What Happened to Kerouac?
by Lewis MacAdams, Richard Lerner
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Actor: Fran Landesman, Gregory Corso, Herbert Huncke, Jan Kerouac, William F. BuckleyDirector: Lewis MacAdams, Richard Lerner
Brand: Uni
Producer: Lewis MacAdams
Editor: Nathaniel Dorsky
Producer: Nathaniel Dorsky
Producer: Eve Levy
Producer: Malcolm Hart
Writer: Jack Kerouac
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 96 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-08-05
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Shout Factory Theatr
DVD Reviews of What Happened to Kerouac?
DVD Review: Kerouac the Enigma
Summary: 4 Stars
I got into Kerouac by way of my interest in Neal Cassady, whom I can't really remember how I discovered. (I have yet to read "On the Road" but am familiar with Jack's prose style through spoken word recordings.) Anyway, I came to this doc more from an interest in the person than his work, which I think is common to a lot of people who love the Beats. Their personas are as much a part of their legend as anything they wrote.
That said, Jack looks like a troubled boy even in his best clips here, which are undoubtedly the earlier ones on the Steve Allen Show--probably in part because he was in what he perceived to be a sympathetic environment and therefore felt at liberty to indulge his playful and vulnerable side. He is in fact most touching as he reads excerpts from "On the Road". He is also a ruggedly handsome and charismatic figure, although his tendency for brooding and blustering is apparent even here. Far less flattering is his appearance on a later talk show, aptly titled "Firing Line" in which ,visibly drunk, he (understandably) reacts defensively and plays the fool to host William Buckley's cross examiner. This was only a year and a half before Jack's premature death from alcoholism, and he seems too beleagured with complexes to get out anything coherent. He seems to be trapped in a subjective hell wherein he believes everything and everyone to be part of some "organized effort to ignore him".
As a younger man however, his appeal--both personal and literary-- is obvious. He got American literature out of its stodgy rut, writing in bold, Hemingway-like strokes, blending narrative fiction with poetry off the top of his head in what was to be called "spontaneous prose". As one of his contemporaries points out in the interviews, this was a wildly adventurous choice to make in the fifties/sixties, from a man who could "write any way you want" but chose the road less travelled because that's where his passion was.
Neal Cassady is seen briefly in a clip filmed at A Different Light Bookstore, San Francisco in 1965. He appears with Allen Ginsberg, who is clearly enamored of him. Neal, as everyone knows, was Jack's muse/alter ego, the inspiration for the character of Dean Moriarty in "On the Road", and--according to many of his contemporaries--a kind of genius in his own right. However, nothing he says in this clip made any sense to me at all--and even Ginsberg seems at a loss to communicate with him. He too seems lost in his own head, trapped in some internal dialogue with himself. Still, it's easy to see how he could draw people in and inspire them. He had that alpha energy that makes things go. Mix it with good looks and charisma and you've got a cult! The cult of Neal. I think in some ways Jack was brooding because he wasn't Neal. Neal was the doer, and Jack was the observer/commentator, and one can never be the other, although each usually longs to be.
Carolyn Cassady--Neal's wife of 20 years, is unexpectedly good-humored and funny to listen to. Poor Carolyn was the anchor that kept Neal from floating into the outer stratospheres. Compared to Jack and Neal, her solidity and insistence on at least an operating level of convention make her a heavy in most books about the Beats, but it's clear from this interview that she was simply SANE. Pretty even in old age, with unbelievably beautiful blue eyes that still twinkle when she reminisces on Neal and her affair with Kerouac, she proves herself humorous, resilient and every inch their intellectual equal. She must also have been remarkably patient to deal with these two exasperating egotists, not to mention sporadic sexual meddling with her husband by Ginsberg. Somebody give this lady a medal!
In the end, this is a good doc for anyone interested in its subjects--it's a little heavy with talking heads and light on vintage footage, but all in all compelling, illuminating and worthwhile.
DVD Review: Kerouac Raw ...
Summary: 5 Stars
Not much exists in the way of documentaries about the father of the Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac. But it's not for a lack of interest for sure. I think the bulk of people that have seen this may have either rented it from a library or have seen it re-run on your local PBS channel. The quality of the film doesn't lend itself to the digital age very well, as the presentation of the interviews and the facts about the life of one of America's greatest writers is handled in a very film-school type of fashion.
