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The Trip

Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, 2004

BEFORE THE TRIP starts, an earnest middle-aged voice warns us that we’re about to witness "a shocking commentary on a prevalent trend of our time". This is, of course, Roger Corman’s ass-covering joke at Middle America’s expense: his 1967 drugzploitation classic is nothing more than Jack Nicholson’s paean to lysergic acid. Ad exec Peter Fonda takes the trip in question, encountering sundry LA groovers along the way: Bruce Dern, the inevitable Dennis Hopper, even an unknown Gram Parsons. When the trip briefly turns "bad", man, we merely wander into one of Corman’s disused Edgar Allan Poe sets before Henry’s boy is once again rolling around with a willowy California blonde. Turn on and tune in!

Total word count of piece: 116

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