MovieChat Forums > The Beat Generation (1959) Discussion > Very confused movie, a real 'trip to the...

Very confused movie, a real 'trip to the moon'!

posted 11 years ago by Clemencedane
2 replies | jump to latest

Is it a gritty crime drama about a serial rapist and the hard-nosed, woman-blaming detective who pursues the criminal? Is it a movie designed to capitalize on the popularity of "those crazy Beatnik kids"? Is it a propaganda film designed to make the Beat movement look ridiculous and meaningless? Is it an anti-abortion propaganda film? Is it an exploration of misogyny in attitudes toward rape victims? Is it a star vehicle for Mamie Van Doren? I suppose it's all of those and yet because it's all of them it's also none of them. But it was weird and interesting, funny and disturbing. Wouldn't have missed it.

[–] bradford-1 10 years ago

Yes, to all your questions! I was laid up in bed with a fever and watched this yesterday, I think my temperature rose! Louis Armstrong and band appearing in a dump that couldn't have afforded to pay their cabfare; Mamie VD and Ray Anthony (actually married at the time) tearing at each other in an uncomfortably realistic argument; a surprisingly frank debate on abortion that includes Patty Duke's dad; a mob of Beatniks cavorting in a ritual fueled by ????; and an undersea fight worthy of Lloyd Bridges.
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"

[–] Clemencedane 10 years ago

Oh yeah, I forgot the "Sea Hunt" outtake!