Alice's Restaurant premiered in Boston on August 19, 1969,[citation needed] a few days after Guthrie appeared at the Woodstock Festival.[4] A soundtrack album for the film was also released by United Artists Records. The soundtrack includes a studio version of the title song, which was originally divided into two parts (one for each album side); a 1998 CD reissue on the Rykodisc label presents this version of the song in full, and adds several bonus tracks to the original LP.
Plot
In 1965, bohemian musician Arlo Guthrie has attempted to avoid the draft by attending college in Montana. His long hair and unorthodox approach to study gets him in trouble with local police as well as residents, so he quits school and hitchhikes back East. He first visits his ailing father Woody Guthrie in a New York City hospital, then performs music at various local venues.
Arlo ultimately returns to his friends Ray and Alice Brock at their home, a deconsecrated church in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where they welcome friends and like-minded bohemian types to "crash". Among these are Arlo's school friend Roger and artist Shelly, an ex-heroin addict who is in a motorcycle racing club. Alice is starting up a restaurant in nearby Stockbridge. Arlo composes a jingle for the business, which is then advertised on a radio station, bringing in the first wave of customers. Frustrated with Ray's lackadaisical attitude, Alice has an affair with Shelly and leaves for New York to visit Arlo and Roger, who are paying Woody another visit. Ray comes to take her home, saying he has invited "a few" friends for Thanksgiving.
The events of the song begin after Thanksgiving dinner, when Arlo and Roger offer to take several months' worth of garbage from Alice and Ray's house to the town dump. After loading up a red VW microbus with the garbage, plus a number of tools, they head for the dump. Finding it closed for the holiday, they drive around and discover a pile of garbage that someone else had placed at the bottom of a short cliff. They then decide to add their trash to the accumulation.
The next morning, Arlo and Roger receive a phone call from "Officer Obie", who asks them about the garbage. After admitting to littering, they agree to pick up the garbage and to meet him at the police station. Loading up the microbus with their tools, they head to the police station, where they are immediately arrested. Arlo and Roger are driven to the "scene of the crime", where the police are collecting extensive forensic evidence amid a media circus. A few hours later, Alice bails the boys out. At the trial the next day, Officer Obie anxiously waits to show the judge his many photos of the crime, but the judge happens to be blind, using a seeing eye dog, so he simply levies a $25 fine, orders the boys to pick up the garbage, and sets them free. They soon take the garbage to New York and place it on a barge. At the church, Arlo pursues a relationship with a beautiful Asian girl, Mari-chan.
Some days later, Arlo is called up for a physical examination related to Vietnam War draft in a surreal depiction of the bureaucracy at the New York City military induction center on Whitehall Street. He attempts to make himself unfit for military induction by acting like a homicidal maniac in front of a psychiatrist, but this gets him praise. Because of Guthrie's criminal record for littering, he is sent to wait with other convicts on the Group W bench. He is then pronounced unfit for military service when he comments on the dubiousness of considering littering to be a problem when selecting candidates for armed conflict, making the officials suspicious of "his kind" and prompting them to send his personal records to Washington, D.C.
Returning to the church, Arlo finds Ray and members of the motorcycle club showing home movies of a recent race. A high Shelly enters, and Ray beats him until he reveals his stash of heroin, concealed in a mobile he has made from spare car parts. Shelly roars off into the night on his motorcycle to his death. Joni Mitchell's "Songs to Aging Children Come" is sung at the funeral. The next day, Woody dies, and Arlo laments not visiting his father one last time. Ray and Alice have a hippie-style wedding and celebration in the church, and a drunken Ray proposes to sell the church and start a country commune instead while blaming himself for Shelly's death. Alice and Ray see off Arlo and Mari-chan in Arlo's microbus. Ray returns inside, while Alice silently stands on the steps and looks off into the distance.
