scene, made all the more special by a small but priceless role played by M. Emmett Walsh (who apparently never looked young).

Alice’s Restaurant, directed by Arthur Penn (The Miracle Worker, Bonnie and Clyde, and who received his third Academy award nomination for his work), is one of the best and more accurate portrayals of the hippie lifestyle. While it obviously gives some preferential treatment to Arlo Guthrie, it nonetheless avoids glorifying the life of a hippie, showing the ups, downs, and different mindsets involved with the those individuals who embraced such an existence. And, according to my mother, Arlo Guthrie was REALLY cute back then (I don’t see it, but oh well). Alice’s Restaurant is available on video, but I strongly recommend the new DVD release instead, which features an excellent transfer, the full director’s cut, and a splendid commentary track by Arlo Guthrie himself. And get a hold of the song, too. It’s worth well worth looking for.

Next Time On Look Closer... Another Trip Back In Time!

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As always, Hollyfeld can be reached at hollyfeld_@hotmail.com

You there! You think you could do this job better than I can? Well, you might be right! Look Closer… is always looking for guest columnists, and you might as well be one of them. Just write a review of reasonable length for a movie that you think is under-rated, over-rated, no one knows, etc., and if it makes the grade we will print it in an edition of this column! Those whose reviews are published will also receive a free piece of (slightly cheesy and really inexpensive) promotional merchandise from a movie, to be sent when their review is published, courtesy of me. Just send any and all reviews to the above address. Thank you for reading and participating in the site!

Lazlo Hollyfeld is the pseudonym of an aspiring writer/actor/director located in Southern California. With one screenplay under his (collaborative) belt and more to come, he is sure to work his way up in the world with the help of his talented and close-knit group of friends, co-workers, and penguins. Yes, you heard me, penguins. A film student since before he can remember, he has devoted much of his life to the study of the silver screen and its related art forms.