Psych-Out
Encyclopedia
Psych-Out is a feature film about hippies, psychedelic music
, and recreational drugs, produced and released by American International Pictures
. Originally scripted as The Love Children, the title when tested caused people to think it was about bastards, so Samuel Z. Arkoff
came up with the ultimate title based on a recent successful reissue
of Psycho
.
Director Richard Rush's cut came in at 101 minutes and was edited to 82 minutes by the producers. This version is the one released on DVD. For some reason, when HBO Video released the film on VHS, they used the 101-minute director's cut, probably unknowingly, as they did not mention it on the packaging. The majority of the songs in the movie and on the original soundtrack album were performed by the Storybook. This credit is never mentioned on movie posters and articles. They were a local band from the San Fernando Valley.
) is a deaf runaway who arrives in San Francisco's
Haight-Ashbury district, searching for her brother Steve. She encounters the aptly named Stoney (Jack Nicholson
) and his hippie band "Mumblin' Jim" in a coffee shop
. The boys are sympathetic, especially when they discover that she is deaf and can only understand others through lip reading
. They hide her from the police and help her look for her brother. He has left his apartment with no forwarding address; she has only a postcard
from him which reads "Jess Saes: God is alive and well and living in a sugar cube". Meanwhile, the boys are trying hard to improve their music and get more visibility, and are approached by a promoter who says he can arrange for them to perform at "the Ballroom", clearly the Avalon Ballroom or the Fillmore West
.
The group discovers an artist friend, Warren (Henry Jaglom
), the man who designs the psychedelic posters advertising the band, freaking out badly in his gallery, apparently on STP
. He sees everyone, including himself, as walking dead
and tries to cut off his own (to him festering
) hand with a circular saw
. While they help him, Jenny notices a large sculpture resembling abstract flames in a corner and recognizes it as her brother's work. The gallery owner says the artist is known as "The Seeker", a kind of itinerant preacher
. He suggests that they ask ex-band member Dave (Dean Stockwell
) about The Seeker's current whereabouts.
Dave lives in the attic of a downtown warehouse. He is less than thrilled to see Stoney, but sympathetic to Jenny. The audience learns that Dave left the band because he felt they were too concerned with worldly success and "games", rather than serious focus on music for its own sake.
Dave's information leads the gang to a junkyard, where the mystery of "Jess Saes" is revealed; it is a sign reading "Jesus Saves", with some letters missing. The "sugar cube" slogan is painted on the side of a car which Jenny recognizes as her brother's. However, a group of thugs who frequent the junkyard accost the group and reveal that they have it in for The Seeker, for reasons that are never fully explained except that they dislike his street preaching and his themes of love and peace (perhaps they are Vietnam War
veterans). They threaten to rape Jenny. Violence ensues, and the group barely escape with their lives.
Jenny's friendship with Stoney has become sexual (she does not know that he has a reputation for one-night stand
s and a refusal to commit to or care about any woman). She attends a mock funeral staged by a large group of hippies, with background music by The Seeds
; the theme of their play is that death is not the end, and that love and a refusal to hurt others are what keep us alive. She stays with Stoney in a crowded old house, and finds that everyday hippie life is less than ideal. The residents are all involved in contemplation (with or without drugs), sex, sleeping, dancing, or decorating the place, but nobody cares enough to do any actual cleaning or maintenance. When Jenny tries to wash the mountain of dishes in the kitchen, she finds that the plumbing is broken, but everybody just continues dancing. Frustrated, she interrupts Stoney's band practice to inform him she is going to take a walk. He answers angrily that he has no leash
on her. Dave, sitting quietly in the next room, overhears this, and is clearly distressed at the way Stoney treats Jenny. Later, Stoney goes out too, concerned in spite of himself. He ends up at the art gallery, where he hears breaking glass and slips inside to see what is happening.
The Seeker (Bruce Dern
) has returned to the art gallery to pick up his sculpture. Challenged by Stoney, he pleads that the work should not be touched; it is actually not meant to be art, but a shrine
. He believes that God spoke to him and asked him to create the piece. Told that Jenny is looking for him, he is glad, but he feels it would be best not to see her yet; he is on drugs and wants to be sober
when they meet. He further explains that Jenny's deafness is pathological; their mother was cruelly abusive, and burned Jenny's beloved toys. Jenny was violently traumatized and apparently had a stroke; she was deaf from that moment.
