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The Source

The Source

HistoryDocumentary

1999, Movie, 1h 28min

Traces the Beats from Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac's meeting in 1944 at Columbia University to the deaths of Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs in 1997. Three actors provide dramatic interpretations of the work of these three writers, and the film chronicles their friendships, their arrival into American consciousness, their travels, frequent parodies, Kerouac's death, and Ginsberg's politicization. Their movement connects with bebop, John Cage's music, abstract expressionism, and living theater. In recent interviews, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Kesey, Ferlinghetti, Mailer, Jerry Garcia, Tom Hayden, Gary Snyder, Ed Sanders, and others measure the Beats' meaning and impact.

Country: United States

Director:

Cast:

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Ratings

Your rating: 1

IMDb rating

Critic rating

Average critic rating

6.0

Reviews

Critic Marjorie Baumgarten

rated

6

...a compelling document that shows us a lot about the lives and goals of this fascinating group of writers and artists...

Read full review at The Austin Chronicle

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Some movies that have similar genres and were produced around the same time as The Source include The Celluloid Closet, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport, Black Hawk Down, World War II: Snipers, Paragraph 175, Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin.