What Happened to Kerouac?

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What Happened to Kerouac?

1986

1h 36m

Documentary

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2 Reviews

76%

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500+ Ratings

Filmmakers Richard Lerner and Lewis MacAdams explore the unfulfilled promise of Beat Generation icon Jack Kerouac, covering the period from the publication of his notorious novel "On the Road" in 1957 to his alcohol-related death 12 years later. The film features extensive interviews with friends and fellow writers, including the widow of Neal Cassady, who feels that her husband's attempts to live up to the legend of Dean Moriarty, the Kerouac character he inspired, led to his own early death.

Walter Goodman

New York Times

12/16/2017

''What Happened to Kerouac?'' is an affecting and illuminating memorial to a sad figure, who, as his wife remarks, ''left good memories.''

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Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

09/13/2007

4/5

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l g

@bearcrkrd 05/10/2021

worth watching the entire documentary just to see the reading on the Steve Allen Show.

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06/10/2012

What really struck me about the film is that when it was made in 1985, many of the key players in the beat story were still alive - Ginsberg, Corso, Herbert Hunkce, William Burroughs - they can never be interviewed again. Mike McClure still looks like a kid, Jan Kerouac was still with us, Joyce Johnson and Diane Di Prima aren't even middle-aged yet - this is as good as it's going to get, folks. And it's very very good.

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01/29/2011

A slightly unfocused documentary, but as a fan of the subject, I found it appealing anyway. There are great moments in some of the archive footage and interviews.

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02/06/2009

Interesting and enlightening to the times of the Beat generation but a few too many fruit-loops and wafflers for my liking! I guess that makes for a great doco though...but Corso was stupidly annoying.

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01/27/2009

the old footage of Kerouac drunk and openly mocking some pretentious british talk show host are great...otherwise no great revelations. Also the filmmaking itself just seemed amateurish.

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01/24/2009

Genius as a youth, but he didn't age well. Watching him read on the Steve Allen show in 1959 was a treat. Drunk and rambling on William F. Buckley Jr's Firing Line in 1968, not so much.

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Richard Lerner

Director

Lewis MacAdams

Director

William Lee

Himself (as William Burroughs)

Gregory Corso

Self

Allen Ginsberg

Self

Jan Kerouac

Self

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Synopsis

Filmmakers Richard Lerner and Lewis MacAdams explore the unfulfilled promise of Beat Generation icon Jack Kerouac, covering the period from the publication of his notorious novel "On the Road" in 1957 to his alcohol-related death 12 years later. The film features extensive interviews with friends and fellow writers, including the widow of Neal Cassady, who feels that her husband's attempts to live up to the legend of Dean Moriarty, the Kerouac character he inspired, led to his own early death.

Director: Richard Lerner, Lewis MacAdams
Producer: Richard Lerner
Screenwriter: Jack Kerouac
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 23, 1986, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Oct 29, 2013
Runtime: 1h 36m

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