To learn specifically about William S. Burroughs and movies, see Beatdom Issue Five.
*
The Beat Generation (1959)
– Not actually about the Beat Generation artists. Just a sensationalist “beatnik” movie.
Pull My Daisy (short)(1959)
– Starring Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Peter Orlovsky, David Amram
– Directed by Robert Frank
– Written and narrated by Jack Kerouac
The Subterraneans (1960)
– Based on the Kerouac novel
– Features a white woman in the role of Mardou Fox
Towers Open Fire (short)(1963)
– Directed by Antony Balch
– Written by William S. Burroughs
William Buys a Parrot (short)(1963)
– Another Balch & Burroughs effort
Wholly Communion (1965)
– Short documentary about Britain’s “International Poetry Incarnation”
Neal Cassady: In the Backhouse and on the Road (1965)
– Filmed by Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters
The Cut-Ups (short)(1966)
– Another Balch & Burroughs effort, featuring Brion Gysin
Chappaqua (1966)
– Featuring Burroughs Ginsberg
Me and My Brother (1969)
– Documentary by Robert Frank
– Featuring Ginsberg and Orlovsky
Heart Beat (1980)
– Starring Nick Nolte as Neal Cassady; Sissy Spacek as Carolyn Cassady; John Heard as Kerouac
West Coast: Beat and Beyond (1983)
– Directed by Chris Felver and Gerald Nicosia
Burroughs (1983)
– Documentary by Howard Brookner
Kerouac: The Movie (1985)
– Interviews with various Beat figures
What Happened to Kerouac? (1986)
– Interviews with many people who knew Kerouac, including daughter Jan, Herbert Huncke, Michael McClure, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, John Clellon Holmes, Gary Snyder
The Beat Generation: An American Dream (1987)
– “Investigation of the Beat Generation” featuring many interviews
Jack Kerouac’s Road: A Franco-American Odyssey (1989)
This Ain’t Bebop (TV)(1989)
– Starring Harvey Keitel as Kerouac
The Black Rider (1990)
– Written by Burroughs
William S. Burroughs: A Commissioner of Sewers (1991)
– Hour long interview with Burroughs
Thanksgiving Prayer (short)(1991)
– Featuring Burroughs
Naked Lunch (1991)
– Movie version of Burroughs’ classic novel
The Junky’s Christmas (short)(1993)
– Written by Burroughs
The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg (1994)
– Documentary about Ginsberg
Ah Pook Is Here (short)(1994)
– Written by Burroughs
Allen Ginsberg: Live in London (1995)
– Footage of the poet performing
A Coney Island of Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1996)
– Directed by Chris Felver
A Poet on the Lower East Side: A Documentary on Allen Ginsberg (1997)
– Featuring Corso, Orlovsky and Ginsberg
The Last Time I Committed Suicide (1997)
– Movie about Cassady
Kerouac: On the Road to Desolation (TV)(1997)
The Nova Convention Revisited (1998)
– Apparently a poor quality bootleg copy of the convention
Go Moan for Man (1999)
– Kerouac documentary
The Source (tv show)(1999)
– Johnny Depp as Kerouac, John Turturro as Ginsberg, Dennis Hopper as Burroughs
Beat (2000)
– Terrible movie featuring Keifer Sutherland as Burroughs, Courtney Love as Joan Vollmer
Finding Jack Kerouac (2002)
– About a boy inspired by On the Road
Starving Hysterical Naked (2003)
Beat Angel (2004)
– About the spirit of Kerouac entering a writer
The Ballad of Greenwich Village (2005)
– Featuring Amiri Baraka, Norman Mailer
Breaking the Rules (2006)
– Footage from Beat and other countercultures
Allen Ginsberg: Ah! Sunflower (2006)
– Ginsberg performing at the Roundhouse
Neal Cassady (2007)
– The story of Cassady after the publication of On the Road
Gang of Souls: A Generation of Beat Poets (2008)
– Documentary featuring the likes of Dianne DiPrima
Finding My Kerouac (2008)
– Following in Kerouac’s footsteps
One Fast Move or I’m Gone: Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur (2008)
– A look at Big Sur
Japanese Sandman (2008)
– About a 1953 letter from Burroughs to Ginsberg
Rebel Roar: The Sound of Michael McClure (2008)
– Short bio, directed by Kurt Hemmer
Ferlinghetti: A City Light (2009)
– Directed by Chris Felver
Corso: The Last Beat (2009)
– Beautiful film about Corso after Ginsberg’s death
William S. Burroughs: A Man Within (2009)
– Featuring never before seen footage of Burroughs
Where the Road Ends (2010)
– Originally titled “Visions of Paradise”
On the Trail: Jack Kerouac in Cheyenne (2010)
– Remembering Kerouac’s time in Cheyenne
Howl (2010)
– Starring James Franco as Ginsberg during the “Howl” trial
Wow! Ted Joans Lives! (2010)
– Short film
Jack Kerouac Slept Here
– Short film
On the Road (2012)
– Finally making it to the big screen…
Big Sur (2013)
– Michael Polish brings another Kerouac classic to the big screen.
Kill Your Darlings (2013)
– Daniel Radcliffe (of Harry Potter fame) plays Allen Ginsberg in this movie about the David Kammerer murder.
– In which Jack Kerouac returns to earth as an angel.
ruth weiss the beat goddess (2019)
– A documentary about the Beat poet. (We reviewed it here.)
Ginsberg’s Karma (2021)
– A short documentary about Allen Ginsberg in India. (Reviewed here.)
