MovieChat Forums > Neal Cassady (2007) Discussion > This is.....so very wrong.

This is.....so very wrong.

posted 17 years ago by FourthLittleBird
16 replies | jump to latest

I'm speechless. How can they do this? This is the symbol that the film industry is circling the rim of the toilet bowl, my friends. I understand that Hollywood is trying to, in some way, glorify a man that is probably one of the most influential people of the 50's and 60's...but Tate Donovan is not the way.

It's not even Tate that I'm pissed off about. It's the fact that...here were the Pranksters, doing something amazing...something MONUMENTAL...and here is Hollywood, trying so very hard to be a part of it.

Reality Check: The Pranksters were bigger than Hollywood ever will be. Wanna know why? They played by their own rules. They lived their lives. They changed the world. And here's some director trying to ride on the coat tails...

Well *beep* that.

What they did..what Neal did...what *beep* Ken Kesey did...is more than a script, and actors, and sets, and all that corporate big budget *beep*

How could someone let this happen?

You can't PLAY Ken Kesey and Neal Cassady, or even *beep* Mountain Girl (what the *beep* just can't PLAY Mountain Girl, ugh) and you want to know why?

The were characters already. The made their OWN movie..and they *beep* lived it.

This is *beep*
*beep* Hollywood.
*beep* The guy playing Ken Kesey..he's *beep* laughable.
*beep* all the other actors who even THOUGHT this was a good idea
*beep* the director.
*beep* Tate Donovan
*beep* the script.
And *beep* the money that was put into this movie
And people who pay to go see it.

I will not be one of them. I'm too in love with the real live Pranksters to watch some washed up actors play them on the big screen so they can make some money.
That's just...not how it works. Not with the Pranksters...not with Neal Cassady.

They're above this.
*beep*

I'm going to go cry now.

[–] FourthLittleBird 17 years ago

I think I might throw up a little too. I'll let you know.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] FourthLittleBird 17 years ago

Nope...just pro-Prankster.
I'm just uneasy about about them being...played by, ya know....not them.

It just feels wrong.
Feels like a sin.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's felt this way about a movie.
And you have to admit...
the guy playing Kesey...looks nothing like him.

I just don't think you can play characters like Cassady and Kesey, among others.

Sorry dude but it just feels wrong to me

And yes...they are my heros.
But I won't put them on a pedestal

I will tell you that I have become the person I want to be because of what they did...what they stood for...and how they viewed the world...

And, I'm sorry, but I'd rather see the real thing than some cheap knockoff.
So sue me. I guess we'll agree to disagree.

And I didn't kill Neal Cassady.
I'm 20 effing years old.

[–] McVict 17 years ago

I hear what you're saying, and I would agree, but...

the real pranksters are dead. And even if they weren't, it might be hard for eighty year olds to play their forty year old selves.

You worship the legends (and don't get me wrong, it's a righteous group to admire), but I think this movie is going to focus a lot more on their reality of their personal individual struggles, which could be pretty interesting.

And I think it's funny that a twenty year old thinks he knows/knew the pranksters, and thinks that they've shaped who he is. There aren't many twenty year olds that have really figured out who they are or who have permanently shaped themselves. No offense, it's just life and growing up for everyone.

I dunno, I just think you've blown it out of proportion, it's just one form of depiction. There are documentaries, books, magazine articles, and the film is just another opinion with another view of the story. Like it or not, it's just another art form, and maybe even an art form the pranksters would have supported.

Then again, we won't know. They're dead.

[–] FourthLittleBird 17 years ago

I'm a girl.

And you're right. I don't totally know myself.
I don't know them. I probably never will, although I'd like to...but I do admire them. And I owe them a lot, the dead, and alive ones..because they're not all dead.

And I don't want them to play themselves either.
I just don't want them to be imortilized by actors.
Like I said, it just doesn't sit right with me.

I'm just not going to see the movie. "Art form" or not.
That's all.

Jeez.

