"reality's a scary place, i hope this trip is a good one"

I mentioned earlier the psychedelic cult classic Psych-Out, which has, coincidentally, become one of my favorite movies.

It stars Jack Nicholson (with a ponytail...ugh!), Susan Strasberg, Bruce Dern and other cool people.

Jack Nicholson and Susan Strasberg, as Stoney and Jenny, respectively.

Bruce Dern, as the Seeker.

Square Jenny gets hip to psychedelic uberdrug STP (a trip lasts 72 hours and, unlike LSD or psilocybin, cannot be ended or controlled...like "having the gas pedal strapped to the floor", as one character says) and, well, it doesn't go so great.

I probably wouldn't recommend it if you're not passionately obsessed with the Haight-Ashbury and hippies. If you are, you will be impressed to know that not only is the music of Strawberry Alarm Clock prominently featured, but the band itself makes a heart-warming cameo.

I love this movie so much that I am often moved to tears, but that's mainly because I would do anything to live in that time/place.

Jack Nicholson fans will be greatly disturbed by his ponytail, as I was when I first saw it. They will also be offended by his quasi-unvillainous role (his character is a jackass, but not a villain, as Jack Nicholson always should be) and disappointed in his obvious lack of hippie-ness, especially in the first scene where he awkardly raps* about acid.

Still, the movie has a special place in my heart and I felt it deserved a post.

* for those of you exclaiming "Jack Nicholson rapping!", please let me assure you I meant 'rapping' in the hippie slang sense, as in 'talking loosely and casually'