One More Step West Is the Sea: ruth weiss (2021)
– Another documentary about weiss.
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Let me know if I've made mistake or excluded any notable titles.
just that buscemi has a part in 'on the road' but imdb.com does not say what part he is playing.
all the actors are listed for the major roles. it is hard to find on imdb but if you go in under steve buscemi, you will find on the road and there is a link to the cast. all the main players are cast from ginsy to burroughs.
there is a good contest. 'guess who buscemi plays.' it is typecasting but i think he would be a good huncke.
Cheers.
That would be cool if he was Huncke the Junkie.
How about including Robert Frank's documentary movie "Me And My Brother" (1965-68), which featured Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, and Peter's schizophrenic brother Julius.
Thanks again, Dave.
Some more beat-related movies:
KEROUAC (aka JACK KEROUAC'S AMERICA, aka JACK KEROUAC: KING OF THE BEATS) Dir. John Antonelli, 1984 (71m)
LE GRAND JACK (French-Canadian Kerouac documentary) Dir. Hermenegilde Chiasson, 1987 (55m)
KEROUAC: ON THE ROAD TO DESOLATION by Andrew O'Hagan, dir. David Stewart, 1997 (50m)
GO MOAN FOR MAN (Kerouac documentary) Dir. Doug Sharples, 1999 (120m)
THIS AIN'T BEBOP. Harvey Keitel portrays Jack Kerouac. Written and directed by Ralph Bakshi, 1987. (25m)
BURROUGHS (documentary) Dir. Howard Brookner, 1983 (90m)
WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS: Commissioner of Sewers. Film by Klaus Maeck. Readings & interview by Jurgen Ploog, Berlin, May 1986 (55m)
WEST COAST: BEAT AND BEYOND. Dir. Chris Felver and Gerald Nicosia. With Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti, Corso, Lamantia, Norse, Howard Hart, Micheline, Kesey, Orlovsky, Kaufman, Joanne Kyger, Bobbie Creeley, Jan Kerouac, 1983 (60m)
WHOLLY COMMUNION: International Poetry Incarnation, Royal Albert Hall, London, June 11, 1965. A Peter Whitehead film. With Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Alexander Trocchi, Michael Horovitz, Harry Fainlight, Adrian Mitchell, Christopher Logue, and others. (33m)
NEAL CASSADY: IN THE BACKHOUSE & ON THE ROAD: Neal's raps, filmed by Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters, mid-1960s. (46m)
ALLEN GINSBERG, "Ah, Sunflower", London, 1967. By Robert Klinkert & Iain Sinclair. (30m)
Thanks again, Dave.
The first one was included under the title "Kerouac: The Movie." I guess that had a few different titles. The "Commissioner of Sewers" film is also on the list, although I have a different year for some reason... I'll look into that.
David, you are very welcome.
Sorry about the duplications.
I've looked through the list and added pretty much all of them. There seems to have been a little inconsistency with the naming of certain films, and some have more or less dropped off the map. However, thanks for the pointers. I hope this resource helps people find all the Beat movies they want.
Hi - You might be interested to know that 14167 Films - essentially me - is a tiny little UK based film company and we're currently making a series of Beat shorts.
The first was made with the full cooperation of Michael McClure and has won a few awards (including one at Berkeley) and screened at Cannes in May, the second is in post right now and is made with the full cooperation of The Ginsberg Estate and the third is currently being written and is based on the work of Burroughs and has been given the blessing of James Grauerholz.
After that, who knows?
So, check 'em out if you're interested. The Beats are alive in England!
Thanks for that - I'll definitely be checking these out.
Well, you kind of missed the 2012 movie, "Kill Your Darlings", based on the book "The Hippos Were Boiled in their Tanks". Also, do you have ANY idea how to watch "The Life & Times of Allen Ginsberg"? I have been searching for that movie for weeks and I still can't get a hold of it! I need my Ginsberg fix!
The Beat Museum in SF has the 2-disc set of “The Life & Times of Allen Ginsberg” with 6 hours of extras.
http://www.kerouac.com/cgi-local/cart.pl?db=beats.txt&category=Ginsberg
you can own it yourself by visiting http://www.allenginsbergmovie.com or finding it on amazon...it is only $19.99 for both discs...
This was written a while ago... It's now been updated.
Hi David
Kurt Hemmer at Harper College has directed or co-directed the following Beat films:
2010 Wow! Ted Joans Lives! (video short) (co-director)
2008 Rebel Roar: The Sound of Michael McClure (video short)
2003 As We Cover the Streets: Janine Pommy Vega (video documentary short) (co-director)
Thank you, Doug.
There are a number of Beat video put out by Thin Air Video in the 1990's. See in particular
http://www.thinairvideo.com/100_Series.html
http://www.thinairvideo.com/200_Series.html
Most of the other links at
http://www.thinairvideo.com/DVD_Catalog.html
contain videos featuring beat writers.
The Lannan Foundation put out a series of VHS tapes featuring interviews and readings with writers. Some of the Beat writers featured in this series:
Allen Ginsberg
Wendell Berry and Gary Snyder
Gary Snyder (2 volumes)
Anne Waldman
Amiri Baraka
Robert Creely
1983 Amiri Baraka "In Motion"
2010 Gary Snyder "The Practice of the Wild"
conversations with Jim Harrison
DVD included with the book "The Etiquette of Freedom"
As far as fiction goes, you forgot Shadows (circa 1960) by John Cassavettes. Also, wasn't there a documentary made a few years ago about the North Beach scene in the '50s and '60s? I think it was entitled simply The Beach.