Barry Mahon did everything! From nudies (THE BEAST THAT KILLED WOMEN) to terror (THE DEAD ONE) to kiddie matinées (THUMBELINA) there was no genre this man left untouched. This 1970 movie was shot (mostly)at a theme park in Florida. It looks to me like Barry filmed an Iron Butterfly concert and wrapped enough framing footage around it to make it a real movie. Wait, did I just say "Barry Mahon" and "real movie" in the same sentence?
Well anyway, an 18th century pirate (speaking 20th century hippie lingo) walks out of the sea and speaks directly to the camera, saying "Gather ye 'round me hearties! We're gonna have a mutiny!" Getting a biker to spread the word he then casually strolls to the amusement park. Meanwhile the biker roars through the hangouts of the Flower Children and announces "Come on, it's a mutiny!" and the Love Generation all jump up and run to attend without even bothering to ask where it is. This is where Mr. Mahon pads the film (which turns out to only run 70 minutes anyway) with local bands. There is a Janis Joplin soundalike, a Melanie soundalike and groups with names like The New Society Band and Grit. People show up on bikes, in dune buggies and even in a garbage truck. Mini-subplots have a rich kid and his girlfriend who decide to attend the mutiny (in a chauffeur driven limo!) while the boy thinks about whether he wants to leave the safety of working for his dad and head out on his own. Oh, speaking of the rich dad. He is played by no less than Brad Grinter, the genius behind BLOOD FREAK, the story about a man with the head of a giant turkey who only drinks the blood of drug addicts. Another one has a kid who invents a new kind of soft drink and right away turns into a Capitalist. ("I'll charge $1 a drink. Then I'll raise it to $5. Soon only kings will be able to afford it and I will be the King of Kings.") Wow man, really heavy.
After more padding showing the kids arriving at the park and going on all the rides and even more garage bands we finally get down to seeing Iron Butterfly perform. There is one more plot complication with the Capitalist owner of the park who is, like, on some heavy Materialism trip man, stops the show when he realizes the old pirate (forgotten him hadn't you?) let all the kids in for free. Will peace, love and rock music save the day or will the Establishment triumph yet again? He man, make the scene for yourself and like totally check out this movie. It rocks! For myself, I never realised the uncut version of Iron Butterfly's signature song "In A Gadda Da Vida" was so long! I mean it runs for roughly 9 minutes but the crowd certainly seems to dig it!
This movie sat on a shelf for a long time because . . .well . . . the Hippie Generation ended! Now it has been rediscovered and the New Wave crowd can see what things were like when their parents were kids.
Oh and what about the rich kid and his girlfriend? Well let's just say they ride off to face the future while hanging on the back of a garbage truck. Is that, like, just totally symbolic or what?
Well anyway, an 18th century pirate (speaking 20th century hippie lingo) walks out of the sea and speaks directly to the camera, saying "Gather ye 'round me hearties! We're gonna have a mutiny!" Getting a biker to spread the word he then casually strolls to the amusement park. Meanwhile the biker roars through the hangouts of the Flower Children and announces "Come on, it's a mutiny!" and the Love Generation all jump up and run to attend without even bothering to ask where it is. This is where Mr. Mahon pads the film (which turns out to only run 70 minutes anyway) with local bands. There is a Janis Joplin soundalike, a Melanie soundalike and groups with names like The New Society Band and Grit. People show up on bikes, in dune buggies and even in a garbage truck. Mini-subplots have a rich kid and his girlfriend who decide to attend the mutiny (in a chauffeur driven limo!) while the boy thinks about whether he wants to leave the safety of working for his dad and head out on his own. Oh, speaking of the rich dad. He is played by no less than Brad Grinter, the genius behind BLOOD FREAK, the story about a man with the head of a giant turkey who only drinks the blood of drug addicts. Another one has a kid who invents a new kind of soft drink and right away turns into a Capitalist. ("I'll charge $1 a drink. Then I'll raise it to $5. Soon only kings will be able to afford it and I will be the King of Kings.") Wow man, really heavy.
After more padding showing the kids arriving at the park and going on all the rides and even more garage bands we finally get down to seeing Iron Butterfly perform. There is one more plot complication with the Capitalist owner of the park who is, like, on some heavy Materialism trip man, stops the show when he realizes the old pirate (forgotten him hadn't you?) let all the kids in for free. Will peace, love and rock music save the day or will the Establishment triumph yet again? He man, make the scene for yourself and like totally check out this movie. It rocks! For myself, I never realised the uncut version of Iron Butterfly's signature song "In A Gadda Da Vida" was so long! I mean it runs for roughly 9 minutes but the crowd certainly seems to dig it!
This movie sat on a shelf for a long time because . . .well . . . the Hippie Generation ended! Now it has been rediscovered and the New Wave crowd can see what things were like when their parents were kids.
Oh and what about the rich kid and his girlfriend? Well let's just say they ride off to face the future while hanging on the back of a garbage truck. Is that, like, just totally symbolic or what?