Attack of the B's!

The Trip (1967), Roger Corman

If you felt that you had to have a dude spot you while you were tripping, wouldn't you want it to be Bruce Dern? That beard, that voice... soooo soooothing. There's NO WAY you could possibly have a bad trip, right? Not if you're Paul Groves (Peter Fonda), a stressed-to-the-max commercial director in the midst of a soul-crushing divorce.

Things start off well enough. Paul asks his acid guru pal John (Dern) if he can assist him in his quest for mind expansion, so John takes Paul over to Max's (played by Dennis Hopper!) fully stocked and tricked out hippie pad. Paul's trip begins as a mighty good one, until bad thoughts start creeping in. He begins to see death, torture, and various unsavory-looking people. He freaks out and runs around the streets of Los Angeles. Can John catch up to him before he, I don't know... jumps off a bridge?

Not much plot to speak of here, as 90% of the movie consists of Paul's hallucinations. I couldn't decide if it was supposed to be for or against acid, so it's definitely not calling morals into play, as most drug movies do. It was written by Jack Nicholson(!), and he, Roger Corman, Peter Fonda, and Dennis Hopper participated in a group trip before production started. They really don't make movies like this anymore.

Grade: B+