The performance at the Ballroom is a success; Mumblin' Jim play, along with the Strawberry Alarm Clock
. Steve the Seeker shows up, hoping to see Jenny, but the junkyard thugs are also present (????) and chase him back to his home. Steve runs right behind Jenny without her noticing, since she hears nothing. The group throws a party after the show. Dave appears and remonstrates Stoney over his ambition for commercial success, as well as his cavalier treatment of Jenny. When Stoney saunters off with another woman, Dave stays with Jenny to console her. She sees him put some STP in his fruit juice. He offers himself to her, but Stoney charges in and angrily shouts at Jenny, calling her a "bitch". Heartbroken, Jenny accepts Dave's glass of fruit juice and drinks nearly all of it.
She tells Dave she was only trying to find her brother, and Dave pulls a note from his pocket: "God is in the flame," and an address. Jenny runs out and takes a streetcar in hopes of meeting Steve. Later, Stoney looks for Jenny, and he rouses Dave, who is tripping on STP
, to help find her. Half out of his mind, the Seeker attempts to enter his house, but the junkyard thugs pursue him; he eludes them and arrives in his room, where he lights a fire inside his shrine. Soon the entire house is ablaze. Jenny arrives to find a crowd gathering near the house; she runs in just in time to see him standing in the middle of the flames, absorbed in prayer; she calls to him and he sees her, but merely smiles and waves.
In her grief and confusion, she runs up to the roof, hallucinating
wildly of flames and explosions. She apparently jumps into a reservoir
. The screen changes to a scene with fire bombs heading towards Jenny barely missing her. Now, Jenny is suddenly standing in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge
, cars coming at her from both directions with their horns blaring. She has her hands over her ears, indicating perhaps that she has regained her hearing, although this is never explicitly stated. Dave and Stoney find her, and Dave, confused and impulsive from the potent psychedelic, runs onto the highway; he shoves her out of the way of an oncoming car and is struck and killed. As he dies, he murmurs that he hopes this, too, will be a good trip. Sickened and angry, Jenny tries to leave, but Stoney grabs her and pulls her into an embrace. The film ends with the two holding each other and crying, while an image of the mock funeral reappears.
Psychedelic music
Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...
, and recreational drugs, produced and released by American International Pictures
American International Pictures
American International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
. Originally scripted as The Love Children, the title when tested caused people to think it was about bastards, so Samuel Z. Arkoff
Samuel Z. Arkoff
Samuel Zachary Arkoff was an American producer of B movies.-Life and career:Born in Fort Dodge, Iowa to a Russian Jewish family, Arkoff first studied to be a lawyer. Along with business partner James H. Nicholson and producer-director Roger Corman, he produced eighteen films...
came up with the ultimate title based on a recent successful reissue
Reissue
A reissue is the repeated issue of a published work. In common usage, it refers to an album which has been released at least once before and is released again, sometimes with alterations or additions....
of Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
.
Director Richard Rush's cut came in at 101 minutes and was edited to 82 minutes by the producers. This version is the one released on DVD. For some reason, when HBO Video released the film on VHS, they used the 101-minute director's cut, probably unknowingly, as they did not mention it on the packaging. The majority of the songs in the movie and on the original soundtrack album were performed by the Storybook. This credit is never mentioned on movie posters and articles. They were a local band from the San Fernando Valley.
Plot
Jenny (played by Susan StrasbergSusan Strasberg
Susan Elizabeth Strasberg was an American film and stage actress.-Background and career:Strasberg was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of theatre director and drama coach Lee Strasberg of the Actors Studio and former actress Paula Strasberg...
) is a deaf runaway who arrives in San Francisco's
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
Haight-Ashbury district, searching for her brother Steve. She encounters the aptly named Stoney (Jack Nicholson
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph "Jack" Nicholson is an American actor, film director, producer and writer. He is renowned for his often dark portrayals of neurotic characters. Nicholson has been nominated for an Academy Award twelve times, and has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice: for One Flew Over the...
