Michael_Elliott An American Hippie in Israel (1972)** (out of 4)American hippie Mike (Asher Tzarfati), angered from what he saw in Vietnam, heads off to form a civilization where love and peace is everywhere. He ends up in Israel where he meets three fellow hippies and they head off to an island for fun times.Here's another film that was pretty much forgotten to time but Grindhouse Releasing managed to save it and turn it into a surprising hit in the midnight circles. AN American HIPPIE IN ISRAEL isn't as crazy as some of the others film that the company has rescued but it's certainly a weird little film that's hard to explain. I'm going to guess that writer-director-producer Amos Sefer had big ideas about peace and happiness but the film manages to be a laugh riot at times with its silly dialogue before turning into a downright bizarre nightmare.The biggest flaw with the film is certainly the screenplay, which doesn't seem to know what it wants to do because the majority of the running time just seems to be dialogue- free while the four characters walk around, smile, laugh, get naked and just wonder around without any purpose. Some of the scenes drag on to a point where you'll want to scream at the director to yell cut or for a producer to walk on camera and ask what the hell is going on. Just take a look at the sequence where the American, speaking English, and the Israeli, speaking Hebrew, argue because they can't understand one another. Several scenes just drag on to the point where they become annoying and aggravating.The performances are pretty much what they are but I must say that Tzarfati was "good" to the point where he keeps you entertained. Shmuel Wolf, Lily Avidan and Tzila Karney play the three other hippies and all of them are at least interesting enough to keep you involved in their story. The dialogue gets some of the biggest laughs because it basically sounds like a non-hippie trying to write hippie dialogue. It's quite laughable at times and perhaps this is why so much of the film is dialogue-free; because what dialogue there is is pretty bad.I'm not going to ruin the final fifteen-or-so minutes of the film but they're certainly crazy and makes very little sense. A lot of the laughs from midnight crowds probably happens to what the four "turn into" and there's no doubt that you could really rip the film a new one because of it but at the same time it's a pretty bleak vision. AN American HIPPIE IN ISRAEL isn't a masterpiece or a complete disaster. It's an interesting little film to say the least.

HEFILM This feels like the people who made it actually believed in it, in the Hippie credo. It also feels like they kind of made it up as they went along and don't really know how to make a movie.The best scene is a silent nightmare sequence both in a funny way and in an inspired way--too bad the whole film can't live up to this level. And the basic idea of a hippie Lord of the Flies is good too. But the action and violence is all laugh out loud poorly done and the long scenes of hippie talk need better actors or an actual script.The music is quite good at times but gets repeated as do the nice travel shots out into the barren wilds.The surreal nature of the two "Mine" figures and much of the rest of it feels like a stage troop decided to film a half rehearsed stage show and that's what we have. Camp by definition.Is it slow, well let's just say scenes go on as long as possible, sometimes that has a retro, you-should-have-been-there quality. Others make you glad you can fast forward.It's well worth a look if you either like and or like to laugh at hippies at their pure core. Also a little different as it's sort of a culture clash of American Hippie and Euro Hippie. They just needed some real actors and a real filmmaker to put it over, though the lead isn't bad and looks the part. Oh yes there are naked hippie chicks.A fun, if pokey, movie that you have to see just to say you've seen it all. Get with it.

d-j-dekok Unbelievable. Godawful. Mess. This was (inexplicably) on Turner Classic Movies at 2 am this weekend. Curiosity got the better of me (bad me!) and I tuned in. Hippies obviously wrote(?) this, shot it, directed it, all while stoned. I'm waiting for the MST3000 version, or better yet, for someone to give it the "Rocky Horror audience" treatment. Spoilers will not be part of this review, because it would spoil your lunch/dinner/munchies attack. I haven't been stoned in a good 35 years, so maybe state-dependent learning would come into play, and I'd truly be able to appreciate this ever-loving mess of a movie. I have to write ten lines of review, which is about seven lines more than the script had, or for that matter, the emesis-inducing 1970's rock song that keeps playing through the entire movie.

scottjo63-644-593619 I did like this movie however I wouldn't want to see it again. There are a lot of long scenes of nothing which I remedied by going to you tube and listening to a review while the movie was playing, sort of a commentary kind of thing you see in DVDs. That did work and when they would start talking again, I paused the review.This movie kept my interest until the end and that was something. Turned into a cave man movie where they all stopped talking and grunted and growled. They didn't like war but they sure had a cat fight battle at the end.I liked the meanings of the 2 mimes as maybe the government and when they were on the island became the sharks. And the speech about "pushing buttons" reminded me a little of the "I'm as mad hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore" speech.Maybe a better movie to watch if you are doped up.