"People who eat Army food often end up dead."

Gas! -Or- It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It., 1971. One Star.

This was listed in the TV Guide as "Gas-s-s-s" and was intrigued! The description said, "Roger Corman's futuristic tale of a youth takeover after gas fumes kill everyone over 25." Since it sounded pretty awesome, I set up a DVR recording and watched it the next day.

Some things that happened during the film: Biker gang golf club. Football Town: "Rape Pillage Loot." Native American vegetarian commune: "You're having a protein deficiency hallucination." And the ending? Everyone that was ever in the movie climbed up out of a hole in the ground and there was a big dance party. This sounds fun and interesting, right?

IT'S NOT! Essentially, it is an obsolete counterculture comedy. At first I thought, "It's only 79 minutes, I can handle sitting through it." But I was so antsy and bored the whole time! At it's heart, it's basically one big boring hippie road trip. Though it did, however, bring up valid alternative viewpoints on established social hierarchies and countercultures at the time, and I appreciate that it was done in such a cool, weird way.

This movie probably went over my head. It's probably brilliant. I'd probably think it was the best thing ever if I were my age now back when this movie was released.

This situation begs the question: is it better to be the pinnacle representation of your time, or to be timeless? Both are legit goals. If you're a filmmaker, I guess it depends on what's important to you.