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Released
1987 · FILM

The Beat Generation: An American Dream

“An investigation of the Beat Generation”

Directed by
Janet Forman
Written by
Regina Weinrich, Janet Forman
Runtime
86 min
DocumentaryHistory

Synopsis

Using original film clips and interviews, this film illustrates the 1950s social movement termed the Beat Generation. Disillusioned with post-World War II America, Beat Generation writers and painters came together because they felt mainstream America was becoming out of touch with humanity and the individual. In their interviews, characters such as Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, Jack Kerouac, and Gregory Corso express their disdain for a society that defines success and happiness in terms of superior technology, cars, and clothing. Those individuals discuss the false conventionality of society and the dangerous world of shock treatments and conformity in which they found themselves. Their goal is to redefine this world to reflect the endless possibilities that characterize America.

Credits

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 14

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Peter OdabashianShot by Tom HoughtonScored by David Amram

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