Wild in the Streets

Nobody could crank'em out like AIP, nobody. Done on a surprisingly big budget, this is one of the company's most fun pictures. It is a classic portrayal of the late '60s and has a great script and performances. The songs are a lot of fun, and Les Baxter's delirious underscore, especially when Shelly Winters is sent to the LSD old folks home, is truly unique, proving him once again to be one of the most underrated composers working in films in the '50s and '60s.

Very much in and of its time. But outrageously good nonetheless. I truly enjoyed the acting by everybody involved--particularly Christopher Jones, Shelley Winters, Diane Varsi, Ed Begley, Sr., Hal Holbrook AND Richard Pryor. Also a significant key to the film was the music of the legendary songwriting duo of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, featuring what was, in my estimation, very unsung (excuse the pun) gems which rank right up with ALL their classics. Just as the recent political satire, "Bulworth", spoke to its times (which are still very much current, by the way), this movie does exactly the same thing. The clear-cut divisions of generationalism are clearly conspicuous in this film. This movie captured the spirited groove of the late '60s when youth was roaring loudly and taking a stand against the establishment. For anyone looking for a outrageous take of some of the events of the time, coupled with a hard, aching, laugh-out-loud reaction, this is as great a place as any to go.

I saw this movie in the theater a week or so after my junior year in high school. It was my first date where I was allowed to drive. The film received a lot of fanfare, aimed entirely at my generation. I went with high expectations and was of course disappointed. I think it was supposed to be some kind of Hollywood version of a social protest film, set in a slightly tongue-in-cheek spirit. It came off as just goofy. I thought it was goofy at the time, when I was 17 and almost anything designed especially for me I perceived as at least a little bit cool and hip. But not Wild In The Streets. Nope. Some folks might think it has acquired some kind of cheeky flavor to it that makes it a good film, you know, like Plan 9 From Outer Space is supposedly a good movie too. But nope, Wild In the Street is simply a below par film, and for that matter, so is Plan 9.

Wild in the Streets The problem with teenagers voting is that they loiter around the ballot box afterwards. However, the adolescents in this musical are more apt to through a dance party. Subversive since infancy, Max Frost (Christopher Jones) now fronts a successful rock group of astute teens (Richard Pryor, Kevin Coughlin, Diane Varsi) that Senator Fergus (Hal Holbrook) would like to partner with. But before he'll endorse the policymaker, Frost wants Fergus to lower the voting age to 14, or else Frost's fans will riot. Eventually, Frost uses LSD to win the US presidency and send everyone over 35 to internment camps. An outlandish cautionary tale about the social tensions affecting sixties youth, this cult classic may have some trippy ideas and seriously catching tunes, but its message of dissent is drowned out by all its bell-bottomed kitsch. Regardless, what good is the vote at 14 if you can't go binge drink afterwards? Yellow Light vidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

This is a dark satire of the late 1960's youth movement. Max Frost, a rock and roll artist, takes over as president of the United States. Everyone over 35 is taken to concentration camps. Some people will hate it and fail to understand it. However as a baby boomer, now aged 53, it packs a lot of power. There's an interesting twist at the end.

A film with the juvenile concept of the young people taking over the country takes the idea to some amusing conclusions. The aging members of the U. S. Senate are trying to convene session while stoned on LSD, and the center of the film, Max Frost, who becomes a rock star and President, finally sees his chance to get even with his domineering mother played by Shelley Winters. While it doesn't do much in its stereotyped portrayal of the 60's counter-culture, going a mile wide of any attempt at nuance or depth, it has a lot of energy and creativity. Directed by Barry Shear, who in the early 70's made ACROSS 110TH STREET.

This film is a time warp of Los Angeles and the Sunset Strip in the 1960's. At first sigthing on the FLIX Channel I thought the actor was James Dean. Uncanny resemblance. Richard Pryor as the drummer in a rock band getting high on LSD with topless white chicks must of been mind blowing for teenagers then. I missed this film totally in 1968. My parents probably made sure of it. To see Daily Variety columnist Army Archerd, and the greatest lawyer in the nation at that time, Melvin Belli, playing themselves in a film with a whacked out Shelly Winters was just amazing. The real night time Sunset Strip cruising footage of 1968 was really "far-out man".