Psych-Out
1968 Dean Stockwell
Psych-Out presents the hallucinatory world of the flower children as they parade up and down the streets of the Haight-Ashbury district of one of the country's most cosmopolitan cities, San Francisco. They barricade themselves in a culture all their own trying to forget the ills of a society which they diSaVOW. And for those who stumble into this psychedelic world it can mean a complete and utter transformation.
Jenny Davis (SUSAN STRASBERG ), a 17-year-old deaf runaway has come to Haight-Ashbury in search of her brother Steve ( BRUCE DERN). She finds her way into one of the many coffee shops jammed with hippies crowded together at tables. Among the many boys in the room are Stoney (JACK NICHOLSON), a sometime musician, Ben (ADAM ROARKE) and Etwood (MAX JULIEN), a Native cynic. Ben has taken notice of Jenny and without realizing that she is deaf is trying to get a response from tier when Stoney and Elwood move in to help her. At that moment two plainclothes- men enter the coffee house in
|
search of a runaway girl, and Stone having overheard their conversation and realizing they arc looking for Jenny, tries to take her under his wing. But Jenny refuses explaining she is looking for her brother and leaves. Later in the day the boys again see Jenny as she talks excitedly with a landlady and once more go to her aid. The landlady advises her that her brother left a month earlier without SO much as a forwarding address.
The boys take Jenny to a hippie clothes store so she can exchange her "square rags" for something more suitable to Haight-Ashbury and then to their large home where she is given her first introduction to communal living and the people who inhabit this world.
The next day. Ben and Elwood are called to a gallery where Warren (TOMMY FLANDERS) has gone on a freak-out. Jenny goes along and as she is about to leave recognizes a piece of sculpture as the work of her brother who is known as "The Seeker". The search for Steve leads Jenny and Stoney to Dave (DEAN STOCK-WELL) a close friend of Stoney's who resides in an air conditioning unit atop a building. Dave takes a liking to Jenny but is unable to reveal her brother's whereabouts. The search continues to an auto wreck yard where some young thugs are also looking for Steve. Their search, too, has proved futile, but a wild brawl ensues.
The following evening, after an argument with Stoney. Jenny goes out for a walk. Stone, alarmed at her absence, goes to look for her at the gallery and conies upon the missing Steve. He tells him of her existence in Haight-Ashbury and Steve promises to see her the next day.
True to his word, Steve comes to the Avalon where Stoney is appearing with the "Mumbling Jim" a musical group. He sees Jenny across the room, but is spotted by the thugs who have threatened to kill him and leaves in fright with his assailants in hot pursuit.
Meanwhile, Jennie is left with Dave who takes her back to Stoney's pad. She is hysterical when Stoney finds them there and Dave gives her a capsule of STP to calm her down. Unaware of what she has swallowed. Jenny runs out into the night once again in search of her brother who at this point, unable to lose his pursuers, has barricaded himself in his house in an attempt to burn himself alive. Jenny, coming upon the raging fire in a complete daze, wanders off into a heavily trafficked thoroughfare. Stoney and Dave come to her rescue, hut Dave, also in a trance, is killed in the attempt. Jenny and Stoney leave together, Stoney having realized his need for her and their mutual contempt for the world they will leave behind.
|
|
