Beatific Vision
Heres a list of films about the Beat Generation to give you an idea what was going on with those counter culture poets, authors, thinkers, and just folk living in an anti-establishment way in the 40s, 50s, and 60s. I'm listing these in alphabetical order.
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- DirectorGary WalkowStarsCourtney LoveKiefer SutherlandLisa SheridanTwo murders that shaped the lives of several college students who went on to become some of the most influential writers of the Beat Generation.The early days centering on Lucien Carr, Joan Vollmer, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Boroughs, starting and ending with tragedies.
- DirectorMichael PolishStarsJean-Marc BarrKate BosworthJosh LucasA recounting of Jack Kerouac's three sojourns to the cabin in Big Sur owned by his friend, poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti.Another of Jack Kerouac's self narrative novels.
- DirectorJohn ByrumStarsNick NolteSissy SpacekJohn HeardThe life and friendship among the icons of the Beat Generation: Neal Cassady, Carolyn Cassady, and Jack Kerouac.This one is about the love triangle of Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, and Carolyn Cassady. Ginsberg is fictionalized as Ira.
- DirectorRob EpsteinJeffrey FriedmanStarsJames FrancoTodd RotondiJon PrescottAs Allen Ginsberg talks about his life and art, his most famous poem is illustrated in animation while the obscenity trial of the work is dramatized.The story of Allen Ginsberg greatest poem and how he came to be a Beat and the trial for the poem as obscene.
- DirectorJohn KrokidasStarsDaniel RadcliffeDane DeHaanMichael C. HallA murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs.Another retelling of the very early days in 1944 centering on Allen Ginsberg and the tragedy of Lucien Carr and David Kammerer.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsPeter WellerJudy DavisIan HolmAfter developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally kills his wife and becomes involved in a secret government plot being orchestrated by giant bugs in a port town in North Africa.William S. Borroughs' great work but mixed with a fictionalized version of Borroughs writing it.
- DirectorNoah BuschelStarsTate DonovanAmy RyanGlenn FitzgeraldThe story of what happened to Neal Cassady after Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" came out. Deals primarily with Neal's relationship to his fictional alter-ego, Dean Moriarty.Another telling of Neal Cassady's life, this time during his involvement with Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters in which he drove the magic bus, Further, for the group as they traveled the country attempting to raise consciousness.
- DirectorWalter SallesStarsSam RileyGarrett HedlundKristen StewartYoung writer Sal Paradise has his life shaken by the arrival of free-spirited Dean Moriarty and his girl, Marylou. As they travel across the country, they encounter a mix of people who each impact their journey indelibly.Jack Kerouac's great stream of consciousness novel about the Beats with Neal Cassady fictionalized as Dean Moriarty and Kerouac as Sal Paradise.
- An "In Production" (at the time of this list) film about the Merry Pranksters based on Tom Wolfe's seminal new journalism book about the adventures of Ken Kesey and his troupe and their acid tests.
- DirectorStephen KayStarsThomas JaneKeanu ReevesAdrien BrodyIn 1946 Denver, an aspiring writer who enjoys irresponsible adventures with his friend writes a letter about his life before and after the suicide attempt by his sad, commitment-seeking girlfriend.A dramatic version of Neal Cassady's letter to Jack Kerouac about his experiences around the attempted suicide of his friend Joan Anderson.
- DirectorRanald MacDougallStarsLeslie CaronGeorge PeppardJanice RuleA love story between two misunderstood new bohemians who don't even understand themselves.Another novel that's a fictionalized version of Jack Kerouac's and his fellow Beats' lives with a shocking interracial love affair is toned down in this adaptation that still was the first film to take the Beat Generation seriously instead of as a stereotype.
- DirectorKarel ReiszStarsNick NolteTuesday WeldMichael MoriartyA Vietnam veteran gets conned into helping an old Marine friend smuggle drugs into the country but ends up having to go on the run with his friend's wife when the deal goes sour.An adaptation of Robert Stone's novel, a fictionalized version of Neal Cassady as the character Ray Hicks.