Museum of American Poetics Exhibits

Beat Generation Films

The Museum of American Poetics Beat Film exhibit, launched November 2013, highlights the growing body of film associated with the Beat Generation. MAP's Beat Film exhibit catalogs primary source films about the Beat Generation, especially documentaries that are inclusive of women poets of the Beat Generation, Beat poets of color, and Beat poets across the spectrum of sexuality, class, and disability; specific works in which Beat luminaries were central actors; mass media oriented entertainment biopics, focusing on the lives of Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Gregory Corso; as well as screenplay enactment of particular works of Beat literature.

  


The Gold Rush
(Charlie Chaplin, 1925)		      
   
The General
(Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman, 1926)

Woman in the Moon
(Frau im Mond)
(Fritz Lang, 1929)		      

City Lights
(Charlie Chaplin, 1931)		    
       
   
Duck Soup
(Leo McCarey, 1933)		  
 
A Night at the Opera
(Sam Wood, 1935)		      
       

Modern Times
(Charlie Chaplin, 1936)		      
 
The Great Dictator
(Charlie Chaplin, 1940)		  

Citizen Kane
(Orson Welles, 1941)		      
 
Orpheus
(Jean Cocteau, 1950)		  

Shake, Rattle and Rock
(Edward L. Cahn, 1956)		      
   
The Girl Can't Help It
(Frank Tashlin, 1956)
 
The Big Beat
(Will Cowan, 1958)		  
     

Black Orpheus
(Marcel Camus, 1959)		    
 
Beats in NYC: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac & Friends
(Robert Frank (?), 1959)
1
Pull My Daisy
(Robert Frank, 1959)

The Beat Generation
(Charles Haas, 1959) 		   

A Bucket of Blood
(Roger Corman, 1959)		  

Jazz on a Summer's Day
(Aram Avakian & Bert Stern, 1960)		    
2
The Flower Thief
(Ron Rice, 1960)		  
2a
The Subterraneans
(Ranald MacDougall, 1960)		  
   
Dog Star Man
(Stan Brakhage, 1961-1964)
   
Guns of the Trees
(Jonas Mecas, 1962)		    

Towers Open Fire
(Antony Balch, 1963)		      
   
Christmas on Earth
(Barbara Rubin, 1963)
   
 
Couch
(Andy Warhol, 1964)

Alphaville
(Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)		    
   
3
Wholly Communion
(Peter Whitehead, 1965)		  

Dutchman
( Anthony Harvey, 1966)		      
     
The Cut Ups
(Antony Balch, 1966)
   
Georgia
(Gordon Ball, 1966)

USA: Poetry
(Richard Moore, 1966)		    
 
Hare Krishna
(Jonas Mecas, 1966)
   
3a
Chappaqua
(Conrad Rooks, 1967)		  
   
   
Be-In
(Jerry Abrams, 1967)
 
Yippie
(Yippie Film Collective, 1968)		    

Me and My Brother
(Robert Frank, 1969)		  
   
Farm Diary
(Gordon Ball, 1970)
   
 
Johnny Minatour
(Charles Henri Ford, 1971)
   
 
Arena
(Howard Brookner, 1975)		  
   
Lost Lost Lost
(Jonas Mecas, 1976)

Sitting
(Gordon Ball, 1977)		    
 
Father Movie
(Gordon Ball, 1978)
5
Fried Shoes/Cooked Diamonds
(Costanzo Allione, 1979)		  
     
 
Enthusiasm
(Gordon Ball, 1979)		    
   
The Beats: An Existential Comedy
( Philomene Long, 1980)

Mexican Jail Footage
(Gordon Ball, 1980)		    
   
7
Heart Beat
(John Byrum, 1980)		  

Energy And How To Get It
(Robert Frank, 1981)		    
82
West Coast: Beat and Beyond
(Christopher Felver, 1982)
 
Poetry in Motion
(Ron Mann, 1982)		  
     

This Song for Jack
(Robert Frank, 1983)		        
   
In Motion: Amiri Baraka
(St. Clair Bourne, 1983)		    
     
Before Stonewall
(Greta Schiller & Robert Rosenberg, 1984)
 
Millbrook
(Gordon Ball, 1985)		  
     
Kerouac, the Movie
(John Antonelli, 1985)
     
    7a
What Happened to Kerouac
(Richard Lerner & Lewis MacAdams, 1986)

The Beat Generation: An American Dream
(Janet Forman & Regina Weinreich, 1987)		  
 
Gang of Souls: A Generation of Beat Poets
(Maria Beatty, 1989)

Do Poznania: Conversations in Poland
(Gordon Ball, 1991)		    
8
Naked Lunch
(David Cronenberg, 1991) 		 

William S. Burroughs: Commissioner of Sewers
(Klaus Maeck, 1991)		    
   
9
The Life and Times of Allen Ginsberg
(Jerry Aronson, 1993)		  
   
The Coney Island of Lawrence Ferlinghetti
(Christopher Felver, 1996)

Scenes from Allen's Last Three Days on Earth as a Spirit
(Jonas Mecas, 1997)		  
 
A Poet on the Lower East Side: A Docu-Diary on Allen Ginsberg
(Gyula Gazdag, 1997)
  10
The Last Time I Committed Suicide
(Stephen Kay, 1997)
    11
The Source: The Story of the Beats and the Beat Generation
(Chuck Workman, 1999)
  12
Beat
(Gary Walkow, 2000) 		 

Beat Angel
(Randy Allred, 2004)		  
   
  14a
The Great Sex Letter
(Peter Gallo, 2006?)
 
Breaking the Rules
(Marco Muller, 2006)
  15
Words of Advice: William S. Burroughs on the Road
(Lars Movin & Steen Moller Rasmussen, 2007)		  

The Beats in India
(Asia Society, 2007)		      
    16
Neal Cassady
(Noah Buschel, 2007)

William S. Burroughs: Thee Films 1950s - 1960s
(Anthony Balch & Bryon Gysin, 2008)		    

One Fast Move Or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur
(Curt Worden, 2008)		  
   
  18
Corso: The Last Beat
(Gustave Reininger, 2009)
     
    20
Howl
(Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman, 2010)
    20a
William S. Burroughs:
A Man Within
(Yony Leyser, 2010)		  
21
Love Always, Carolyn
(Malin Korkeasalo & Maria Ramstrom, 2011)		    
     
 
The Poetry Deal: A Film with Diane di Prima
(Melanie La Rosa, 2011)		  

Crazy Wisdom: The Life and Times of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche
(Johanna Demetrakas, 2011)		  

Spirits Desperado: The Poetry of Michael McClure
(UCTV, 2011)		    
  23
On The Road
(Walter Salles, 2012)
    23a
The Beat Hotel
(Alan Govenar, 2012)
13
Ferlinghetti: A Rebirth of Wonder
(Christopher Felver, 2006/2013)		  
  24
Kill Your Darlings
(John Krokidas, 2013)
25
Big Sur
(Michael Polish, 2013)		  
   
Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground
(Chuck Smith, 2018)