Starring Arlo Guthrie, Pat Quinn, James Broderick, and Michael McClanathan
Directed by Arthur Penn
Music and Lyrics by various
Arlo Guthrie's epic folk song "Alice's Restaurant" debuted on his album of the same title in 1967 and was a hit, making it into the top 20 that year. It isn't Thanksgiving for many people without the twenty-minute folk song playing somewhere in the background before dinner. Penn knew the story more intimately than most, being a resident of Stockbridge, Massachusetts where the incidents occurred and having heard the full story from the real Ray Brock. How does the tale of how Arlo's attempt to help the owner of the title establishment on Thanksgiving turn into disaster look today? Let's begin at a college in Montana and find out...
The Story: Arlo went to college to avoid the draft, but his long hair and Bohemian lifestyle doesn't go over well in rural Montana. After run-ins with the local police and students who make fun of him for his looks, he finally hitchhikes to the East Coast. His first stop is New York, where he visits with his sick father Woody Guthrie (Joseph Boley) and performs in a few folk venues.
He finally heads north to Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where his friends Ray Brock (James Broderick) and Alice (Pat Quinn) live with assorted friends and hangers-on in an abandoned church. Alice has started a restaurant, which is popularized by a jingle Arlo writes for her. Alice is fed up with Ray's treatment of her and first has an affair with his friend Shelly (McClanathan), then follows Arlo and his friend Roger (Geoff Outlaw) to New York. Ray comes to bring her home, and she invites the guys along for Thanksgiving dinner.
The dinner itself goes just fine. Things go sideways when Alice asks Roger and Arlo to take garbage from the church to the town dump. The town dump is closed for Thanksgiving, so they drop it off on a cliff with other garbage. That gets them a visit from Officer Obie (the real officer, William Obanheim), who thinks they dumped a lot more than junk. Alice bails them out, and the blind judge (the real blind judge, James Hannon) can't see the evidence at their trial and gives the boys a fine and an order to find another place for the junk instead.
Arlo does briefly end up drafted for Vietnam, but he doesn't make it due to the littering conviction. He's free to return to the church with his new girlfriend Mari-Chan (Tina Chen), where things are starting to go haywire. Shelly's high as a kite and has been keeping heroin in the church. Ray's furious and beats him, but he runs off and dies in a motorcycle accident. Woody passes on as well, leaving Arlo regretful that he didn't get to say good-bye. Even Alice and Ray's wedding is full of regrets, as Alice wonders what she's gotten herself into.
The Song and Dance: You can't get much more "you were there" than a story that more-or-less happened as it's shown onscreen. Broderick and Quinn are probably the best of the cast as the sometimes-dynamic, sometimes-violent owner of the church and his strong-willed wife. There's some gorgeous shots of New York, Montana, and the Berkshire Mountains in Western Massachusetts as they looked in the late 60's, too, including that lovely old church. Penn's straightforward approach works well with the wild, frequently meandering plot.
The Numbers: Our first numbers are instrumental classical piano pieces, performed by a class at the Montana college. Arlo's teacher is offended by him playing a folk number instead of what the rest of the students are doing. He's much happier playing a jam session on guitar and kazoo with Roger, until the landlady and police turn up to ask questions. He plays "Car-Car Song" and "Pastures of Plenty" with none other than folk legend Pete Seeger in his father's hospital bedroom. Ray really gets into the traditional folk song "Boiling Cabbage Down" with everyone at the church, and they sing "Amazing Grace" after Thanksgiving dinner. "Alice's Restaurant"turns up on the radio as a jingle. Tigger Outlaw sings the Joni Mitchell song "Songs to Aging Children" as the members of the church lay Shelly in the ground.
Trivia: Though the film is based on a real incident, it plays very fast and loose with facts. The subplot with the Shelly/Ray/Alice triangle was fictional, as was Mari-Chan (Guthrie was actually dating an English girl at the time) and him being forced out of the Montana school (he was still attending it then).
What I Don't Like: The movie is too meandering for its own good. It bounces from incident to incident with no real rhyme or reason. Quite frankly...the story behind the song isn't nearly as compelling as the song continues to be. Gurthrie's sweet-faced and endearing, but also not much of an actor (especially compared to the magnetic Broderick) and comes across as too goofy or annoying at times. The treatment of Guthrie because of his long hair and lifestyle and the discussions of the Vietnam War and the then-current generation have dated this movie very badly. The slightly bitter worldview doesn't help, either.
The Big Finale: Recommended mainly if you're a huge fan of Guthrie or the original song, or are interested in movies from the late 60's and early 70's that go into some of the same themes.
Home Media: Easily found on DVD and Blu-Ray
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