Important 60s Films ~ recommendations

[Lanval]

Greetings all,

I am teaching a unit that is based on the 60s youth counter-culture. The core texts are:


Introductory Texts
Blowin’ in the Wind; Dylan (popular music)
The Know-Nothing Bohemians; Podohoretz (non-fiction essay)

Primary Texts
The Catcher in the Rye; Salinger (novel)


Concluding Texts
Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test; Wolfe (literary journalism)
San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in your Hair); Philips (popular music)

I would like to show a movie that is relevant and enlightening for my students. They are all foreign, and will have little to no context beyond what I can provide, and the texts listed above, and their English skills are such that long/difficult texts are impossible (for example, we'll read selections from the Wolfe book ~ I doubt they could read it all). I'm wondering what people might suggest as a good representative film for this period/idea.

I am considering using:
Easy Rider
Dr. Strangelove
The Wild Bunch

I'd like to see if people have other ideas that would be more accessible and interesting (I think Easy Rider is the only one of those three that I can really teach; the others need a lot of context/history to understand), and will link up with Catcher in the Rye more directly.

Also, if you'd like to suggest other short texts/songs, that'd be nice. I'm not sure I really like my choice of Dylan as the opening, but it seems appropriate.

Thanks,

Michael L

[satchmo]

The Graduate?

Tim

[Bleyseng]

Woodstock, isn't there a movie about it?

[Sylvester]

Full Metal Jacket. for the Vietnam War experience.

Dr Strangelove is great too.

Song would be If Your Going to San Fransisco.

[Elwood]

You must watch "A Walk On the Moon"

It has the music, feelings of the time and good coverage of real moon walk, Woodstock and how"America" was in the '60s ---ask me how I know---no don,t--- the memories are private

Barb

[SlowLane]

How about:
song: "Ohio" - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
followed by:
movie : "Nixon" (1995) - Oliver Stone

Or were you thinking of just telling them about the peace, love & drugs part?

I suspect Dr. Strangelove would be just too bizarre for them without the appropriate context.

[ruckman101]

There is a documentary of Kesey's bus run across the states that Wolfe's book made famous. Magic Trip.

http://www.magpictures.com/magictrip/

Although it might be overkill since Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is already on the roster.

Last night I started a documentary on Paul Goodman, author of "Growing Up Absurd". He is credited with being a huge inspiration to the student movement of the era that rose up.


neal

[Lanval]

Or were you thinking of just telling them about the peace, love & drugs part?

Not necessarily in those terms, I guess. The theme is "youth rebellion" and so I was thinking about something that responded to that concept. It doesn't have to be absolutely in those terms; for example:

I'm pairing The Great Gatsby(novel) and It's a Wonderful Life(film) as a way of giving them texts that pose a conflict between two American ideals. In Gatsby, it's Gatsby's real love vs. the money culture, and in Wonderful Life it's small town ethics (i.e. the "true" America) against the moneyed banker.

In both cases, I want them to consider that a fundamental conflict in our society is the opposing values that we deploy ~ often in America, that's about money vs. ethics (a tip O' the hat to Cindy for starting this line of thinking ~ I'm doing this in line with the idea that there are two Americas ~ Jamestown = money, Plymouth = ethics).

Consequently, it could actually be a film that pushes against the core text: Catcher in the Rye. That's pretty unlikely in the time period though. The other thing I'd prefer from the film is that it be a true period piece. I'm uncomfortable, as an academic, with presenting revisionist versions of history/culture to kids who lack the capacity to understand that revisionism in context. (Note: I haven't seen Stone's Nixon so I can't say how accurate it might be, though given that it's Stone...) Consequently, I'd be more interested in showing something that was actually a product of that time/place, and isn't tinged by later romanticism, bitterness, whatever. Take Forrest Gump as an example; while they would no doubt find it interesting, and certainly the story itself is compelling, it's a pastiche of the 60s/70s that is not actually a production of that period, and as such doesn't really respond to the social/political milieu of the time it portrays.

I've used the pairing of Starship Troopers book and film as a way of teaching that issue. The book is an honest and vigorous response to the Post-WW II era concern about citizenship and communism, written in the midst of that time ~ the 50's. Verhoeven's version becomes satire, because the sources of the book's anxieties no longer exist; post '89, the raison d'etre for Starship Troopers doesn't fundamentally exist. Which is why, when you watch the film, you'll see the officers' uniforms are modeled on NAZI uniforms from WW II, something that Heinlein, who served in the US Navy in the 20s and 30s would not doubt have resented had he lived to see it.

All of that is, essentially, to show you what my decision process and standards are based on. I'd rather show something that is difficult (like Dr. Strangelove) that is a true period piece than a post-modern homage to the period like That Thing You Do or Apollo 13 ~ good films, but not quite what I'm looking for. Ideally it would involve youth/rebellion. The age range of the kids is 16-18, so a little racy is OK.

I hadn't thought of the graduate, oddly enough. (I've never seen it, and yes I'm embarrassed about that) but it is the sort of thing I was thinking of. Is there any nudity in it, to speak of? I can't imagine it... I'll have to go watch it now. Keep the suggestions coming ~ I'm going to try and watch all of these over the next couple of months, so I can have a good sense of their value. And to amuse myself.

Thanks,

Michael L

[Cindy]

How come Catcher in the Rye for youth counter-culture? Can you tell me your line of thinking on that?

Cindy

[RussellK]

While I like all the films you've selected you might also consider "Wild In The Streets" as a candidate to illustrate the generational divide. I also remember a book "Only Lovers Left Alive" that was popular then. I don't think it was particularly well written (after all it has been 40+ years and I'm just happy I recall the title) but it too might illustrate the divide.
Best to you. Be sure and let us know how the class went.

You know some before and after photos of paricipants from that era would surely offer some comic relief. Hey Barb. Got any?

[whc03grady]

Maybe Bonnie and Clyde?

I'm curious as to the inclusion of Catcher in the Rye as well; most of its impact was in the 1950s, not 60s as I recall from the many things I've read about the book.

[Sylvester]

I'm curious as to the inclusion of Catcher in the Rye as well; most of its impact was in the 1950s, not 60s as I recall from the many things I've read about the book.

I have never read this, of all the stuff I have this was not one of them. To be in your later 40's and read it, I might rebel like Micheal's students if they read it?

[RussellK]

My wife just re-read it and was much less impressed than the first time years ago. Sigh. I think thats how it goes. A couple of years ago I was really enthused about seeing Easy Rider after 30 years had gone by and after 45 minutes of "Hey Man" snort "Oh Wow Man" snort "Whoa Man" snort I was sort of let down. I picked up a copy of Hoffmann's "Steal This Book" a while back and was like what the? You just can't go back, the scenery's all changed.

[Cindy]

I know what you mean, Russell. I've had that experience. But Holden will break my heart every time I re-read that book. It's his hope, I think, that gets me. (It's a sad and fragile hope, but beautiful.)

Cindy

[Cindy]

I'm curious as to the inclusion of Catcher in the Rye as well; most of its impact was in the 1950s, not 60s as I recall from the many things I've read about the book.

It took place in the 50s, but the disillusionment Holden felt led, in part, to the later social "revolution."

I asked about it because Holden struck me as a young man set apart--not willing or even able to identify with larger trends. He was dangerously introspective. He seemed to have lost his faith in society, in any form (culture, counter-culture, or otherwise). And the book itself was written as a human story--not a political message. Salinger wanted nothing to do with the effect it had on "the masses," God bless him. It's more soulful than a political movement could ever be.

Cindy