Ariella Broughton
It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.
Deanna
There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
Janis
One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.
Jeffrey Burton
I remembered this film as being one of the best movies to capture the spirit of the 60's. It's ageism is now a little funny and seems dated. The performances are great and the social satire is still as cutting edge as ever.It's an alternate universe version of the uptight older generation's worst nightmare. Christopher Jones is so much like James Dean, I thought for years after I first saw it that it was him playing Max Frost. He's incredibly dynamic and I've always wondered why he didn't have a bigger career. Hal Holbrook is great as an ambitious and idealistic Senator who ends up getting played. Shelley Winter does another great job as the semi-hysterical shrew, mother. Ed Begley Sr. as the voice of the 'Establishment' , Richard Pryor (in his first film roll)are also on hand. Even Dick Clark has a cameo. 'Nothing Can Change the Shape of Things to Come' was a bonafide hit, being covered by Paul Revere and the Raiders.The crime log narration that runs through it lends a campy mock documentary feel. The shear audacity of the movie is what made me love it and why I love it still. I mean a bunch of LSD being dumped in Congress' water supply would at least explain why they are constantly doing such goofy crap, wouldn't it? This is a movie that never took itself too seriously and that's why it has aged so well, which is sort of ironic in itself.
moonspinner55
Naive political rabble-rouser from A.I.P. has sexy pop star Christopher Jones elected President of the United States after the voting age is lowered to 14. Screenwriter Robert Thom, working from his short story "The Day it All Happened, Baby", addresses heady issues but in a campy manner, skimping on anything too harrowing for the sake of the cartoonish handling. Thom also leaves out a major part of the story (the voting process) in favor of an 'ironic' sub-plot which parallels a chapter of World War II! The picture does look good and sound good, and it has fine acting from Jones, Shelley Winters as his mother, Diane Varsi, Millie Perkins and, in a bit, Richard Pryor. **1/2 from ****
Woodyanders
Shrewd, surly rock star Max Frost (superbly played by the handsome, charismatic Christopher Jones) convinces sleazy, opportunistic Senator Jimmy Fergus (a terrific Hal Holbrook) to lower the legal drinking age to 14. After Max is elected president by a landslide victory, he makes the retirement age 30 and places anyone who's 35 and over in rehabilitation camps where they are regularly fed LSD to keep them docile. Director Barry Shear, working from a diabolically creative and wickedly witty script by Robert Thom, relates the outrageous, yet chilling and creepy satirical premise with tremendous rip-roaring brio and style (Shear also helmed the harrowing "The Todd Killings" and the exciting crime caper yarn "Across 110th Street," plus did the pilot for "Starsky and Hutch"!). Richard Moore's bright, vibrant cinematography makes expert use of funky freeze frames and snazzy split screen. The rousing garage rock theme song, "The Shape of Things to Come," peaked at #22 on the pop charts (and has been recently used as a jingle for Target department stores). The legendary Paul Frees tackles narrator chores with his trademark plummy aplomb. The remarkable cast qualifies as another significant asset: the ever-crazed Shelley Winters as Max's monstrous, overbearing mother, Diane Varsi as a former child star turned zonked-out hippie chick, Millie Perkins as Fergus' sweet wife, AIP biker pic regular Larry Bishop as a trumpet player with a hook hand, Ed Begley as a crusty old senator, Kevin Coughlin as a cagey adolescent whiz kid lawyer, Richard Pryor as Max's groovy drummer, and Bert Freed as Max's weak, emasculated father. Dick Clark, Walter Winchell, Melvin Belli, Pamela Mason, Army Archerd and Jack Lathan pop up as themselves. The sequence with all of Congress wacked out on acid is positively gut-busting. The final hilarious line of dialogue makes for the perfect closing zinger for this gloriously insane movie. The MGM DVD offers an excellent widescreen transfer along with the theatrical trailer on an ideal doublebill with Roger Corman's equally nutty "Gas-s-s-s."
TR-28
When this came out in 1968 I was 17. It made a huge impression on me then. What a wild and strange movie. I was not really ready for this movie but I liked it just the same. When Max said 14 or fight, I believed him. Of course at 17 I couldn't vote but I was facing 18 and at that time the Vietnam draft. Scary times indeed. Just the other night it was on TMC and I recorded it. I don't think I've seen it anywhere since. It was fun to watch it again, Shelly Winters looked really young, Ed Begley was perfect as the stoned out old Senator and Christopher Jones, going from rock star to politician to President and then to "old guy" played the part to a tee. The only thing about this movie I didn't care for was that it type casted Jones and he really didn't do much after this movie.
