“Turn on, Tune in and Drop out…”
Hitting the open road to head towards the desert with drugs and hallucinogens pretty consistently results in pure cinematic gold. Acid. Mushrooms. Mescaline. Peyote. A.T.’s blood. Whatever you got, I want. So hop on the Blue Bus and pass the Kool-Aid, D-bags. As soon as this kicks in, I’ll put the ‘High’ in this ‘High Five’ with My Five Favourite Film Trips on Trips. Ready? Let’s roll…
Not the most fun entry on this list, but it’s not meant to be, as this particular trip is a bad one. It is the most accurate, and the only one actually made during the time when hallucinogens were the drug of choice. In the sequence that lands it on this list, Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper have almost completed the journey that drives the entire film. The last stop before they ride off into the sunset is Mardi Gras. Intercutting some footage of the chaotic festival (including flashes of a fucked up creep-clown that may or may not be on stilts) with seemingly random overexposed, washed-out shots of the sun, trees and, umm, the cameraman spinning in a circle. Oh, and the main characters dropping acid in a New Orleans cemetary with two hookers. Ignoring the temptation to keep the narrative in sequence only adds to the bizarre vibe, and the film jumps back and forth between the beginning of the trip (read: good times with 70’s tits and mad bush) and the end (Fonda crying at a statue, one of the hoes moaning that she’s going to die, the other reciting some gibberish like it’s a sermon, etc) all set to a droning, monotonous, macabre, metallic drum sound. Who knows. Maybe you’d have to have dropped acid to get it, but for me, this sequence in the quintessential road movie perfectly captures the weird, ever-looping, indecipherable hell that is a ‘bum trip.’
Slutty McHookerson: “What’s that?”
Dennis Hopper: “Ha Ha. Just shut up and take it.”
You tell her, Dennis. (R.I.P.) While you’re at it, tell me: what the hell was up with those weirdo, 70’s banana tits?! I don’t think I could resist an attempt to peel them. How can the structure itself have changed so much in a generation? No wonder you guys had bum trips…
Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Las Vegas, Cirque du Soleil and ‘magic’ mushrooms. Hilarity ensues.This film too, perfectly captures the ebb and flow of a trip, but this time for comedic value. Paul Rudd during the chair scene that follows is pretty much the greatest thing of all time. Sidenote: is anyone else weirded out by Rudd not being a douche? He looks like he should be and he was a semi-regular cast member of ‘Friends,’ and somehow he’s still awesome! I’m just sayin’…
3. Entourage: “Tree Trippers” (Season 5, Episode 5; 2008)
The anomaly. I know, I know. I said ‘cinematic’ and this isn’t cinema. It’s HBO. And not even one of the ‘real’ shows, but a half-hour comedy? The quote “Bust a nut in her eye and made her deal with it.” comes to mind. The boys go on a quest to Joshua Tree in a Winnebago with ’shrooms in hand and Eric Roberts (!) at the helm. Once high, each of them has a very strange, and very different, reaction, ranging from paranoia to becoming mute. (Except Eric Roberts. He continues to rule.) Jeremy Piven’s Ari is, as always, the highlight. When he tells Lloyd of his predicament, Lloyd clarifies “Magic Mushrooms?!” Ari cuts him off with “I hate Magic AND I hate Magicians!” I don’t want to spoil any more, so here are some choice (and out of context) quotables:
“Just rocks and dust and trees and tiny little goblins”
“I will seal up your asshole with cement.”
(written on a piece of paper) “My mouth won’t talk.”
“AAGGHH!!” “Drama?! What…” “Nothin’. I thought I pulled my cock off. Heh.”
For the record, if we disqualified this one on account of being TV rather than Movie, opening up the list for the #6 contender, it would’ve been ‘Natural Born Killers.’ Don’t worry though. Ol’ Ollie still has a seat reserved up in this bitch…
Easily the best film on here. Oliver Stone captures the surreal air that surrounded The Doors in all of it’s overblown, epic, majestic, guttural glory. Val Kilmer opened ‘The Doors of Perception,’ and replaced Jim Morrison as Jim Morrison forever in most people’s minds. And let’s not forget the earth-shattering music! How the hell is this not #1? Oh yeah. This isn’t about what is the best movie/show on here. It’s all about the drugs and the journey. There is definitely more than one scene that could be included that meets the criteria. The acid-tinged Thanksgiving between Jim and Pam and Patricia and a dead duck. Jim’s first real Walk On The Wild Side at Andy Warhol’s party, which includes crazy-as-Margot Kidder shit like God on the telephone and head in an elevator from that Velvet Underground chick with the man-voice, Nico. That said, there is really only one choice – the desert scene. It’s even good in German! Plus, it’s the only one where they actually take a trip to take a trip. The set-up – Jim brings the band, along with Pam, out to the desert to do peyote with him, and the ensuing trip is soul-baring and strange, from the acting to the cinematography and editing, to how it seamlessly turns into a performance of The End. Ride the snake indeed, Lizard King. Bonus: Quasi-Naked Indian Ghosts That Haunt You Until You Die! Oh, Oliver. You crazy something-or-other! You only made the list once. I guess that means Kevin Dillon is better than you…
1. Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)
Giliam! This whole fucking film is one big trip on a trip! The ‘Adrenechrome’ scene. Bazooko Circus. We could be here for days if I don’t just pick something. Let’s go with the bathtub scene. Semi-clothed, fully flying on ‘cid, a fat Benicio Del Toro implores a balding Johnny Depp (who pulls a Kilmer and completely embodies the man behind all of this madness, Hunter S. Thompson) to put Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit on the radio and throw the radio into the tub when the song peaks, to coincide with, and electrocute him during, the peak of his trip. By the time the equally annihilated Depp gets his weapon of choice and declares himself “Ahab”, this scene (and film) had cemented itself as the single greatest entry in the ‘vast’ sub-genre of ‘Get loopy on drugs and operate a moving vehicle to take you into unknown-we’ll-just-assume-it’s-safe-territory’ films. If you don’t believe me, ‘Go Ask Alice’…
Yeah, I know. Some of your favourites weren’t on here. ‘Trainspotting.’ ‘Altered States.’ ‘Avenging Disco Godfather.’ Whatever.Tell us what’s what in the Comments section below. Or just shut up and take it. Ya dig?
– Nuv
All good calls Nuv, can’t say I can disagree with any of them.I especially like the Entourage call. Honorable mentions to: Louis (episode 8, Louis gettin stoned with neighbor), Harold and Kumar Go To Whitecastle, Cheech and Chong: Nice Dreams, Trainspotting.
Added disclaimer- Nuv, you took all the dessert trips, mine are more great movies that include drugs and missions.
5- Pulp Fiction
4- Half Baked
3- Fear and Loathing
2- The Big Lebowski
1- Dazed and Confused