We’ve already looked at music and literature from the hippie era, but now I’m wondering about movies. Yes, there were some that played straight into the stereotypes. Peter Sellars’ The Guru would head my list there.
But there were also others that took the issues and era seriously, even when they were comedies. Not all of them, I should emphasize, come from the ’60s or ’70s.
For a starter Top Ten list, let me propose:
- Alice’s Restaurant
- Putney Swope
- I Love You, Alice B. Toklas
- Yellow Submarine
- Brother Sun, Sister Moon
- Godspell
- Hair
- Jesus Christ Superstar
- Love Story
- Zabriske Point
Maybe The Graduate, Swept Away, 10, or Hippie Masala belong on the list. But it’s your turn to weigh in, savvy viewers that you are. What other nominees do you propose?
Jnana's Red Barn 
Graduate is definitely there on the list for me, Zabriskie point is by my taste the most counterculture of them all… 🙂
Okay, if the list should include movies that affected us during those years, then I’d have to suggest MASH, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Bonnie & Clyde. Nashville, too, and Deer Hunter.
You raise a fascinating distinction. Movies that affected us is certainly a broader view than just movies that reflected the movement or were influenced by it.
Definitely MASH, The Graduate, and The Deer Hunter. I’m trying to think of others that I considered must see movies back then. The Days Of Wine And Roses comes to mind, but I’m not sure if that is the correct timeline, but Barbra Streisand in The Way We Were seemed to say it all, even though it may have been made in the 70’s.
Categories, categories. How about The Strawberry Statement? Harold & Maude?
I knew you’d have some strong suggestions.
Easy Rider
Definitely. How did I miss listing it?
You could–arguably–include Logan’s Run, but I think the book speaks to the period more than the film (which came out in 1976) does. It takes “don’t trust anyone over ____” a little more literally than most.