Counterculture
Unconventional appearance, music, drugs, communitarian experiments, and sexual liberation were hallmarks of the sixties counterculture, most of whose members were white, middle-class young Americans. To some Americans, these attributes reflected American ideals of free speech, equality, and pursuit of happiness. Other people saw the counterculture as self-indulgent, pointlessly rebellious, unpatriotic, and destructive of America's moral order. Authorities banned the psychedelic drug LSD, restricted political gatherings, and tried to enforce bans on what they considered obscenity in books, music, theatre, and other media. Parents argued with their children and worried about their safety. Some adults accepted elements of the counterculture, while others became estranged from sons and daughters.
Alice's Restaurant (1969)
6.3/10
Director: Arthur Penn
Starring: Arlo Guthrie, Pat Quinn, James Broderick
You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant in this classic slice of 60s life, featuring troubadour Arlo Guthrie in his only major film appear... Read more
Blame It on Fidel! (2006)
7.6/10
Director: Julie Gavras
Starring: Nina Kervel-Bey, Julie Depardieu, Stefano Accorsi, Benjamin Feuillet, Martine Ch...
It's 1970 in Paris, Charles de Gaulle is dead, the socialist Salvador Allende has come to power in Chile, and French women are demanding their rights.... Read more
The Basketball Diaries (1995)
7.3/10
Director: Scott Kalvert
Starring: Bruno Kirby, Ernie Hudson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lorraine Bracco, Mark Wahlberg
Jim Carroll's renowned autobiography about high school, heroin, sex, writing and of course basketball, stars Leonardo DiCaprio as the brooding young C... Read more
Trash (1970)
5.7/10
Director: Paul Morrissey
Starring: Joe Dallesandro, Holly Woodlawn, Jane Forth
An outrageous tale of two of lifes losers, from the Andy Warhol factory. Joe Dallesandro is a heroin-addicted male hustler whose girlfriend, Holly Woo... Read more
The Magic Christian (1969)
6.1/10
Director: Joseph McGrath
Starring: Peter Sellers, Ringo Starr, Raquel Welch, John Cleese, Yul Brynner, Christopher...
Peter Sellers tries to teach adopted son Ringo Starr about the power and abuses of vast wealth. He will go to outrageous lengths to prove that everyon... Read more
The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005)
6.7/10
Director: Rebecca Miller
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Camilla Belle, Catherine Keener, Paul Dano, Jason Lee, Jena Ma...
Daniel Day-Lewis is Jack, an ex-political activist who lives with his daughter Rose (Camilla Belle) on what was once a thriving island commune. Jack... Read more
Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls (2009)
7.4/10
Director: Leanne Pooley
Starring: Jools Topp, Lynda Topp
A revealing and engaging look into the lives of the world's only yodelling, lesbian, country and western singing twins, Leanne Pooley's documentary is... Read more
Harold and Maude ( Blu-ray ) (1971)
8/10
Director: Hal Ashby
Starring: Bud Cort, Cyril Cusack, Ruth Gordon, Vivian Pickles
With the idiosyncratic American fable "Harold and Maude", countercultural director Hal Ashby fashioned what would become the cult classic of its era.... Read more
Running On Empty (1988)
7.7/10
Director: Sidney Lumet
Starring: Judd Hirsch, Christine Lahti, River Phoenix, Martha Plimpton
A superior family drama about a pair of 60's radicals, still on the run from the FBI, trying to raise a family. Christine Lahti and Judd Hirsch are th... Read more
American Swing (2008)
6.2/10
Director: Jon Hart, Matthew Kaufman
In 1970s New York, Plato's Retreat was an epicentre of sensual excess. The renowned sex club was a thriving destination for patrons who wanted to leav... Read more