Portland Public Library

Magic trip, Ken Kesey's search for a kool place, Magnolia Pictures ; History Films presents in association with Optimum Releasing, Imaginary Forces, and Jigsaw Productions ; an Alex Gibney production in association with Phoenix Wiley Ltd. ; directed by Alex Gibney, Alison Ellwood ; screenplay by Alex Gibney & Alison Ellwood ; produced by Will Clarke, Alex Gibney, Alexandra Johnes

eng

videorecording

Rating: Rated R for drug content, language, and some nudity

Magic trip

757559612

Magnolia Pictures ; History Films presents in association with Optimum Releasing, Imaginary Forces, and Jigsaw Productions ; an Alex Gibney production in association with Phoenix Wiley Ltd. ; directed by Alex Gibney, Alison Ellwood ; screenplay by Alex Gibney & Alison Ellwood ; produced by Will Clarke, Alex Gibney, Alexandra Johnes

107

Ken Kesey's search for a kool place

In 1964, author Ken Kesey and his friends, known as the Merry Pranksters, set out on a cross-country bus trip from California to New York to visit the World's Fair. They also decided to record it, with several 16 mm movie cameras and audio tape. Compiled from more than 40 hours of footage shot during the journey, it was the magical mystery tour--fueled by both the countercultural sentiments of the time and lots of LSD--that became legend. The participants were not beatniks, not-yet-hippies, but a group of preppy-looking partygoers, outfitted in red, white, and blue, whose traveling bacchanal zigzagged across the country. In those more relaxed times, the Pranksters encountered only sporadic harassment, as they spread low-key mayhem in Phoenix, New Orleans, Houston, and the Millbrook, N.Y. estate where Timothy Leary held court. The film record of this famous bohemian lark is uneven, befitting an unsteady (if borderline revolutionary) group in a time of widespread cultural upheaval

Ken Kesey -- The American landscape -- 25 feet an hour -- The LSD experiment -- Cuckoo's Nest -- Nothing lasts -- New Orleans -- New York -- The trip -- Strange situation -- Trip or treat -- End credits

adult

live action

Ken Kesey's search for a kool place