A humorous almost innocent short film starring the Beat poets, alas not Kerouac but the narration which he wrote and speaks is beautiful and funny. In my innocence I was amazed to see the group passing around pot (*I know it was tobacco!) on camera. Thankfully this time capsule is available for viewing online (Open Culture) together with a clip of the poets visiting an East Side bar, filmed at the same time.
15 Reviews
Beatnik manifesto?
JasparLamarCrabb13 September 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Robert Frank's 26 minute culture clash short captures Allen Ginsburg, Gregory Corso, Larry Rivers, and Peter Orlovsky on film and is probably the definitive movie on the "beat" generation. Narrated by Jack Kerouac (it's silent save for a hep music score), the film features Rivers as Milo, a railroad man and Delphine Seyrig as his wife. They invite the local Bishop over for a drink only to have him (and his sister and mother) mingling with Ginsburg and co. It's very interesting to see this time in literary history captured in such an unpretentious way while it was happening. An amusing and fascinating film that is surely a must-see for beatnik aficionados.
More for the Beats Than Anything
Screen_O_Genic17 March 2022
Perhaps the definitive Beat flick "Pull My Daisy" stars some of the foremost figures of the fabled Beat Generation from the literary genre's prime. Based on a play by Jack Kerouac the film is narrated by Kerouac himself as fellow Beat compadres Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and Peter Orlovsky chat, horse around and try to behave in a family setting. Friendship, familial interactions, music and intellectualism ("Is Baseball holy?") constitute the gathering. While not among the best shorts as this slow going and tedious affair will appeal to die hards alone the personages involved make it priceless and essential. Historical, charmingly pretentious and fascinating this is one every film buff and lit enthusiast should view.
A Radical Film that Showed Us a Movement- and Also Created One.
mr.smith-220 October 1999
"The first truly beat film" -Jonas Mekas
It is easy to say that Pull My Daisy is the epitome of "beat generation" cinema. It can also be said that Pull My Daisy was the first film to practice the radical beliefs of "The New American Cinema Group". After all the historical and analytical nonsense is done, you are still left with a film that is passionate, personal, and most importantly- a film that entertains while expanding your understanding of art and the artist within a movement.
Pull My Daisy is based on the third act of a play written by beat generation mastermind Jack Kerouac untitled The Beat Generation (which was changed because MGM had the copyright to Beat Generation because of a low budget B-movie made by the studio in the late 50's). The new title was based on a poem written by Kerouac, poet Allen Ginsberg, and Neal Cassady in a be-bop jazz meditation (jazz and meditation- two important aspects of the film!) The film takes place in a New york apartment and never leaves the apartment except in one dream sequence. The cast of characters reads like a who's who of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Curso, Peter Orvolosky (all of which retain their real names during the film). The film itself is beautifully narrated by Keroauc with a subtle be bop jazz soundtrack. The cast acts like themselves- substance abusing philosophers who sit in lotus positions contemplating life and art. The story picks up with the entrance of a bishop with his mother and sister. He is an outsider who enters this world of poets and must focus on their neo-buddhist rantings of "is baseball holy...etc.".
Where other films of "The New American Cinema" seem detached and unaccessible to the public- Pull My Daisy is an honest and almost affectionate portrait of the beat generation. This is the one film (with a possible inclusion of Cassavette's Shadows) of the movement that expands past the area of modernist-artistic riff-raff and tells a true story that is virtuous and right (yet highly symbolic and leaves the viewer questioning many aspects of life). Pull My Daisy is the shining star of the cannon of "The New American Cinema" and is a film that should forever be preserved for generations of alienated film makers and cinema fans.
It is easy to say that Pull My Daisy is the epitome of "beat generation" cinema. It can also be said that Pull My Daisy was the first film to practice the radical beliefs of "The New American Cinema Group". After all the historical and analytical nonsense is done, you are still left with a film that is passionate, personal, and most importantly- a film that entertains while expanding your understanding of art and the artist within a movement.
Pull My Daisy is based on the third act of a play written by beat generation mastermind Jack Kerouac untitled The Beat Generation (which was changed because MGM had the copyright to Beat Generation because of a low budget B-movie made by the studio in the late 50's). The new title was based on a poem written by Kerouac, poet Allen Ginsberg, and Neal Cassady in a be-bop jazz meditation (jazz and meditation- two important aspects of the film!) The film takes place in a New york apartment and never leaves the apartment except in one dream sequence. The cast of characters reads like a who's who of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Curso, Peter Orvolosky (all of which retain their real names during the film). The film itself is beautifully narrated by Keroauc with a subtle be bop jazz soundtrack. The cast acts like themselves- substance abusing philosophers who sit in lotus positions contemplating life and art. The story picks up with the entrance of a bishop with his mother and sister. He is an outsider who enters this world of poets and must focus on their neo-buddhist rantings of "is baseball holy...etc.".
