Product Description

Studio: Uni Dist Corp (music) Release Date: 08/05/2003 Run time: 60 minutes Rating: Nr

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #82728 in DVD
• Brand: Uni
• Released on: 2003-08-05
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 56 minutes

From the Actor
o Film features soundtrack including previously unreleased Grateful Dead tracks o Original footage of Leary, The Merry Pranksters and the Grateful Dead o Includes narration by author Ken Kesey o Exclusive footage of Leary’s final "Cyber Chat" with Ken Kesey on the internet o Original Film Trailer

About the Actor
Dr. Timothy Leary was one of the most recognizable and influential icons of the turbulent 60’s and the counter-culture proponent once called "The most dangerous man in America" by President Nixon. A Harvard professor who pioneered psychology and consciousness raising and a self-proclaimed LSD guru, he led a controversial 30-year struggle, encouraging the nation to "Tune in, turn on and drop out."

Customer Reviews

Very very bad and cheasy..!!!!
As this story starts out, you get the excited feeling that you are about to witness an in-depth and expansive insight into Timothy Leary... suddenly a tall lanky kid (the son of an unknown Merry Prankster) leads you on a goofball idiotic history of the Merry Prankster 60's.. He talks to you like you are 7 years old and continually tries to sensationalize word, "LSD", like it is a mind shattering word that will just blow you over with the way he says it. His sensationalist attempt fails and just makes him look really naive and stupid.. You tire of the performance 5 minutes into the show. It seems obvious that the age group this is intended for must be the teeny bopper group. Timothy Leary is hardly in this movie, except for a few occasional places, it's instead devoted to Ken Kessey and his merry pranksters and everything they did in the 60's. They eventually meet up together near the end of Learys life and Kessey exploits the situtaion to steal the show with his "warrior philosophy" in which leary describes later as "I just played along" You get the feeling that most everyone who attended didnt really know who leary was, except that he was connected with l.s.d. in some way. Most had never read any of his work.. He must have secretly been very lonley towards the end.

Timothy Leary was a big brain, no doubt, just explore Exo-Psychology (a work that modern day psychology has never really been able to decrypt) He made some genuine and important contributions to psychology, he was a real pioneer and a Galileo of his time.. it's sad that he should be used in such a lame and cheap attempt to make some bucks or to fulfill the ego's of the those that missed the 60's and want to take advantage of a spotlight shining on a greater person.

A charming piece in the LSD puzzle
Some of the reviews here are surprising to read; anyone knowing Leary but not knowing Kesey & the Pranksters needs to go to the psychedelic library and work up a decent knowledge. As someone who's studied both Leary and Kesey extensively over the years (some of it documented at my "Feed Your Head" website at [...]), I found "Timothy Leary's Last Trip" an appealing, entertaining and occasionally arresting movie.

The first half is a recap of the early/mid-1960s LSD scene, when both Leary & Kesey rose to prominence. There's lots of Prankster 60s archive footage, some of which I didn't immediately recognize, and which may be unique to this feature. There's also some interesting old Leary footage, the bulk of it from a circa 1974 interview also seen in "Timothy Leary's Dead". There are some minor errors to the chronology and presentation, the most amusing (possibly a Prank?) assigning Wavy Gravy's name to a photo of Tiny Tim!

The second half of the movie concerns Leary's last trip, which turns out to be 2 trips -- one to a Hog Farm get-together in 1995, with some historically important footage of Kesey & Leary hanging out together. There's also contemporary interviews with George Walker, Wavy Gravy (looking great, like an old Polynesian tribe chief), and Kesey & Leary. Interspersed throughout is an interview with Leary from a studio (or his home), which I think is unique to this movie. There's some on-stage footage with Dead type music and Pranksters in costumes, and Leary giving the event his benediction.

Leary's "second last trip" is a meeting on Internet between himself and Kesey, shortly before he died. It's pretty amusing to see the funky connection and very old-skool Netscape browsers 10 years later. Not much of importance is said, it's mainly an exchange of greetings.

The director O B Babbs (Prankster legend Ken Babbs' son) appears as a narrator here and there, and does a good job; and his handsome male-model looks are no drawback. There's a certain student film feel to this, but those familiar with what's been coming out of the revived Prankster nexus in Oregon will recognize and enjoy the home-made charm. Sentimentality is present, and may have been given a boost by the passing away of Jerry Garcia around this time, but considering who we are dealing with, there's certainly room for, and a need for, documentation.

Like "Timothy Leary's Dead" this movie has some specific, minor flaws, but combining these two fan-oriented DVD features you get a terrific view of Leary, the modern (post-1960) history of LSD, and a substantial dose of the equally important Merry Pranksters.

An Historic Journey
This is a historic work of art about the counter-cultural changes of the nineteen sixties. The previously unreleased, live Warlocks (Grateful Dead) music makes you feel like you are going back to this magical time and place, and is worth the entire cost of the DVD alone.