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The Trip
[MGM Home Entertainment]
1967; color
Directed by Roger Corman
Starring: Peter Fonda, Susan Strasberg, Bruce Dern, Dennis Hopper & Salli Sachse
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First of all, I must admit I had some hesitation in taking this particular Corman feature on. Again. We attempted to watch it a few months ago -twice - and gave up because it seemed to be a nearly incomprehensible mish-mosh of disparate elements wrapped around a threadbare story. Bunny wisely suggested we watch it with Corman's commentary on this time around, and now I'm really glad I gave The Trip another shot. Because it made a helluva lot more sense once I got clued in on the machinations behind the finished product. Intended as a movie that would document an actual trip on LSD, the film tries to objectively show the "good trip" and "bad trip" aspects of acid without passing judgment; let the potential consumer decide for themselves is one of the underlying vibes Corman seems to be going for here. (It bears noting that the anti-LSD disclaimer at the beginning of the picture was added in by AIP, without Corman's knowledge or consent, after he turned in the finished product; needless to say, he was appalled by it's inclusion and still hates it to this day.) In it, Peter Fonda stars as "the tripper" (his character is a fairly straight-laced TV commercial director and this is his first experience with the drug) and Bruce Dern co-stars as "the guide." (It's implied but not stated that he's some sort of trip expert although he carries himself like a college professor or something; plus he's the one who scores the stuff from Dennis Hopper, who plays one of the more hippie-ish roles as "the dealer.") While the bulk of the film centers around Fonda's trip and all the adventures he has—both in reality and through hallucinations—all the ancillary elements become almost equal stars as Corman really stretches the capacity of just how much could be done in the late '60s with a low budget and a three-week shooting schedule. Once he explained all the effects and that the bulk of them were actually done live while the scenes were being shot, The Trip becomes a lot more than watching a stoned Peter Fonda try to comprehend everything from an orange on a table, a laundromat dryer and a nightclub on Sunset Blvd. Obviously this is not Oscar caliber stuff, nor was it ever intended to be but, if you're willing to hitch a ride without stopping to question things along the way, you wind up seeing one of the most unique films Corman ever created.
—the Kommandant
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