Where other films of "The New American Cinema" seem detached and unaccessible to the public- Pull My Daisy is an honest and almost affectionate portrait of the beat generation. This is the one film (with a possible inclusion of Cassavette's Shadows) of the movement that expands past the area of modernist-artistic riff-raff and tells a true story that is virtuous and right (yet highly symbolic and leaves the viewer questioning many aspects of life). Pull My Daisy is the shining star of the cannon of "The New American Cinema" and is a film that should forever be preserved for generations of alienated film makers and cinema fans.
Desolation rebels
drjukebox14 July 2010
I, too was taken in by Kerouac's writing when I was adolescent. Free sex with willing babes, philosophy, drugs, travel, adventure, freedom to the max - what could be wrong with that? Why women would be interested in his lifestyle was less apparent to me. He could obviously talk for days and nights. Which together with his ability to remember conversations word for word for a long time makes me think of someone with a light touch of autism. Also the distance to others that is apparent in his writing. In the end he came across as a troubled and melancholy soul. This film gives us a rare view of the environment he spent part of the fifties in together with his chummy beatniks, where a myth was born (and is still being fed by some). You also get his voice over which runs the length of the film and is much like his writing. Endless associations and playful word games, stream of consciousness as they call it. One of the things that now puts me off is the negative depiction of women, in this film and in beat culture overall - unless they are the kind who are easily subordinated and available. Delphine Seyrig as the mother who actually feeds her son and takes him to school is the bad guy here. As is the Bishop's mother with her unamused expression - here you have them both, the mother and the wife from a beat perspective. Seyrig later went on to direct "Scum manifesto", no doubt fed up with a--holes like these jerks who never did the dishes. The talented David Amram wrote the score and plays some horn. He has called Kerouac a genius and one of the greatest of communicators, and I wouldn't mind having spent time with Jack. But I would rather have spent that time say, with Henry Miller, who was more joy than sorrow, and a better writer. Having said his, I too can feel nostalgia when I think of the beat era. I once went to a reading by Ginsberg and Orlovsky and was moved to tears and laughter like the rest of the audience. But, if you want the real story rather than the myth, read Carolyn Casady's "Off the Road" for starters. Btw, this film can be seen at google video.
"The Beat Generation"
tmv929 October 2002
One of the more quintessential displays of the era of Beat poetry and Bop music. Set in a NYC apartment, the movie is narrated by Jack Keoruac and portrays the life of an artistic 'family'. From painter, poet, and musician, the movie moves quickly without any particular place to go. It strikes at the heart of the movement and should be avoided by anybody who cannot stand the sometimes 'zoned' out babble of this generation. Enjoyable and short, the film fits a small genre of the American experience.
I'd rather pull the plug
Horst_In_Translation22 April 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Pull My Daisy" is an American 26-minute short film from over 55 years ago. It is in black-and-white and has sound. Directors are Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie and both are still alive around the age of 90 and above today. Writer is Jack Kerouac and he is also the narrator. And Allan Ginsberg is in the cast here too. I guess the inclusion of these two is the main reason why this little movie got picked up for the National Film Registry. I don't think it is deserving though as this was not a particularly great watch in terms of acting or storytelling. It was fairly forgettable in fact. It never really decides between comedy and drama and, as a consequence, is underdeveloped in terms of both. Also I found almost all the characters pretty boring and the way the narration went against the action was a pretty weak creative decision I think. It only hurt the overall outcome instead of setting it apart from the big amount of mediocre films from the 1950s. I do not recommend "Pull My Daisy".
A Beat Manifesto, a Great Movie
Eumenides_04 December 2008
Warning: Spoilers
A wife sends her son to school; friends of her husband stop by, smoke pot and read poets; the husband arrives; then a Bishop arrives to visit the wife. The evening is ruined, and the husband leaves with his friends. This should have been the most boring movie in the world!
This short movie contains all the elements that popular culture has linked to the Beats: the rebellious poets, the drugs, the attack on a passive society represented here by religion and the American flag. Kerouac and his friends have come to split the American society in half, as shown by the disintegration of the Milo family in the movie: the husband stands for the young Beats, the wife for order.
Pull My Daisy is an interesting work of cinema: clocking in at 30 minutes only, it condenses dozens of ideas into mere impressions and so gives the appearance of having a secret world struggling to break free. I think it's a sign of talent that Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie leave everything half said. In fact the continuous voice over narrative, by Kerouac, is simply void of meaning, merely enumerating what anyone can see on the screen. I think the people involved in the movie were too clever to realise the nonsense of this: are they saying language is dead? Or that it can't reveal anything beyond our senses? I'm still trying to find an answer.
As a beat manifesto this movie works. But when it attacks icons of social control I think it falters: everyone does it so often nowadays, it doesn't mean absolutely anything anymore. Still, I guess we owe this freedom to them.
What I really love is the innovative film techniques: the redundant voice over, the long travelling shots, the feeling of improvisation in the plot, the condensation of time. Modern cinema needs more of this. Until we don't get it, we can just re-watch Pull My Daisy.
This short movie contains all the elements that popular culture has linked to the Beats: the rebellious poets, the drugs, the attack on a passive society represented here by religion and the American flag. Kerouac and his friends have come to split the American society in half, as shown by the disintegration of the Milo family in the movie: the husband stands for the young Beats, the wife for order.
