Psych-Out: Richard Rush

When it comes to Hippie exploitation films, Richard Rush's Psych-Out is certainly one of the best. Unlike other examples of the genre like Roger Corman's The Trip (1967) which mistook general incoherence and incongruous narrative spontaneity as a means by which to depict the counter-culture, Psych-Out grounds itself with a simple story and well-defined characters. The film chiefly follows a deaf runaway named Jenny who travels to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district in order to find her brother who, unbeknownst to her, has gone off the deep end, become a drug-fueled "prophet," and renamed himself as the Seeker. Along the way she falls in with a struggling hippie band named "Mumblin' Jim" and Stoney, their curt, but well-meaning, guitarist. During their search they encounter a whole menagerie of colorful and burnt-out characters like a violent gang of pro-war thugs, one of Stoney's ex-band mates who has modeled himself as a kind of Native American/Hindu shaman/brahmin, and other human detritus of the counter-culture. The film boasts an incredible soundtrack courtesy of the Storybook, a wry yet satisfying performance by Jack Nicholson as Stoney, and a legitimately disturbing flashback scene that explains the cause of Jenny's deafness. Psych-Out is a solid film and a helluva trip, man.

7/10