counterculture/hippie/drug films to watch

Two bikers head from L.A. to New Orleans through the open country and desert lands, and along the way they meet a man who bridges a counter-culture gap of which they had been unaware.

At a time of chronic civil unrest in late 1960s America, a young idealist and an anthropology student cross paths at Zabriskie Point in Death Valley, California. They start an unrestrained relationship by making love on the dusty terrain.

Consul's wife, Viviane took part in an expedition to New Guinea. She falls in love with Gaetan, the leader of a group of explorers, whose objective is to reach a mysterious valley.

Stefan, a recent college graduate, hitchhikes from Germany to Paris where he meets American expatriate, Estelle. They chase the sun to Ibiza. An idyllic island life degenerates when she introduces him to heroin and they get addicted.

Semi-autobiographical story of Conrad Rooks, who travels to France to undergo a drug-withdrawal cure. Flashbacks to the beginings of psychedelia in San Fran.

A disillusioned TV-commercial director is guided by his friend through an LSD trip, during which he evaluates his identity and his relationships with women.

Sexy hippie chicks Carol and Maureen get more than they bargained for when they hitch a ride with groovy hippie dude Chuck in his nifty mobile bus home. The trio get lost in the Florida Everglades following a fierce rain storm and embark on a startling spiritual journey of self-discovery.

"Punishment Park" is a pseudo-documentary purporting to be a film crews's news coverage of the team of soldiers escorting a group of hippies, draft dodgers, and anti-establishment types across the desert in a type of capture the flag game. The soldiers vow not to interfere with the rebels' progress and merely shepherd them along to their destination. At that point, having obtained their goal, they will be released. The film crew's coverage is meant to insure that the military's intentions are honorable. As the representatives of the 60's counter-culture get nearer to passing this arbitrary test, the soldiers become increasingly hostile, attempting to force the hippies out of their pacifist behavior. A lot of this film appears improvised and in several scenes real tempers seem to flare as some of the "acting" got overaggressive. This is a interesting exercise in situational ethics. The cinéma vérité style, hand-held camera, and ambiguous demands of the director - would the actors be able to maintain their roles given the hazing they were taking - pushed some to the brink. The cast's emotions are clearly on the surface. Unfortunately this film has gone completely underground and is next to impossible to find. It would offer a captivating document of the distrust that existed between soldiers willfully serving in the military and those persons who opposed the war peacefully.

A unique and controversial document of Britain in the 1960s. Avoiding easy answers, The Committee uses a surreal murder to explore the tension and conflict between bureaucracy on one side, and individual freedom on the other.

Film showing the effects of drug taking: hallucinations, etc.

After a film production wraps in Peru, an American wrangler decides to stay behind to witness the ways that filmmaking affects the locals.

Julian, content, meets friend Pablo's fiancée Elena. Obsessed with free-spirited Elena who rejects him. Pursues meek nurse Ana, tries molding her like Elena.

A deaf runaway is taken in by a psychedelic band while searching for her missing brother in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury hippie district.

Experimental allegorical story about a group of hippie students in Austin, Texas, who move into an old big house in the woods. However, something else is there and it's influencing them.

A gas is let loose upon the world that kills anyone over 25 years old.

After inadvertently ingesting some sugar laced with LSD, a man wakes up with amnesia and in the middle of a murder plot.

Rex Miller (Guy Madison) works with an organization out to stop a group of LSD traffickers, but he encounters a few problems on his journey.

An adventurous pair of hitchhikers decides to accept every ride offered to them. no matter how odd the driver might be.

A juvenile is mad at his mom so he leaves his home in San Francisco to join a charismatic LSD guru's cult in Spain and turns on, tunes in, and drops out. He also gets involved in murder.

A violent East London gangster undergoes a transformation of identity while hiding from his former colleagues in the home of a jaded Bohemian rock star and his two girlfriends.

At a Malibu rented house, a tennis hustler, a surfer and a musician enjoy a Bohemian lifestyle, fall in-love with an unexpected female visitor and fight off a motorcycle punk gang.

During the height of the Vietnam war, a hippie and a draft dodger get together and hatch a plan to flee to Canada. They steal a car and head towards Vancouver, but the trip doesn't go as smoothly as they planned, and before long they're being chased by the police, accused of murdering several police officers.

Jim Bolton, a well-off businessman from Chicago hears that his daughter is pregnant. Since he did not even know she was seeing anyone he fears the worst. His daughter and the father of his grandchild, marry shortly before Jim's arrival.

Jesus Christ is born again on Earth. But his father is a hardcore Southern Baptist, and during his teen years, Jesus rebels, joining a biker gang and leading an LSD-fueled pilgrimage to "the West" to fight "the establishment."

The use of dope is running rampant at a small college. Convinced the college's reputation is at stake, Professor Dr. John takes it upon himself to get the college's biggest user to go straight.