Rant #2,380: Go Ask Alice

Yesterday, we spoke about the epic film "Midnight Cowboy," and how Hollywood's permissiveness beginning in 1968--when the movie ratings system was first used--allowed for such a movie to be made by a major studio and heralded as one of the best films of all time.

The film was rated X back then, and 50 years ago, in 1969, X was a legitimate movie rating, along with G, M, and R.

M, for mature audiences, was later replaced by GP, then PG, and later, it was joined by PG-13 and NC-17, the latter a movie rating that is rarely used, as it is thought to be the kiss of death to any movie that garners such a rating.

But back in 1968 and 1969, the X rating was reserved for Hollywood films that were thought to be too intense, sexually or otherwise, for the general viewing public. These movies were not pornographic, but what happened is that the adult movie industry co-opted the X rating for itself, with its movies attaining XXX status, and thus, the Hollywood rating of X became moot, and later was changed to NC-17.

Anyway, prior to the movie ratings being instituted in 1968, from the late 1950s through to the late 1960s, there were films being made not by the major studios, but by independent filmmakers who were obviously looking at the world through different glasses than the major studios were.

These movies, many in black and white, were looking at prostitution, homosexuality, drug use and other adults-only themes that the major studios wouldn't touch, couldn't touch, or at least, could not be delved into full throttle like these independent movies could do, with no censors hanging over their shoulders.

These films were never submitted to any legitimate movie censors, and for good reason, with lots of sex (nudity mainly), violence and other "perversions" that the censors would have wiped out in a moment's time.

Some of the most violent ones were called "roughies" for just that reason, and they are far more gritty than anyone would believe a film could be just prior to the launch of the ratings.

Many of these films came out of New York, and yes, they were very low budget affairs that used Manhattan as a landscape for their grittiness.

And many were nothing but exploitation films, pushing the envelope as far as they could without going right over the edge. Many of these films were shown in Times Square along with wholly sexual fare, and were resigned to the scrap heap when Hollywood started to cover the same taboo subjects.

But these films still exist, and some can even be found on YouTube and through outlets like Something Weird. I have to say that I have seen several of these movies, and they do provide a view of the world that is just so different than what Hollywood was putting out at the time that yes, they do appear almost quaint at this point in time, but also fascinating in their own way.

One such film that I recently watched was called "Alice in Acidland," which has a 1968 date on it but simply from the dress and hairstyles seen in the film, it was probably made in 1966 or so. It also goes under several names, which was not unusual for these types of movies, because once a film name was known, respective town boards would seize the film before it could be shown in their municipality. If they didn't know the name, they didn't know that it was a film that they didn't want shown in their environs; thus, a lot of these types of films have more than one name.

Following the formula of most of these films, you had the young, pretty innocent, whose life was full or cornbread and hay, who comes to the big city, in this case, to go to college.

This young pretty falls into the "wrong" crowd, and ends up being so hooked on dope that she cannot keep her clothes on, seemingly whenever this group gets together.

And who lures her into this life of debauchery and crime? Well, a teacher, of course, a lesbian woman in her late 30s or 40s who preys on pretty young things like this, gets them hooked on dope, and satisfies her needs for companionship and control all in one fell swoop.

This particular film, directed by Donn Greer and written by Gertrude Steen (no, not Gertrude Stein, and probably a pen name anyway for a male writer), starred Julia Blackburn as Alice, and Roger Gentry.

As was the norm for these types of movies, there is virtually no dialogue between the characters, just a narrator describing the action, which amounts to several scenes of topless women and men who only get down to their skivvies while they are making out.

The film, which runs for less than an hour but of which I have read that there is a longer version that actually features full frontal nudity but not of the XXX kind, is highly exploitative, but the black and white film's last five minutes or so are actually pretty good, as it follows Alice, now fully hooked on drugs, going through a drug trip.

The screen goes from black and white to color, and the 1960s color really hits you over the head, bright as can be with some camera tricks thrown in so you can almost join Alice as she goes through a trip that eventually sends her to the lunatic asylum.

But generally, the acting is terrible, the scenes go on and on without end, the sex scenes are as exciting as watching paint dry, and a movie like this makes Russ Meyer "bosoms" films look like "Gone With the Wind."

No, this is not "Midnight Cowboy," but this is what underground films were all about back then.

You can actually view this film on YouTube at https://youtu.be/FNotr3-Pruc.

Say what you want, but such a film, even though not of the high standards of Hollywood films of the time, does pack some punch, and certainly, Tinseltown directors, writers and producers were simply chomping at the bit prior to 1968, wanting to do similar films with better actors, better stories and bigger budgets, but the censors would not let them.

Once the movie ratings were instituted, independent filmmakers pretty much put out whatever they had to try to get the last gasp of these types of films, and certainly "Alice in Acidland" was part of this environment.

It would soon be totally replaced by Hollywood films that pushed the envelope, such as "Midnight Cowboy," and Times Square was then the bastion of XXX fare only.

It was an interesting time in cinema, and movies from this period are worth a look, if only to see the films that led up to the ratings system being created, and how Hollywood responded.