‘Sixties cinema” recalls pivotal period

Bill Knight column for Mon., Tues. or Wed., August 27, 28 or 29, 2018

This week is the 50^th anniversary of the Democratic National Convention at Chicago where police, protestors and troops clashed in what the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, headed by Illinois Gov. Dan Walker, later called a “police riot.”

Between two films that bookend Hollywood’s contrasting treatment of the ’60s – “Easy Rider” and “Joe,” starring Peter Fonda and Peter Boyle, respectively – are gems such as “Steal This Movie!” (with Vincent D’Onofrio as Abbie Hoffman, plus a fine soundtrack), “The Big Fix,” “Running on Empty,” Christopher Guest’s hilarious mockumentary “A Mighty Wind,” “Head (with a wild mix of the Monkees, Annette Funicello, Jack Nicholson, Frank Zappa, Victor Mature and Sonny Liston!), Zappa’s “200 Motels,” “Monterey Pop,” and “Medicine Ball Caravan.”

But here are a dozen movies offering a taste of those times.

“Alice’s Restaurant” (1969): Based on Arlo Guthrie’s rambling, 20-minute song, it stars Guthrie and James Broderick in a counter-culture slice of life: the military draft, marijuana use, communal living, etc. Arthur Penn directed.

“Between The Lines” (1977): Joan Micklin Silver directed this “dramedy” about the staff of an underground newspaper bought by a chain of more commercial publications. The cast is superb: Stephen Collins, Lindsay Crouse, Jeff Goldblum, John Heard, Marilu Henner, Bruno Kirby, Joe Morton, Michael J. Pollard, and Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes.

“Born on The 4th Of July” (1989): Tom Cruise is tremendous as real-life Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic in this movie about the anti-war movement and Vietnam Veterans Against the War. Directed by Oliver Stone, it co-stars Kyra Sedgwick.

“Conspiracy” The Trial of The Chicago 8” (1985): This docudrama based on transcripts from the infamous trial of radicals accused of conspiring against Democrats’ 1968 convention stars Peter Boyle, Robert Carradine Elliott Gould, Robert Loggia and Martin Sheen. Truth sometimes IS stranger than fiction.

“Malcolm X” (1992): Spike Lee’s biopic on Malcolm X stars Denzel Washington in a sweeping epic about the rise of a man, of African-American pride, of “Black Muslims,” and of a movement. It co-stars Angela Bassett and Lonette McKee.

“Medium Cool” (1969): This stars Robert Forster, Verna Bloom and Peter Bonerz in a tale about journalists trying to stay detached while embroiled in an emotional story -- here, the 1968 convention (where much of it was filmed -- during demonstrations).

“Panther” (1995): Mario Van Peebles directed this dramatization of the early days of the Black Panther Party and its struggle against police violence and racism. Starring Courtney B. Vance as Bobby Seale, the over-simplified film is sympathetic, but stresses armed conflict rather than Panther programs like health clinics and free breakfasts. It features Joe Don Baker and small roles by Dick Gregory and Chris Rock.

“Return of The Secaucus Seven” (1980): Writer/actor John Sayles’ directing debut is about friends who reunite 10 years after their arrest en route to a demonstration. The ex-radicals find the years to have matured some, and left others unchanged. (It shows that 1983’s “Big Chill” was very derivative.)

“The Revolutionary” (1970): Just after “Midnight Cowboy,” Jon Voight starred here as a college man drawn into the role of a political revolutionary. It co-stars Robert Duvall, plus Gene Barry and Harry Guardino.

“The Strawberry Statement” (1970): Bruce Davison stars as an uninvolved Columbia University student who gets caught up in campus dissent in the film based on James Simon Kunen’s book. Bob Balaban, Bud Cort and Kim Darby co-star.

“Wild in the Streets” (1968): An early film appearance by Peoria native Richard Pryor was as a black militant in this memorable, offbeat film, part political satire and part shameless youth exploitation, with a few good songs and an Oscar nomination (for editing). Pryor, still a young stand-up comic then, had a supporting role as Stanley X, a radical, guitarist, anthropologist (author of “The Aborigine Cookbook”). He’s part of the inner circle of Max Frost (Christopher Jones), a rock star who provokes a revolution by exploiting a liberal politician’s proposal to lower the vote to 18. Frost backs his idea – if it’s lowered to 14. Government is intimidated by mass civil disobedience, the voting age drops, and Frost becomes president. It co-stars Shelley Winters, Ed Begley and Hal Holbrook, with cameos by Dick Clark and lawyer Melvin Belli.

“Woodstock” (1970). This high-energy account of the “three days of peace and music” in upstate New York in August of 1969 shows not just music, but some of the 500,000 people there, capturing some of the era’s feelings of hope and idealism, with Joan Baez; Joe Cocker; Country Joe & the Fish; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Jefferson Airplane; Santana; Sly and the Family Stone; the Who, etc.