Alice's Restaurant (film)
"Alice's Restaurant" is a 1969 film directed by Arthur Penn, rooted in the themes of counterculture and societal rejection during the late 1960s. The film tells the story of Alice and her husband, Ray, who transform a deconsecrated church into a restaurant and quasi-commune for estranged youth. Arlo Guthrie, who plays a version of himself, navigates various experiences that highlight the ideals of community and nonconformity. The film juxtaposes lighthearted moments, like a scene referencing "Alice in Wonderland," with deeper themes, such as the consequences of societal norms, symbolized by Guthrie's draft experience due to his criminal record for illegal dumping.
Set in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, the film reflects a romanticized small-town life that contrasts with the chaos of urban existence. It captures the spirit of the counterculture movement, advocating for alternative lifestyles focused on nonmaterialism, creativity, and communal living. While it presents an optimistic view of this utopia, it also acknowledges the potential for disillusionment within such ideals. "Alice's Restaurant" remains a notable cultural artifact from its time, distinct from contemporaneous films that portray a more critical perspective on the era's social dynamics.
Alice's Restaurant (film)
Released 1969
Director Arthur Penn
The classic cinematic statement of the counterculture of the 1960’s. It explores an alienated generation’s rejection of mainstream culture and its search for meaningful alternatives, especially a new model of community.
Key Figures
Arthur Penn (1922- ), director
The Work
Symbolizing the rejection of accepted societal values and icons, Alice’s Restaurant opens with the deconsecrating of a church so that it can become a home to young people estranged from their families. Alice and her husband, Ray, (Pat Quinn and James Broderick), though they are older, identify with the troubled youths and operate a restaurant to provide money to keep their quasi-commune afloat. Arlo Guthrie eerily plays himself, maintaining a beatific smile of innocence as he encounters various people and situations. Alice in Wonderland is suggested both in the title and also in a scene where Alice serves a cake topped by frosting that spells “Eat Me.” When Arlo is ordered to report for his draft physical, buffoonish military authorities tell him that his criminal record for illegally dumping trash makes him morally unfit to serve in the U.S. Army. Endearing moments occur when the diverse group of people comes together as a community. In the former church, a kind of communion takes place, with marijuana replacing bread and wine. After the death of a disturbed youth, a touching funeral again suggests community, enhanced by Joni Mitchell’s “Songs to Aging Children Come.” There are conflicts in this utopia, especially between Alice and Ray, and a very affecting scene brings Arlo to the deathbed of his father, Woody Guthrie. Guest appearances highlight Woody’s old folksinger companions, Pete Seeger and Lee Hays.
Impact
Released the same year as the Woodstock concert, Alice’s Restaurant appeared at the height of the counterculture and hippie movements. Even in the soft, almost romantic colors in which it was filmed, it idealized the vision of adolescents and young adults. It suggested a new, purer, nonmaterialistic approach to society, characterized by Arlo and his friends. Recreational drugs and sex, forbidden in conventional society, were accepted. Appropriate ways of making a living were creating craft items, playing music, or (like Alice) running a people-oriented service business. The small-town setting was also important. Stockbridge, Massachusetts, was director Arthur Penn’s hometown, and his landscape views of rural New England suggest that the small-town environment is better than that of the city. In a corrupt system, the film says, dropping out may be the only sane thing to do. This is, above all, a rosy view of the counterculture, and it shows an awareness that this utopia might be illusory. Other films of this period showed a less optimistic view.
Related Works
Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider (1969) explores a more violent juxtaposition of the mainstream and counterculture, and Bob Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces (1970) also highlights intergenerational disharmony. Mike Nichols’s The Graduate (1967) uses a church and religion to deflate pretensions.
Additional Information
An interesting discussion of the films of the 1960’s can be found in Frank E. Beaver’s On Film: A History of the Motion Picture (1983), especially chapters 13 and 19.