I saw the film "Neal Cassady" at the Bearsville Theater Thursday night. It was terrible. There was no plot. It was confusing. I wish I could say the characters were one-dimensional, because that would be a compliment.
I walked out.
I might know a little bit more about Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady then some, because I have read a biography of Kerouac prepared by a man who gave his doctoral disseration on Kerouac, then published it as a biography. Cassady was a close friend of Kerouac's and the inspiration for Dean Moriarity, the character in "On the Road," Kerouac's literary masterpiece.
Anyway, the Cassady I have read about and heard about, FROM PEOPLE WHO KNEW HIM AND KEROUAC PERSONALLY, was larger than life, flailing his arms, holding several conversations at once, while driving a car in and out of traffic. There was none of this in the movie. I mean....It's obvious the filmmaker, Noah somebody, didn't even track down the thousands of hours of archival film footage taken of Cassady when he drove Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters around the country in that psychedelic bus. Has Noah whoever he is ever heard of Netflix?
And his portrayal of Kesey was downright insulting. I've met Ken Kesey. Shook his hand, I did. Come on, Noah. Do your homework. And thanks for nothing.
And by the way, now this is scary, but I would venture to say the general public will learn more about Neal Cassady from a news story, that I wrote, which will be published Sunday, Oct. 14, in the Poughkeepsie Journal, and online at www.poughkeepsiejournal.com, that analyzes Cassady. Let me know. Post your thoughts.
Wow. Did I mention how bad that movie was?
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1 comment:
I saw the movie too.
You missed the point of it, I feel.
It was poetic, dreamy, strange. Playing with the myth of Neal and America. Showing the ordinary aspect of "Superman."
Try not holding so tight to what you think you know.
Take care.
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