) and his hippie band "Mumblin' Jim" in a coffee shop
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
. The boys are sympathetic, especially when they discover that she is deaf and can only understand others through lip reading
Lip reading
Lip reading, also known as lipreading or speechreading, is a technique of understanding speech by visually interpreting the movements of the lips, face and tongue with information provided by the context, language, and any residual hearing....
. They hide her from the police and help her look for her brother. He has left his apartment with no forwarding address; she has only a postcard
Postcard
A postcard or post card is a rectangular piece of thick paper or thin cardboard intended for writing and mailing without an envelope....
from him which reads "Jess Saes: God is alive and well and living in a sugar cube". Meanwhile, the boys are trying hard to improve their music and get more visibility, and are approached by a promoter who says he can arrange for them to perform at "the Ballroom", clearly the Avalon Ballroom or the Fillmore West
Fillmore West
The Fillmore West was an historic music venue in San Francisco, California made famous by concert promoter Bill Graham. Named after Graham's original "Fillmore" location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, it stood at Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue and was formerly...
.
The group discovers an artist friend, Warren (Henry Jaglom
Henry Jaglom
- Life and career :Born January 26, 1941 in London, England to Simon and Marie Jaglom, Henry Jaglom trained with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York, where he acted, wrote and directed off-Broadway theater and cabaret before settling in Hollywood in the late 1960s...
), the man who designs the psychedelic posters advertising the band, freaking out badly in his gallery, apparently on STP
2,5-Dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine
2,5-Dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine is a psychedelic and a substituted amphetamine...
. He sees everyone, including himself, as walking dead
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
and tries to cut off his own (to him festering
Gangrene
Gangrene is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a considerable mass of body tissue dies . This may occur after an injury or infection, or in people suffering from any chronic health problem affecting blood circulation. The primary cause of gangrene is reduced blood...
) hand with a circular saw
Circular saw
The circular saw is a machine using a toothed metal cutting disc or blade. The term is also loosely used for the blade itself. The blade is a tool for cutting wood or other materials and may be hand-held or table-mounted. It can also be used to make narrow slots...
. While they help him, Jenny notices a large sculpture resembling abstract flames in a corner and recognizes it as her brother's work. The gallery owner says the artist is known as "The Seeker", a kind of itinerant preacher
Preacher
Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...
. He suggests that they ask ex-band member Dave (Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell is an American actor of film and television, with a career spanning over 65 years. As a child actor under contract to MGM he first came to the public's attention in films such as Anchors Aweigh and The Green Years; as a young adult he played a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and...
) about The Seeker's current whereabouts.
Dave lives in the attic of a downtown warehouse. He is less than thrilled to see Stoney, but sympathetic to Jenny. The audience learns that Dave left the band because he felt they were too concerned with worldly success and "games", rather than serious focus on music for its own sake.
Dave's information leads the gang to a junkyard, where the mystery of "Jess Saes" is revealed; it is a sign reading "Jesus Saves", with some letters missing. The "sugar cube" slogan is painted on the side of a car which Jenny recognizes as her brother's. However, a group of thugs who frequent the junkyard accost the group and reveal that they have it in for The Seeker, for reasons that are never fully explained except that they dislike his street preaching and his themes of love and peace (perhaps they are Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
veterans). They threaten to rape Jenny. Violence ensues, and the group barely escape with their lives.
One-night stand
Originally, a one-night stand was a single theatre performance, usually by a guest performer on tour, as opposed to an ongoing engagement. Today, however, the term is more commonly defined as a single sexual encounter, in which neither participant has any intention or expectation of a relationship...
s and a refusal to commit to or care about any woman). She attends a mock funeral staged by a large group of hippies, with background music by The Seeds
The Seeds
The Seeds were an American rock band. The group, whose repertoire spread between garage rock and acid rock, are considered one of the pioneers of punk rock.-History:...
