Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

info-16951 This movie might seem appealing to someone who didn't live through the era. Having lived through it in California, I can assure you that little was appealing about screaming students being wheeled away on ambulance gurneys and helpless, drugged girls wandering naked around my university campus after having been raped by various guys. This cynical movie is typical of Hollywood's exploitation of the self-destructive behavior of children and young adults. There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits. (More lines added to meet 10-line requirement: There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits. There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits. There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits. There was nothing beautiful about the period, and this movie revulses and dispirits.)

sonya90028 Susan Strasberg plays Jenny Davis, a young woman who runs away from home, and lands in San Francisco. Jenny's looking for her brother, an eccentric artist with a host of problems. Jenny is deaf, and has to struggle to communicate with those around her. She meets a hippie named Stoney, who is the leader of a psychedelic rock band. Stoney is touched by the waifish Jenny's situation, and offers her a place to stay. He also wants to help Jenny locate her brother. But that's easier said than done, especially since violent thugs are after Jenny's brother.The stellar cast of this movie, makes it the classic that it is. Jack Nicholson as Stoney, is in rare form. Even back when this movie was made, Nicholson's unique brand of screen charisma, was already evident. It's no wonder that he went on to become an acting legend. Bruce Dern also gives a notable performance, as Jenny's brother, Dave. Bruce deftly conveys the manic, electric energy, that radiates from Dave. Susan Strasberg did a good job of portraying the frightened, yet determined urchin, Jenny. But she doesn't shine as brightly as her co-stars do.The plot of this film is beside the point. It's really a celebration of the 60s counterculture, and the wild lifestyles of it's participants in Haight Ashbury. The stoned hippies, love-ins, psychedelic art and music, etc., were all the main focus of this movie. I was a youngster back in late 60s. So I knew how it was then, and this movie gives an accurate account of that time-period. That era was wild and thrilling, to say the least. I recommend this film, to those that want to see how off-beat the 60s really were. Especially if you're a Jack Nicholson fan.

ShadeGrenade I was not sure whether I would like this. I was possibly expecting another 'Zabriskie Point' - loud, long, pretentious - but instead came away pleasantly surprised.It was one of several '60's films to depict ordinary people losing faith with the materialistic world and joining the counter-culture, others include Peter Sellers in 'I Love You Alice B.Toklas', Bob Hope in 'How To Commit Marriage', and a fair portion of 'The President's Analyst' with James Coburn. But those were comedies, whereas 'Psych-Out' is ( depending on your point of view, anyway ) not.The late Susan Strasberg plays 'Jenny Davis', a repressed young deaf woman who runs away from home to join up with her brother Steve ( Bruce Dern ), who lives somewhere in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, calls himself 'The Seeker' and annoys locals by making anti-Vietnam war speeches. Jenny throws in her lot with a struggling rock band, led by the aptly-named 'Stoney' ( Jack Nicholson ). They indoctrinate her into their way of life. "Money?", says Stoney, "You don't need too much of it around here!". Jenny is soon wearing colourful clothes and sharing Stoney's bed. Their relationship is platonic at first, but she eventually gives in.In an amusing scene in a scrapyard, Jenny finds her brother's car, but then she and the others are ambushed by local men, who try to rape her. One of the hippies has taken L.S.D. and seeing the thugs as medieval dragons, beats the life out of them.I do not know how accurate a portrayal of 1968 this was. The only hippies I encountered that year were those student teachers from the local tech who came to school once a month to teach art. My friends and I liked them because they looked nice, were more cheerful than the regular teachers, and if our work was not up to standard, did not yell at us.'Psych-Out''s hippies are altogether in a different league, of course. But I liked the fact that they were not patronised. Indeed the non-hippies are the 'villains'. Drugs are on show, with at least two major characters experiencing bad trips; a man in an art gallery sees his friends as hideous monsters, and almost cuts off one of his hands with a power saw. The other is Jenny, given drugs without her knowledge by Dave ( Dean Stockwell ). Alone in the street at night when the hallucinations start, she sees the whole world erupting into flame.The film is well made, with good performances, particularly by Nicholson. Even here you could tell he was a star waiting to happen. Bruce Dern's 'Steve' is really creepy, his bad home life has driven him to drugs. You expect him to do something insane and sure enough, he does, committing suicide in front of his sister.The main flaw is the climax. Just how did Jenny get into the centre of a busy freeway whilst high on drugs? The film ends so quickly you wonder if the final scene was lost.Music by 'The Seeds' and 'The Strawberry Alarm Clock'. The latter's 'Incense & Peppermints' was re-used in the first 'Austin Powers' movie.An interesting film, overall. Certainly not a commercial for recreational drugs use, the opposite in fact!

jazzytina I love this movie! Jack Nicholson is so funny and so campy. The premise of the movie really isn't a comedy, and it ends on a depressing note (not too, though). The funniest part of this movie is when Jack and his "band" are performing and play a song that sounds like a bad Purple Haze knockoff. It's so funny to see him then and see him now. This is a great late-Saturday-night with popcorn and beer movie. Not as serious as Easy Rider. Jack is almost giddy throughout this movie. I thought the female lead in this looked a lot like the female lead in "The Savage Seven", but she's a different actress. Dean Stockwell as the stoned philosopher hippie is a riot, too.