The real Alice Brock makes a number of cameo appearances in the film. In the scene where Ray and friends are installing insulation, she is wearing a brown turtleneck top and has her hair pulled into a ponytail. In the Thanksgiving dinner scene, she is wearing a bright pink blouse. In the wedding scene, she is wearing a Western-style dress. She declined an offer to portray herself in the film.[5]
Stockbridge police chief William Obanhein ("Officer Obie") plays himself in the film, explaining to Newsweek magazine that making himself look like a fool was preferable to having somebody else make him look like a fool.[6] Judge James E. Hannon, who presided over the littering trial, also appears as himself in the film.[7] Many of Guthrie's real-life associates in Stockbridge made appearances as extras, and Penn, who himself had a home in Stockbridge,[3] spent time living among them in an effort to grasp their lifestyle.[8] Guthrie and all of the extras were housed at the same hotel during filming of scenes outside Stockbridge, but Guthrie received star treatment; a limousine was provided for Guthrie each morning while the others had to find their own transportation for filming. This strained the relations between Guthrie and his friends for many years.[8] Much of the film was recorded in Stockbridge.[3]
The film also features the first credited film appearance of character actor M. Emmet Walsh, playing the Group W sergeant. (Walsh had previously appeared as an uncredited extra in Midnight Cowboy, released three months prior.) The film also features cameo appearances by American folksingers/songwriters Lee Hays (playing a reverend at an evangelical meeting) and Pete Seeger (playing himself).[citation needed]
Differences from real life
The original song "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" that formed the basis for the film's central plotline was, for the most part, a true story. However, other than this and the hippie wedding at the end of the film, most of the other events and characters in the film were fictional creations of the screenplay's writers. According to Guthrie on the DVD's audio commentary, the film used the names of real people but took numerous liberties with actual events. Richard Robbins, Guthrie's co-defendant in real-life, was replaced by the fictional Roger Crowther for the film (in the song, he remained anonymous); he later described almost all the additions to the story as "all fiction" and "complete bull."[8] The subplots involving the Shelly character were completely fictional and not based on any real people or incidents in Guthrie's life;[9] his character's motorcycle club was loosely based on the Trinity Motorcycle Club (or, by a conflicting account, the Triangle Motorcycle Club), a real-life group of motorcyclists that associated with the Brocks and were alluded to in another Guthrie song, the "Motorcycle Song".[10] Mari-chan was also a fictional creation; Guthrie's girlfriend in the mid-1960s was English.[11] The film also has Guthrie being forced to leave a Montana town after "creating a disturbance" – i.e., several town residents object to Guthrie's long hair and gang up to throw him through a plate glass window. This never happened, and Guthrie expresses regret that Montana got a "bad rap" in the film. In reality, during the time of the littering incident and trial, Guthrie was still enrolled in a Montana college, and was only in Stockbridge for the long Thanksgiving weekend (he would drop out of college at the end of the semester).[7]
Alice Brock has spoken very negatively of the film's portrayal of her.[12] She stated in a 2014 interview "That wasn't me. That was someone else's idea of me."[10] Brocktook particular offense at the film implying that she had slept with Guthrie (among others) and noted that she had never associated with heroin users.[9] She also noted that the film in particular[5] had brought a large amount of unwanted publicity: "It just really impinged on your privacy. It's just amazing how brazen people can be when you're a supposed public figure (...) We sold the church at that point."[10]
In 2023, Guthrie admitted that he thought the film was "frankly, garbage" and "a terrible movie;" he walked out of the premiere screening, believing that Penn and Herndon drew the totally wrong message from the material and that, contrary to the nihilistic mood of the film, Guthrie's generation had indeed made a major difference. "Those values are not sixties values; they're eternal values."[11] Brock held similar sentiments in late 2022, noting that they may not have been successful in all of the things they had tried to change but had managed to accomplish much good in their lifetimes.[4]
Reception
The film has a 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 19 reviews, with a weighted average of 6.19/10.[13] In 2009, Politics Daily wrote that, "calling the 1969 film a comedy misses its noir backbeat of betrayed romanticism, and thinking of it as a madcap autobiography misses its politics. This is a movie driven by the military draft and the Vietnam War".[14]
Upon its initial release, Newsweek called the film "the best of a number of remarkable new films which seem to question many of the traditional assumptions of establishment America."[15]
When interviewed in 1971, the film's director, Arthur Penn, said of the film: "What I tried to deal with is the US's silence and how we can best respond to that silence. ... I wanted to show that the US is a country paralyzed by fear, that people were afraid of losing all they hold dear to them. It's the new generation that's trying to save everything".[16]
In being offered the opinion that violence is not so important in the film, Penn replied: "Alice's Restaurant is a film of potential transition because the characters know, in some way, what they are looking for. ... It's important to remember that the characters in Alice's Restaurant are middle-class whites. They aren't poor or hungry or working class. They are not in the same boat as African Americans. But they're not militants either. In this respect the church dwellers are not particularly threatening. They find it easy to live there, even if most people can't afford such a luxury. From this point of view, this film depicts a very specific social class. It's a bourgeois film".[17]
The final scene is not of a loving couple seeing off their guests, but of Alice standing alone looking into the distance, watching the guests leave, as if knowing that her future is in fact bleak with Ray.[18] Coincidentally, the real Alice and Ray finalized their divorce on the same day the wedding scene was filmed.[8] Arthur Penn has said that the final scene was intended as comment on the inevitable passing of the counterculture dream: "In fact, that last image of Alice on the church steps is intended to freeze time, to say that this paradise doesn't exist any more, it can only endure in memory".[19]Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune listed Alice's Restaurant as third best film of 1969.[20]
Arlo Davy Guthrie is an American folk singer-songwriter. He is known for singing songs of protest against social injustice, and storytelling while performing songs, following the tradition of his father, Woody Guthrie. Guthrie's best-known work is his debut piece, "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", a satirical talking blues song about 18 minutes in length that has since become a Thanksgiving anthem. His only top-40 hit was a cover of Steve Goodman's "City of New Orleans". His song "Massachusetts" was named the official folk song of the state, in which he has lived most of his adult life. Guthrie has also made several acting appearances. He is the father of four children, who have also had careers as musicians.
