I am a golden god!

November 29, 2005 2:07 PM

LSD in pop culture?

I'm looking for a bevy of movies/documentaries/etc (the "I am a golden god!" scene from Almost Famous comes to mind) involving acid, LSD, what have you...my intention is to stitch the acid-related scenes together and show it as a video presentation detailing the prevalence of LSD in American culture. Basically, I'm getting out of doing any work for a stupid HS health class (which is completely frickin below me, as I've already taken AP bio, etc...) by voicing over other bits of movies.....

So, besides Almost Famous and the obvious choice of Fear and Loathing, what else is there...

If you've got the clip, or access to it on some sort of hosted medium, thats even better...

posted by weaponsgradecarp to media & arts (33 comments total)

SLC Punk! has a pretty freaky such scene (kid with LSD in his pocket running from the cops, it starts to rain, the LSD soaks into his skin -- a LOT of LSD all at once. Hallucinations ensue, like crazy).
posted by Gator at 2:10 PM on November 29, 2005

The movie is awful, but there's an interestingly-filmed LSD sequence in Harvard Man. Which actually involves Al Franken, if I'm remembering correctly.
posted by occhiblu at 2:11 PM on November 29, 2005

The Trip
posted by I Love Tacos at 2:12 PM on November 29, 2005

Oh, and you can't possibly have an LSD montage without featuring something from Hair.
posted by Gator at 2:17 PM on November 29, 2005

Search for "LSD" or "Acid" at the Prelinger Archives, and you will find a number of different types of films - with free video clips, to boot!
posted by googly at 2:17 PM on November 29, 2005

Here's IMDB's list of movies w/ the keyword "LSD".
posted by apple scruff at 2:21 PM on November 29, 2005

You'll have to go through it meticulously, but this keyword deal on IMDB might help.
posted by JPowers at 2:22 PM on November 29, 2005

Damn it apple scruff -- we must have been posting at the same time. Oh well, yours is better anyways.
posted by JPowers at 2:23 PM on November 29, 2005

"Fierce Grace" is an awesome documentary about Ram Dass. It not only contains a lot of historical insights about his role in advancing LSD use as a spiritual tool, it's also about his massive stroke and the effects of old age and infirmity on spirituality. Very moving.

Also: "Timothy Leary's Last Trip" and "Beyond Life With Timothy Leary."
posted by hermitosis at 2:27 PM on November 29, 2005

Also also, if you can find a copy of Jefferson Airplane's video for their drug-laced song "White Rabbit" (I believe the song was featured in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), that was mucho-psychedelic as well.
posted by Gator at 2:29 PM on November 29, 2005

Romeo+Juliet, during the Capulet's masquerede party.
posted by hooray at 2:33 PM on November 29, 2005

it starts to rain
I thought he ran through some sprinkler, but minor detail. Great movie and highly recommend.
posted by jmd82 at 2:34 PM on November 29, 2005

I think you're right, jmd82. It's been a few years since I've seen it.

Another one that could be useful to the OP would be the documentary that appeared on PBS several years ago, Making Sense of the Sixties. I used to have all six hours on tape (not anymore, sadly), but the drug culture of the sixties, especially LSD as I recall, was featured prominently.
posted by Gator at 2:40 PM on November 29, 2005

The cold intro. to episode 1, season four, of Six Feet Under.
posted by Sonny Jim at 2:51 PM on November 29, 2005

WHOA! internet archive has some rad stuff...

and I REMEMBER that episode of six feet under...the kid jumps off the roof, yeah?

Any idea where the segements from various feature films/TV shows can be found on the glorious intarweb?
posted by weaponsgradecarp at 2:59 PM on November 29, 2005

Romeo+Juliet, during the Capulet's masquerede party.

I seem to recall Romeo taking ecstasy in that sequence, but I could be wrong.

Definitely Fear and Loathing.
posted by ludwig_van at 3:03 PM on November 29, 2005

Cheech & Chong

"Up in Smoke"
The scene where Cheech scarfs a bag full of acid in the car because a cop has pulled them over.

"Nice Dreams"
Timothy Leary helps Cheech "escape" from the asylum by giving him the "key".
posted by doctor_negative at 3:04 PM on November 29, 2005

Lisa Simpson when she drinks the water at Itchy and Scratchy world. Homer when he eats the Guatemalan Insanity Peppers.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 3:15 PM on November 29, 2005

The Doors.
posted by signal at 3:20 PM on November 29, 2005

The Peter Sellers movie I Love You, Alice B. Toklas. The Tilda Swinton movie The Beach.

Also: Marge complaining about how the residents of Shelbyville have spiked the water supply.
posted by box at 3:24 PM on November 29, 2005

The climax of "Casino Royale", where one of the James Bonds sets off a "lysergic acid" bomb in the building vents or somesuch.

Wild in the Streets, a '60s hippie exploitation flick in which the legal voting age is lowered to 14 and eventually all the adults over 30 wind up in forced retirement camps.

The brothel scene in "Easy Rider"

Here's some footage of LSD being tested on British troops--14mb .mpg download

The bridge battle in "Apocalypse Now"
posted by arto at 3:37 PM on November 29, 2005

How about the Larry Clark Film Bully? There's an acid/video game scene.
posted by kosem at 3:47 PM on November 29, 2005

There's an X-Files episode about halfway through the series' run when the water supply in Mulder's building gets spiked with LSD (or I think they said an LSD-like chemical). Wackiness ensues, as Mulder gets even more paranoid and creeped out than usual.
posted by Asparagirl at 4:12 PM on November 29, 2005

Search Google Videos for the British military documentary on LSD's effects on soldiers. Black and white and hilarious all over.
posted by electric_counterpoint at 5:26 PM on November 29, 2005

Try to find Conrad Rook's Chappaqua (1966). Music by Ravi Shankar. From an IMDB reviewer: "This film probably captures the essence of the sixties counter-culture like few films ever have. Although you might be tempted not to see this trip all the way through,you will only be cheating yourself out of one of the greatest movie endings of all time."
posted by madstop1 at 5:30 PM on November 29, 2005

Segments of Natural Born Killers and Head may be worthwhile.
posted by box at 5:34 PM on November 29, 2005

Woodstock. Duh. "Don't eat the brown acid." It is THE movie acid reference.
posted by bingo at 6:12 PM on November 29, 2005

If you can find an early 90s sci-fi crap flick called Hardware (not on DVD as far as I know), there's a cool scene where the killer assassin robot kills a guy with an injection of a drug that is basically ramped up LSD. An animated death trip ensues.
posted by dong_resin at 6:31 PM on November 29, 2005

Easy Rider, of course.
posted by yclipse at 7:55 PM on November 29, 2005

In 1959's "The Tingler," Vincent Price locks himself in a room and takes LSD, to freakalicious results.

See this review, which notes: "Vincent Price takes what is almost certainly the screen’s first LSD trip..."

The walls! The walls!
posted by GaelFC at 7:58 PM on November 29, 2005

Here's that British military LSD clip, and the Mefi thread about it.
posted by mediareport at 9:32 PM on November 29, 2005

[sorry, arto already got it]
posted by mediareport at 9:33 PM on November 29, 2005

La Vallee
posted by adamvasco at 5:03 AM on November 30, 2005