Pull My Daisy is an interesting work of cinema: clocking in at 30 minutes only, it condenses dozens of ideas into mere impressions and so gives the appearance of having a secret world struggling to break free. I think it's a sign of talent that Robert Frank and Alfred Leslie leave everything half said. In fact the continuous voice over narrative, by Kerouac, is simply void of meaning, merely enumerating what anyone can see on the screen. I think the people involved in the movie were too clever to realise the nonsense of this: are they saying language is dead? Or that it can't reveal anything beyond our senses? I'm still trying to find an answer.
As a beat manifesto this movie works. But when it attacks icons of social control I think it falters: everyone does it so often nowadays, it doesn't mean absolutely anything anymore. Still, I guess we owe this freedom to them.
What I really love is the innovative film techniques: the redundant voice over, the long travelling shots, the feeling of improvisation in the plot, the condensation of time. Modern cinema needs more of this. Until we don't get it, we can just re-watch Pull My Daisy.
Roman à clef
woesong23 August 2004
The background drama is interesting, I think, and not well known. Like Subterraneans, this story was transplanted from one coast to another.
The Cassadys lived in the scenic foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the neighborhood was gentrifying in the years they were there. Many of the cultural contrasts in Beat epics were actually suggested by the various Beats and Pranksters playing off against the ritzy neighbors in Monte Sereno. There really was a bishop and his wife visiting in the Cassady home one evening while Ginsberg and Corso were there.
Milo is a stand-in for Neal Cassady, of course, and the resentment and struggles against wife Carolyn are not made up neither. The rhythm of the commentary over the action is exceptional. I don't know where I have seen the like.
The Cassadys lived in the scenic foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and the neighborhood was gentrifying in the years they were there. Many of the cultural contrasts in Beat epics were actually suggested by the various Beats and Pranksters playing off against the ritzy neighbors in Monte Sereno. There really was a bishop and his wife visiting in the Cassady home one evening while Ginsberg and Corso were there.
Milo is a stand-in for Neal Cassady, of course, and the resentment and struggles against wife Carolyn are not made up neither. The rhythm of the commentary over the action is exceptional. I don't know where I have seen the like.
A Historical Piece...
glsabatier28 November 2005
Although this "short" is very hard to find - you are most likely going to have to hunt for a bootleg copy somewhere - it is worth the hunt for anyone who understands the historical context of the picture. It was the only film the beats ever made, and the highlights can are to be found in the narration by Jack Kerouac and the musical score (classical / be-bop / jazzy) done by David Amram. The themes are typical of the beats and of Kerouac - railroad brakemen, beer, poetry, pot.. etc, but in all seriousness this is a rare gem and gives a brief look into the consciousness of the beat poets / writers. Kerouac sounds drunk and probably is drunk, but that just adds to the aura and humor of the film.
On the Road--Again
Mr Roboto6 April 2002
Various "Beat Generation" luminaries hang out in a New York apartment. I usually couldn't care less about the Beats, but this short film is fairly absorbing, thanks mostly to Jack Kerouac's vibrant narration. It makes me nostalgic for the '50s, and I wasn't even around back then.
A Brickbat Cadillac
Mr_Bucket5 April 2020
The setting is unconventional (i.e a dirty cheap apartment), the characters are unconventional (i.e poets), the narration is unconventional (i.e the narrator provides the dialogue for all the players), the composition of the shots is unconventional (i.e the shot from the dirty apartment through the dirty window looking at characters on the street).
The dialogue is original (i.e "is baseball holy??), and a discussion of Buddhism.
The subtle way the narration echos the objects in the scene is a brickbat cadillac.
If you compare this film to conventional films you'll be disappointed. If you value a different creative mind with different creative methods you will be rewarded with original entertainment.
The dialogue is original (i.e "is baseball holy??), and a discussion of Buddhism.
The subtle way the narration echos the objects in the scene is a brickbat cadillac.
If you compare this film to conventional films you'll be disappointed. If you value a different creative mind with different creative methods you will be rewarded with original entertainment.
Question
BANsmokingBREEDdefiance2 January 2007
I just finished my kerouac biography and am still interested in seeing this film even though he was pretty much worthless as a human being in all practical terms. He is commendable in one thing and that one thing is that he had a passion, and while I believe everyone should have a passion, I'm not into the capitalistic approach of "copy, steal, and loved ones be damned because I'm all that matters to me" approach that feeds Kerouac's delusions(or perhaps not)of grandeur. Anyway, I don't mean to put him down too much. I still liked THE SUBTERRANEANS and ONE THE ROAD because no matter how whimsical the storyline may be, he comes up with valuable truths about life, relationships, and massive orgies!-My top three things to look for in a book-baby SOo-um-yah I would preferably like to rent the movie before I buy it and I've tried libraries, movie rental places(firstchoice&moviegallery), I've even tried ebay(withtherestoftheworld!)- with no luck. Anyone know who might carry it? I'd appreciate any point in the right direction-Thanks!
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