; the theme of their play is that death is not the end, and that love and a refusal to hurt others are what keep us alive. She stays with Stoney in a crowded old house, and finds that everyday hippie life is less than ideal. The residents are all involved in contemplation (with or without drugs), sex, sleeping, dancing, or decorating the place, but nobody cares enough to do any actual cleaning or maintenance. When Jenny tries to wash the mountain of dishes in the kitchen, she finds that the plumbing is broken, but everybody just continues dancing. Frustrated, she interrupts Stoney's band practice to inform him she is going to take a walk. He answers angrily that he has no leash
Leash
A leash is a rope or similar material attached to the neck or head of an animal for restraint or control...
on her. Dave, sitting quietly in the next room, overhears this, and is clearly distressed at the way Stoney treats Jenny. Later, Stoney goes out too, concerned in spite of himself. He ends up at the art gallery, where he hears breaking glass and slips inside to see what is happening.
The Seeker (Bruce Dern
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
) has returned to the art gallery to pick up his sculpture. Challenged by Stoney, he pleads that the work should not be touched; it is actually not meant to be art, but a shrine
Shrine
A shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated....
. He believes that God spoke to him and asked him to create the piece. Told that Jenny is looking for him, he is glad, but he feels it would be best not to see her yet; he is on drugs and wants to be sober
Sobriety
Sobriety is the condition of not having any measurable levels, or effects from, alcohol or other drugs that alter ones mood or behaviors. According to WHO "Lexicon of alcohol and drug terms..." sobriety is continued abstinence from alcohol and psychoactive drug use...
when they meet. He further explains that Jenny's deafness is pathological; their mother was cruelly abusive, and burned Jenny's beloved toys. Jenny was violently traumatized and apparently had a stroke; she was deaf from that moment.
The performance at the Ballroom is a success; Mumblin' Jim play, along with the Strawberry Alarm Clock
Strawberry Alarm Clock
Strawberry Alarm Clock is a psychedelic rock band from Los Angeles best known for their 1967 hit "Incense and Peppermints". The group took its name as an homage to the Beatles' psychedelic hit "Strawberry Fields Forever", reportedly, at the suggestion of their record company Uni Records.They are...
. Steve the Seeker shows up, hoping to see Jenny, but the junkyard thugs are also present (????) and chase him back to his home. Steve runs right behind Jenny without her noticing, since she hears nothing. The group throws a party after the show. Dave appears and remonstrates Stoney over his ambition for commercial success, as well as his cavalier treatment of Jenny. When Stoney saunters off with another woman, Dave stays with Jenny to console her. She sees him put some STP in his fruit juice. He offers himself to her, but Stoney charges in and angrily shouts at Jenny, calling her a "bitch". Heartbroken, Jenny accepts Dave's glass of fruit juice and drinks nearly all of it.
She tells Dave she was only trying to find her brother, and Dave pulls a note from his pocket: "God is in the flame," and an address. Jenny runs out and takes a streetcar in hopes of meeting Steve. Later, Stoney looks for Jenny, and he rouses Dave, who is tripping on STP
2,5-Dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine
2,5-Dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine is a psychedelic and a substituted amphetamine...
, to help find her. Half out of his mind, the Seeker attempts to enter his house, but the junkyard thugs pursue him; he eludes them and arrives in his room, where he lights a fire inside his shrine. Soon the entire house is ablaze. Jenny arrives to find a crowd gathering near the house; she runs in just in time to see him standing in the middle of the flames, absorbed in prayer; she calls to him and he sees her, but merely smiles and waves.
In her grief and confusion, she runs up to the roof, hallucinating
Hallucination
A hallucination, in the broadest sense of the word, is a perception in the absence of a stimulus. In a stricter sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid,...
wildly of flames and explosions. She apparently jumps into a reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
. The screen changes to a scene with fire bombs heading towards Jenny barely missing her. Now, Jenny is suddenly standing in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay into the Pacific Ocean. As part of both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1, the structure links the city of San Francisco, on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, to...
, cars coming at her from both directions with their horns blaring. She has her hands over her ears, indicating perhaps that she has regained her hearing, although this is never explicitly stated. Dave and Stoney find her, and Dave, confused and impulsive from the potent psychedelic, runs onto the highway; he shoves her out of the way of an oncoming car and is struck and killed. As he dies, he murmurs that he hopes this, too, will be a good trip. Sickened and angry, Jenny tries to leave, but Stoney grabs her and pulls her into an embrace. The film ends with the two holding each other and crying, while an image of the mock funeral reappears.