Main Menu

Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 03:30:30 PM

Login with username, password and session length

On the Road

Started by babyshambler, February 11, 2011, 08:57:13 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

babyshambler

I recently finished Kerouac's novel and decided to do some more reading on the author. As well as finding a fantastic documentary - What happened to Jack Kerouac? on that diabolical torrent site, I also discovered that its being made into a moving picture! Out this year! Two things caught my eye - Viggo Mortensen as Old Bull Lee (Burroughs) and the casting of an Englishman (Riley) as Sal Paradise. Mortensen is nothing short of excellent and one of the most 'believable' actors around. He should make OBL pretty memorable. Sal Paradise being portrayed by Riley is a fairly brave move also. Paradise is an American anti-hero (OK, Canadian-American) and I'll wager there are many that think such a role should have been gifted to a fellow compatriot. Are there any Kerouac fans out there? Maybe it's slightly premature to label myself a 'fan'. One book down and I've barely made a dent in The Dharma Bums, but I sense a relationship with JK that should last more than a book or two.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337692/

Though this film will rely so much on the performance of Garrett Hedlund as Moriarty/Cassady, has he got enough charisma to pull off such a role?

pk1yen

I liked Dharma Bums far more than On The Road - it was far easier to read if nothing else.
I'm halfway through Desolation Angels at the moment, detailing his time post-Dharma-Bums, which is nowhere near as good (I started it at Summer, reached the end of part one and haven't started part 2 ... it was a bit of a struggle).

Big Sur is excellent, however. Much darker than either On the Road or Dharma Bums, but one of the best descriptions of a mental breakdown I've ever read.

Maggie Cassidy is ... good. Not worth raving about, but it's worth reading (if only to see teenage romance through Kerouac's prose style).

There was a documentary about Kerouac on at Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds called One Fast Move or I'm Gone (http://www.onefastmove.com/) over summer, which I missed due to having to go visit my girlfriend's family and have yet to track down. Excellent soundtrack, well worth getting - lead singer of Death Cab For Cutie and some other folk singer sing songs inspired by or containing bits of Kerouac's prose.

I'm hoping the various Kerouac movies will be as inspiring as the books (and hopefully get more people reading them).

scarecrow

I find that whenever people discuss On The Road, they tend to dwell on its opening chapters without really engaging with the fact that Moriarty becomes quite a pathetic character by the novel's conclusion. It's a book that everyone seems to have an opinion of, but I question how many of its admirers, especially those who espouse the lifestyle depicted, have actually read it properly.

I expect that the film will pre-occupy itself with the legend of the book, rather than its content and will, thus, be a load of twaddle.

bitesize

oooh, i loved Kerouac (and all the beats) when i was in my 20s, i think i got a bit obsessed with On The Road (although The Subterraneans was always my favourite, fairly depressing though it is). got my doubts about turning it into a film mind, can't really see how you could capture the whirlwind excitement of the prose... suppose it'll have to be heavy on the voiceover, i guess they could just read whole passages aloud over footage of them driving along. as has been said, it's really gonna hinge on the performances for Kerouac + Cassady.

on a related note, i saw on Film 2011 there's a film out (or soon out) about Allen Ginsberg, and specifically the publication of Howl and its associated court case. looks really interesting, will definitely look out for that one...

mrlizard

Quote from: scarecrow on February 25, 2011, 11:29:19 AM
I find that whenever people discuss On The Road, they tend to dwell on its opening chapters without really engaging with the fact that Moriarty becomes quite a pathetic character by the novel's conclusion. It's a book that everyone seems to have an opinion of, but I question how many of its admirers, especially those who espouse the lifestyle depicted, have actually read it properly.

I expect that the film will pre-occupy itself with the legend of the book, rather than its content and will, thus, be a load of twaddle.

I think nailing the fast-paced, meandering, (dare I say it) 'jazz' prose style of the book is just as important as the content. How they'll do it, I dunno. In saying that...

Quote from: bitesize on February 25, 2011, 04:58:27 PM
on a related note, i saw on Film 2011 there's a film out (or soon out) about Allen Ginsberg, and specifically the publication of Howl and its associated court case. looks really interesting, will definitely look out for that one...

It's doing the rounds in all the bad places online. It's good , I enjoyed it, and not just because Dreamy John Hamm and Dreamier James Franco are in it. (Some top class film analysis from me, there.)

babyshambler

Quote from: pk1yen on February 24, 2011, 08:43:14 PM
I liked Dharma Bums far more than On The Road - it was far easier to read if nothing else.

I'm in agreement here, even if there was an overload of buddhist jargon at times.

Quote from: bitesize on February 25, 2011, 04:58:27 PM
oooh, i loved Kerouac (and all the beats) when i was in my 20s, i think i got a bit obsessed with On The Road (although The Subterraneans was always my favourite, fairly depressing though it is).

I'm just starting The Subterraneans. I have nothing more to add, yet.