Stockbridge is a town in Berkshire County in Western Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 2,018 at the 2020 census. A year-round resort area, Stockbridge is home to the Norman Rockwell Museum, Naumkeag, a public garden and historic house, the Austen Riggs Center, and Chesterwood, home and studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French.
"Alice's Restaurant Massacree", commonly known as "Alice's Restaurant", is a satirical talking blues song by singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie, released as the title track to his 1967 debut album Alice's Restaurant. The song is a deadpan protest against the Vietnam War draft, in the form of a comically exaggerated but largely true story from Guthrie's own life: while visiting acquaintances in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, he is arrested and convicted of dumping trash illegally, which later endangers his suitability for the military draft. The title refers to a restaurant owned by one of Guthrie's friends, artist Alice Brock. Although Brock is a minor character in the story, the restaurant plays no role in it aside from being the subject of the chorus and the impetus for Guthrie's visit.
A biographical film or biopic is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudrama films and historical drama films in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a single person's life story or at least the most historically important years of their lives.
Alice May Brock is an American artist, occasional author and former restaurateur. A resident of Massachusetts for her entire adult life, Brock owned and operated three restaurants in the Berkshires—The Back Room, Take-Out Alice and Alice's at Avaloch—in succession between 1965 and 1979. The first of these served as the inspiration for Arlo Guthrie's 1967 song "Alice's Restaurant", which in turn inspired a 1969 film of the same name.
Douglas James Kershaw is an American fiddle player, singer and songwriter from Louisiana. Active since 1948, he began his career as part of the duo Rusty and Doug, along with his brother, Rusty Kershaw. He had an extensive solo career that included fifteen albums and singles that charted on the Hot Country Songs charts. He is also a member of the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, being inducted in 2009.
Arthur Hiller Penn was an American filmmaker, theatre director, and producer. He was a Tony Award winner, and was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Director, as well as a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, two Primetime Emmys. As a member of the New Hollywood movement, Penn directed several critically-acclaimed films dealing with countercultural issues of the late 1960's and 1970's, notably the drama The Chase (1966), the biographical crime film Bonnie and Clyde (1967), the comedy Alice's Restaurant (1969), and the revisionist Western Little Big Man (1970).
Clouds is the second album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released on May 1, 1969, by Reprise Records. After releasing her debut album, Song to a Seagull (1968), to considerable exposure, Mitchell recorded Clouds at A&M Studios in Hollywood. She produced most of the album and painted a self-portrait for its cover artwork. Clouds has subtle, unconventional harmonies and songs about lovers, among other themes.
William J. Obanhein, also known as Officer Obie, was the chief of police for the town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He was a member of the police force there for 34 years, 1951 to 1985. He is fairly well known for his appearances in popular culture.
Human Sexual Response was an American new wave band formed in Boston in 1978. The band broke up in 1982.
Hillard (Hilly) Elkins was an American theatre and film producer.
Alice's Restaurant is the debut studio album by Arlo Guthrie released in August 1967 by Reprise Records. It features one of his most famous songs, "Alice's Restaurant Massacree". A steady seller, the album peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard 200 album chart in March 1968. The album re-entered the chart in October 1969 and reached No. 63 in November of that year. Alice's Restaurant went gold in September 1969 and Platinum in October 1986.
Sky Londa is an unincorporated mountain community in San Mateo County, California located at the intersection of State Route 84 and State Route 35. The community is inside area code 650 and ZIP code 94062.
Rising Son Records is an independent record label founded in 1983 by Arlo Guthrie. The company has been located in the Old Trinity Church in Housatonic, Massachusetts since 1992. The church was home to Alice and Ray Brock, whose Thanksgiving Day dinners were the inspiration for Guthrie's 1967 song "Alice's Restaurant Massacree". Two years later the song was released as a movie by the same name. Rising Son Records offers Guthrie's complete catalogue of music, excepting the original Alice's Restaurant album, which remains under the ownership of Warner Music Group.
Hans Karl Maeder was an innovative educator who founded the Stockbridge School in Stockbridge, Massachusetts and served as its director and headmaster for 23 years.
A pickle is a food that has undergone pickling.
Stockbridge School was a progressive co-educational boarding school for adolescents near the Interlaken section of Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It operated from 1948 to 1976.
Alice's Restaurant: The Massacree Revisited is a 1997 album by American folk singer Arlo Guthrie. The album is a new recording of all material from the entire original Alice's Restaurant album, as performed live 29 years later at The Church in Housatonic, Massachusetts. The cover of this release also pays homage to its predecessor as it pictures Guthrie in the same pose as the original album: sitting shirtless at a dinner table with a napkin spread over his chest, holding his fork and knife and waiting for Thanksgiving dinner to begin. This time, however, he is without his hat and 29 years older.
Patricia Quinn is an American actress.
Oronoque was built as the country home of Birdseye Blakeman, Esq., and is located in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The building was designed by William Henry Miller and built by Powers & Sons, Rochester. The house exterior was built to resemble a royal hunting lodge. The 12-acre (4.9 ha) grounds were landscaped by Nathan Franklin Barrett.
References
↑ "All-time Film Rental Champs", Variety, 7 January 1976 p 46
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