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] FourthLittleBird 17 years ago

I know. I was a little...upset when I found out. Maybe...the beeps weren't the best idea looking back on it now. I flew off the handle a bit, something that just happens sometimes.

I'm still not ok with the movie, the actors, the whole thing, but I fully understood what it was about when I first found out.

I told you that we would agree to disagree. I have just as much right to be upset about this movie as you have to be excited about it. I'm sorry if I offended you by the beep beeps.

I'm sorry, I was wrong to be so rude. I could have gotten my message across in a better way. :(

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] crouchend 17 years ago

This may be the only time I've seen civility on IMDB discussion boards!
I'm floored!
I find myself genuinely admire both of you here.
Seriously

[–] LorneMalvo 17 years ago

Well to paraphrase Kerouac in a very generic manner: the entire hippie movement was a whole lotta holler about a whole lotta nothing.

The Beats were what really meant something - they were the true gutter trash, the true outsiders, the true counterculture. When wealthy white college kids posing as communists start stealing your ideas, culture, terminology, lingo, and legacy, you know it's time to hop ship - and that's what Kerouac did.

Ginsberg and company were misguided and attempted to turn what was a very vibrant sideshow counterculture into a mainstream culture - something that violated the very tenants of what the Beats had previously so viciously opposed.

"My father was a man-that's the difference between him and (George W.) Bush."
- Ron Reagan

[–] Nearvana 13 years ago

"When wealthy white college kids posing as communists start stealing your ideas, culture, terminology, lingo, and legacy, you know it's time to hop ship - and that's what Kerouac did."

don't you realize that is a contradiction in terms? most of the original beats came from wealthy or upper middle class (at least) backgrounds? true gutter trash don't have the choice & have never known anything different. these guys chose to be gutter trash, which personally i wouldn't refer to them as gutter trash in the first place, even if they would refer to themselves in that way.

if they were alive today they would most likely be hipsters or hipsters that look down on other hipsters. in a sense they were the original hipsters, speaking present tense. i'm not saying that to be insulting, as many hipsters could be considered to be well read, intelligent people that could be more cultured than your average person. also, a modern day beat or hipster is most likely extremely liberal. however, while it is easy to ridicule them, they have their sheep just as all social groups do. my point being, beats are not gods. they are just people, as you & i.

while they have been influential authors, poets, artists, they had their faults...some extremely corrupt & victims of their own vanity. yes, they were an intelligent, observant, insightful group & they did strive to change the way people thought about things, but underneath all of that, was quite a bit of selfishness and pretension. had they not produced their works, how would we look back on them? underachieving losers? spoiled brats? with that said, going back to contradiction, a quote as an example: "Lucien Carr: Scratch a bohemian and you get a boy scout, not that I'm a bohemian... or a boy scout, but..." meaning a bit of both, taken from my aforementioned with this next addition, the beats were probably more moral than conservatives, as bohemians strive for peace, whereas a conservative would steal from the poor and send them to war.

so to counter all of the hype i give you this post. & i am quite liberal myself. i just feel our society places too much worship & adornment on celebrities. would the beats relish this? even if it goes against everything they supposedly stood for? hence my statement of 'victims of their own vanity'. it literally killed neal cassady. i can think of many other celebrities it has killed.

[–] Beginthebeguine 16 years ago

I am happy for the books and poems of the Beat Generation. On The Road and Big Sur are my favorites and as Jack wrote so I will remember them all esp. Dean, I mean Neil.

[–] mikes_parkinglot 16 years ago

Yep, it's an indie movie... artsy, refreshing, and nothing that remotely looks and feels like hollywood. My tip: keep an open mind about it and watch it. You might be very surprised... :-)

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] evdebs 16 years ago

It's getting into spring now. haven't heard anything about a release....anybody ???

[–] RRMasch 14 years ago

Hey There, I just saw it on Sundance Channel, it's 4 a.m. my blood pressure is through the roof and I know your post was three years ago, but my first responce was to retch, then weep, then get mad as hell. These are genuine American Heroes with warts and all. The Combine knows no shame!