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Alice`s Restaurant (DVD) |
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| Arthur Penn`s film, based on Arlo Guthrie`s famous song of the same name, takes an exuberant look at the 1960s counterculture, draft dodging, social intolerance, law enforcement, and the hardships of growing older. Like the 18-minute song itself, ALICE`S RESTAURANT follows Arlo Guthrie (played by Arlo Guthrie) as he gets kicked out of school and travels back east to visit his old friends Alice and Ray Brock. After a huge Thanksgiving feast, Arlo is assigned the duty of disposing of the garbage. When he finds the local dump closed, he tosses the mound of garbage over a cliff, which leads to his arrest for littering. When Arlo is eventually drafted into the army and is filling out the paperwork, he finds a simple question on the back of one of the forms: Kid, have you ever been arrested? Arlo quickly discovers that the U.S. Army has a very low opinion of litterbugs.The rambling song Alice`s Restaurant was Guthrie`s greatest success. The film version maintains the freewheeling spirit of the song while adding some new layers of character development and subplots, with Alice becoming a more central character to the story. Arlo Guthrie gives a fine performance as himself, and Pat Quinn is outstanding as the aging but bright-eyed Alice. Penn`s direction balances a wild, fun-loving spirit with frank seriousness to make for a multi-layered and moving film. |
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