I don't mean to denigrate this documentary at all with that last statement, but the quality of the presentation is just as rough as the actual archive footage. Only the presentation can be weighed in the sense of filmmaking, but in truth it is what it is. It's not slick, it's not polished, it's not even artful like the recent Bukowski Documentary, but it is fascinating, intelligent, absorbing and powerful to watch.
As most may know, Jack Kerouac drank himself into the grave in the late sixties, for reasons known and unknown. The weight he carried was a significant one that pushed him as deep into himself as he could go until his inner body could no longer sustain him. A lot of the troubled history of Kerouac is fleshed out as well as his stomping grounds, his old lovers, his daughter, some of his friends and other contemporaries.
The interview with Gregory Corso is a fascinating one to say the least and one can understand why the man decided to turn to teaching literature. The way he tells the stories and the stories themselves are powerful in his hands as he speaks highly and respectfully of Kerouac and in way in which a true friend who never left his side would.
This is a very touching and personal, albeit rough, look into the life and times of one of America's most compelling writers of the last age. While you may complain about the unmastered archive footage, you'll be amazed at the segment with Steve Allen, the interview with William F. Buckley, where Jack is drunk on air, and so on.
This is a very enjoyable and well worth the time spent.
... ...
DVD Review: Interesting Man Awful Documentary
Summary: 1 Stars
No one seems to mention how awful shot and Produced this Documentary is. From the lighting to the boring and overly long interviews this is a documentary in need of some good editing and a director who knows something about making an interesting film. It appears the director has no idea how to shoot an interesting and decent looking documentary. Just pointing a camera at poorly lit people and letting them ramble on with no editing does not make for an interesting film. It is said that a great teacher can bring alive even the most boring subject matter and vice versa. This film takes an interesting man and a fascinating time and make it into a complete snoozefest.DVD Review: I'll go on the road again
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not a fan of Jack Kerouac. . .yet.
I was disappointed, and I tried hard not to be, reading "On the Road". I found myself agreeing, and I tried hard not to, with Truman Capote who said Kerouac didn't write, he typed.
This film has made me give Kerouac another chance. (Will it be "Big Sur" or "Doctor Sax" or "Tristessa"?) This excellent documentary has convinced me that Kerouac was more than a drunk (Even though one of the most interesting scenes has a drunken Kerouac telling William F. Buckley to hurry the question up.) and more than a typist (There were scenes where excerpts of Kerouac's stuff--other than "On the Road"--were read during photo montages, first, of big city life and, later, of Lowell, MA.)
The film also shows how literate, articulate, and compassionate these original beatniks were. How can one listen to Allen Ginsberg here and not be impressed with his warmth and his storytelling, regardless of what one thinks of his persona or his poetry? These beatniks were not just a group of young adults in the 1940's fueled by chemicals and hormones. There really was (perhaps only at times) a seeking for spirit and beauty and truth.
May I correctly select, from Kerouac's other works, my next beat experience.
DVD Review: WOW! Great snapshot of the Beat Generation
Summary: 5 Stars
Of course there was no generation just a handful of writers and poets who all knew each other. After reading all the books about Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady and reading all the books written by Jack, Jan Kerouac, Carolyn Cassady, and Ann Charters I finally discover this little gem of a documentry. It's the first time that I've ever seen Jan Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Carolyn Cassady or William Burroughs on film. What a treat. If you don't know these people you'll probably be bored to death. But if you're a beat generation nut like myself, this is a real gem. Don't miss it.
Description of What Happened to Kerouac?
What Happened To Kerouac? is a lively and revealing investigation into the personal history and creative process of Jack Kerouac - father of the Beat Generation, author of "On The Road" and pivotal figure of the fifties countercultural revolution. This portrait shows us what happened when fame and notoriety were thrust upon an essentially reticent man whose influence is still felt all over the world.Features Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William Burroughs, Steve Allen, William Buckley, Charlie Parker, Neal Cassady, Carolyn Cassady, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure and Gary Snyder
Directed by Richard Lerner & Lewis MacAdams
Produced by Richard Lerner
Music by Thelonious Monk
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