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[tab title="Movie Review"]

The Trip (1967) - Blu-ray Review

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2 beersWritten by Jack Nicholson, The Trip is director Roger Corman’s statement on the whole psychedelic scene of the 1960s.  It is more of an experience; however, than it is a film.  Much like Head, the trippy Monkees’ movie (which is far more interesting than it is given credit for being), The Trip is one long free-flowing journey down the LSD rabbit hole as Corman flexes his counterculture exploitation muscles. 

Opening with television commercial director Paul Groves (Peter Fonda) having to face the realities of divorcing his cheating wife (Susan Strasberg) while working on location, it could be argued that The Trip is how he reclaims his excitement for life and the many emotions he’s silenced due to heartbreak.  But you’ve got to dig deep to get to that plateau of understanding.

The surface level of this film – Groves deciding to take LSD for the first time with his friend and guide, John (Bruce Dern) – is so very attractive that it is bound to distract.  Add to that the feel good locations of the Sunset Strip and Laurel Canyon and you’ve got a cinematic cocktail that blends patterned lighting, photographic effects and body paint with the pop cultural “scenes” that spark the mind’s curiosity.

There are beautiful women (Salli Sachse being the main one) surrounding his trip; raucous music from Mike Bloomfield's Electric Flag and an appearance from Gram Parsons and the International Submarine Band; and even a young Dennis Hopper invades his psychedelic mood (as, interestingly enough, the sole calming force in the movie).  Unfortunately, you have to be hip to the whole nature of psychedelics to truly appreciate the movie.

As this movie is simply a drug-induced jaunt through southern California, it becomes a bit of a stretch to suggest there’s much of anything beyond strong hallucinogenic visuals and trippy vibes to Corman’s movie.  The main narrative thread is a loose one and, as the movie closes on the Paul’s acceptance of his emotions in the wake of an LSD trip, it merely suggests closure to the ultimate situation.

The Trip is an experiment in filmmaking.  Nicholson was encouraged to take risks with the narrative structure and he does.  Some of it works and some of it doesn’t.  Corman mixes trippy kaleidoscope visuals with bare flesh, close ups on faces and places, and truly lets the trip soak through the lens but doesn’t create much of anything outside of the mantra made famous by The Beatles. 

Turn off your mind.

Relax.

Float downstream.

The Trip makes its blu-ray debut courtesy of Olive Films.

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[tab title="Film Details"]

The Trip (1967) - Blu-ray Review

MPAA Rating: Not rated.
Runtime:
85 mins
Director
: Roger Corman
Writer: J
ack Nicholson
Cast:
Peter Fonda, Susan Strasberg, Bruce Dern
Genre
: Drama
Tagline:
Groovy Gravy!...The Trip is Out of Sight!
Memorable Movie Quote: "Right! But don't wallow, because it's fake and disgusting!"
Distributor:
American International Pictures (AIP)
Official Site:
Release Date:
August 23, 1967
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
March 2, 2016
Synopsis: Paul Groves (Peter Fonda), a television commercial director, is in the midst of a personality crisis. His wife Sally (Susan Strasberg) has left him and he seeks the help of his friend John (Bruce Dern), a self-styled guru who's an advocate of LSD. Paul asks John to be the guide on his first "trip". John takes Paul to a "freak-out" at his friend Max's (Dennis Hopper) pad. Splitting the scene, they score some acid from Max and return to John's split-level pad with an indoor pool. Paul experiences visions of sex, death, strobe lights, flowers, dancing girls, witches, hooded riders, a torture chamber, and a dwarf. He panics but John tells him to "go with it, man." Would you trust John?

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

The Trip (1967) - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - March 22, 2016
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles
:
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Region Encoding: A

A noticeably vast improvement over the standard DVD, Olive Film’s 1080p HD transfer has superb detail and bright colors with a good amount of pop to them.  The elements show some speckle from time to time, and a few brief scenes are a tad soft, but this looks to be inherent of the original cinematography.  It doesn’t appear that the picture has been tweaked or modified in any way, and the grain structure is well maintained.  The DTS HD 2.0 Master Audio track is fairly strong, delivering the dialogue and the guitar and drum driven score with nice clarity. 

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • None

Special Features:

None

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