Jack Kerouac - King of the Beats
by John Antonelli
Our Price: $18.91
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.11 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD details
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD details
Actor: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, William S. BurroughsDirector: John Antonelli
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 78 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-04-15
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Goldhill Home Media
DVD Reviews of Jack Kerouac - King of the Beats
DVD Review: The King Of The "Beats"
Summary: 3 Stars
As I have explained in another entry in this space in reviewing the DVD of "The Life And Times Of Allen Ginsberg", recently I have been in a "beat" generation literary frame of mind. I mentioned there, as well, and I think it helps to set the mood for commenting on Jack Kerouac's bio-pic here, that it all started last summer when I happened to be in Lowell, Massachusetts on some personal business. Although I have more than a few old time connections with that now worn out mill town I had not been there for some time. While walking in the downtown area I found myself crossing a small park adjacent to the site of a well-known mill museum and restored textile factory space. Needless to say, at least for any reader with a sense of literary history, at that park I found some very interesting memorial stones inscribed with excerpts from a number of Kerouac's better known works dedicated to Lowell's `bad boy', the "king of the 1950s beat writers".
And, just as naturally, when one thinks of Kerouac then Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Neal Cassady and a whole ragtag assortment of poets, hangers-on, groupies and genuine madmen and madwomen come to mind. They all showed up, one way or another (under fictional names of course), in Kerouac's "On The Road". So that is why we today, in the year of the forty anniversary of Kerouac's death, are under the sign of his bio pic, "The King Of The Beats"
I have previously, in a separate entry in this space, reviewed a 1984 film documentary "What Happened To Kerouac?" that rated five stars. One reason for that rating was the almost exclusive use of "talking head" commentary of those still alive then who actually knew Kerouac, or had some primary connection with his biography and literary work. Another reason was the liberal use of film clips or audio tapes of Kerouac reading from his own works, most famously the last page from "On The Road" on the comedian/social commentator/ early talk show television host Steve Allen, who very deftly helped set the mood by accompanying the reading on understated piano. Obviously that documentary created a high standard for future efforts. While this production used that same Allen film footage to introduce and end this bio-pic that is where the comparisons end and the earlier effort proves more rewarding and gives a much better sense of the "beats", their idiosyncrasies, their madness and their struggle to survive in the cutthroat literary world. By comparison this film depends too much, much too much on staged reenactments of various scenes from Kerouac's life, some of which set my teeth on edge. It just does not work. So of the two "What Happened..." is the clear winner.
More Jack Kerouac - King of the Beats reviews:
1
1
Bestsellers in DVD
![The Story of Jeremiah [VHS] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
The Story of Jeremiah [VHS]Vision Video; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Wresting With God [VHS]by Vision Video
Vision Video; Published: 1990-10-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
Study Bible Video with Workbook [VHS]Spring Arbor Distributors; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
Tempo:Childrens TV Favourites Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $9.17
Price in other shops:
Tempo.Herbs:Parseley'Sb/ Party Video [VHS]HarperCollins Audio; VHS Tape; VHS Video
![Strike the Original Match [VHS] Image](/images/Strike-the-Original-Match-VHS-0001374079-X.jpg)
Strike the Original Match [VHS]New Liberty Films; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops:
![Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS] Image](/images/Medjugorje-The-Miracles-and-the-Message-VHS-0001373293-X.jpg)
Medjugorje The Miracles and the Message [VHS]JPN Film Production; Release date: 1995-12-15; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.99
Mayo Clinic Echocardiography Review Course for Boards and Recertification DVD 2008by Mayo
DVD
Price in other shops:
Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging DVD: Single Userby Oakstone
DVD
Price in other shops:
Cost Accounting [VHS]by Charles T. Horngren, George Foster, Srikant M. Datar, Howard Teall
Pearson Canada, Toronto; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
The Town and the Cityby Jack Kerouac
Mariner Books; Published: 1970-10-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.13
Price in other shops:
On the Road: The Original Scroll (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)by Jack Kerouac
Penguin Classics; Published: 2008-08-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.64
Price in other shops:
Kerouac: A Biographyby Ann Charters
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 1994-10-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.41
Price in other shops:
The Last Time I Committed SuicideMCA; Release date: 2005-09-13; DVD
Best price: $4.28
Price in other shops:
Gang of Souls: A Generation of Beat PoetsMusic Video Dist; Release date: 2008-03-18; DVD
Best price: $10.49
Price in other shops:
Beat Angel - the Spirit of KerouacRelease date: 2006-10-24; Published: 2006-10-22; DVD
Best price: $19.95
Price in other shops:
New York in the FiftiesKoch International; Release date: 2001-11-20; DVD
Best price: $13.48
Price in other shops:
The SourceRelease date: 2000-07-05; DVD
Best price: $43.23
HowlOSCILLOSCOPE PICTURES; Release date: 2011-01-04; DVD
Best price: $8.30
Price in other shops:
What Happened to Kerouac?Sony; Release date: 2003-08-05; DVD
Best price: $8.03
Price in other shops: