Review of Alice's Restaurant (1969) by Lanning : — 18 Mar 2008

Compare a film like Hair with this one, a tribute to and expansion on Arlo Guthrie's sometime anthem for America in the 1960s. For those who refer to Guthrie being portrayed as a "draft dodger," I think a second look might prove worthwhile.

In fact, the heart of irony in this story -- and there is irony around every corner -- is that Guthrie, through a series of bizarre and somewhat amusing happenings, finds himself in a position where the draft actually dodges him.

Because he is a litterbug who is caught, because he has appeared in court due to his littering, and because he is convicted of littering, Arlo is deemed unfit for military service. To say that this film captures and celebrates the spirit of the 60s is to do it a gross injustice in a way.

Irony rears its head throughout this movie, pointing to the devastation wrought by drugs upon the addicted and how "free" love actually can damage relationships. All in all, this is hardly a free wheeling laugh- or love-fest, and neither is it a wholeheartedly approving celebration of those freedoms of individuality, self-expression, and guiltless indulgence "enjoyed" by the "hippie" generation.

This film, coming out in 1969, is a very serious, although non-judgmental, end-of-an-era look backwards at the flower powered 60s. Perhaps the most heavily participatory and indulgent characters, Alice and Ray, played beautifully by Pat Quinn and James Broderick (Matthew's dad), are also the most victimized.

While the freedom of their lifestyle does not kill them, as it does Shelly, the hardcore drug-addicted motorcyclist, it certainly does nothing to bring them closer together in their marriage. There is a yearning in both to move their marriage to a higher plane, but from the beginning to the end, it is, ironically, their inability to make their love transcend the circumstances of their lives and lifestyles that gives the whole movie its underlying tragic tone.

This is well worth the watch. If only they could all, as the song says, get anything they wanted -- except Alice. This is a major stumbling block for husband Ray, who is ironically, in the end, one of those who cannot and does not really ever "get" her.