Unlike the music videos began by the Beatles and the Monkees, the whole movie is Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant" album forming the basis for the movie's story, and is loosely based on a real life Alice who opened a restaurant in a converted church.
The movie reenacts the story about how a small town makes a big fuss about Arlo Guthrie's dumping garbage down a ravine and putting him in jail for it (things were too quiet then I guess), and how it would cause Arlo to be rejected for military service-the theme of the album's title song. Hippie life in general is covered, but not a Pollyannaish manner. Alice finally gets sick of hippies living off her hospitality and blows her top at them, a man dies from drug use, a Vietnam Veteran comes home wounded. The movie does work very well as a period piece and is recommended for understanding the 1960's.
The movie reenacts the story about how a small town makes a big fuss about Arlo Guthrie's dumping garbage down a ravine and putting him in jail for it (things were too quiet then I guess), and how it would cause Arlo to be rejected for military service-the theme of the album's title song. Hippie life in general is covered, but not a Pollyannaish manner. Alice finally gets sick of hippies living off her hospitality and blows her top at them, a man dies from drug use, a Vietnam Veteran comes home wounded. The movie does work very well as a period piece and is recommended for understanding the 1960's.