THE DAILY BEAT: Big Sur, the movie

Friday, April 22, 2016

Big Sur, the movie

To keep my "at least once a week blog post" streak going, I thought I'd mention the movie version of Jack Kerouac's Big Sur. I just showed it to my Kerouac class at UMF, and they generally agreed it was better than the film version of On the Road. To be fair, they had read On the Road but not Big Sur, so they really had nothing to compare in the latter case.

However, I have read both (several times) and seen both (several times), and I definitely appreciate Big Sur over On the Road as a film adaptation. I'm not sure one is more filmable than the other, but with Big Sur they seemed to capture the essence of the book more accurately. Maybe it was the casting (way better Kerouac, very good Neal and Carolyn, great Lew Welch), or the general ambience, or the voice-overs from the book, or the gorgeous scenery...

...or maybe it was just Kate Bosworth.

In any event, what did you think of Big Sur the movie? I liked it.

P.S. We have airline tickets for California this summer and a couple of nights in Big Sur is on the itinerary (if we can find an affordable place with available rooms).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...: I thought Big Sur was beautiful. I think it made sense to try to capture the spirit of the novel using JK's own words, rather than trying to film the story as Salles attempted in OTR.
Richard Marsh; April 22, 2016 at 5:32 PM

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Reviews of The Beat Handbook

Gerald Nicosia, author of the acclaimed Kerouac biography Memory Babe, said The Beat Handbook is "full of Jack's heart."

Jared Randall, author of the excellent book of poetry, Apocryphal Road Code, said this about The Beat Handbook: "Sometimes a book comes along at just the right time. In my wandering pack of experiences, I find they often do. Enter The Beat Handbook by Rick Dale."

Kenneth Morris, Kerouacian extraordinaire, said this:
"I just finished reading Rick Dale's beautiful utterance and call to action of Kerouac mind-set and zen sensibilities. It made me laugh and reflect on my own life and road I have naturally grooved into after absorbing the Kerouac canon. The road less traveled always had my name on it. And that has made all the difference. The Beat Handbook 100 Days of Kerouactions reaffirms the attitudes and ideology that made the Beats and Kerouac the important men of ideas that America (and the world) thirsted for, needed, and swallowed whole. Beautiful, absorbing, Top Ten whipsmart from my articulate, tender-hearted friend and fellow traveler. Highly recommended."