Jack Kerouac documentary

Jack Kerouac, cult writer of the Beat generation, remains an American icon. This documentary focuses on the creative pinnacle of his life-63 days spent as a fire warden on Desolation Peak in Washington State. Examining the time through photos and the commentary of those who knew him, the program illuminates Kerouac’s previous work, while prefiguring his later spiral into alcoholism. This is a moving film essay on the unfulfilled ambitions of one of America’s great avant-garde literary figures.
Jack Kerouac documentary
1997

[@lilburro3]

I read On The Road when I was 15 and haven't stopped traveling. Alaska to Puerto Williams Chile, the Caribbean, France, Germany, Bahrain, Nepal, India. Life is a full contact sport, if you aren't physically and emotionally banged up by the end...you did it wrong. Love fiercely, travel far, and learn to be eternal. Great documentary!

[@brianjacob8728]

nice sentiment.

[@wparro6009]

If you aren't changed and banged up you're boring

[@abw48]

@@wparro6009 :If you are 50 years old and you have no regrets you must have lived a very boring life.

[@abw48]

@Proper : everybody has regrets, things they would redo once they get older unless like you... they are perfect beings.

[@Hy-Brasil]

@Proper Not having regrets is regrettable in the end. you live your comfy life and tow the line, follow the path with the rest of the sheep, to and from school and then from home to work every day. living vicariously through fictional accounts and, these days, social media phantoms. And suddenly 15 years has passed you by. then 20... suddenly you're in your 70's looking back at absolutely nothing. you never took that trip. you never stole that kiss. you never even jay walked or pulled the "do not remove under penalty of law" sticker off your mattress.... you simply existed and have no stories for your grand kids. not that they would listen to you tell them. everyone is obsessed with their comfortable little fishbowl lives, watching social media phantoms have adventures. that by itself is a terrible regret. regret doesn't have to be something illegal or immoral. it's realizing you never even tried to meet your full potential. and it is an individual experience for everyone. but i personally encourage everyone to do something astonishing at least once in their lives.

[@hobocyclist]

Dharma bums is one of the best of his books. As a wanderer and wildlife ranger myself it truly resonates.

[@tinatammaro1694]

My favorite too!❤

[@rogeeeferrari]

Listening to him read his book while Steve Allen is playing piano was amazing...

[@stevennorfolk830]

Listen to "Poetry for Beat Generation " album. Jack reading,Steve Allen pianist. Glorious.

[@michaelknapp8961]

My mother lived two streets down from where jack and his mom lived in Lowell, Massachusetts. Jack was 8 years older than my mom. Everybody in Lowell knew each in the 30s and 40s so my grandma and Jacks mom were good friends. My mom would hear stories from time to time about young Jack being a great writer and a bit of an eccentric. On the road is one of my favorite books ever.

[@massimonipote5899]

Straordinario! Pensare che tua mamma vivesse li,vicini di casa!... Se un giorno andrò in America,andrò a Lowell,a Big sur,e a Woodstock...!!! Tre sogni...

[@jnagarya519]

And after his heyday he moved back to Lowell to live with his mommy and drank himself to death.

[@massimonipote5899]

@@jnagarya519 Si....purtroppo! Credo che avesse detto tutto quello che c'era da dire.... ma non penso che volesse davvero ancora morire. Ho letto in un'intervista che desiderava riunire tutti i suoi libri,mettendo i veri nomi dei personaggi presenti nei libri stessi. Riunendoli poi,in un solo grande libro intitolato: " La leggenda di Douluz" In ogni caso,è stato una cometa nel cielo letterario del dopoguerra,e senza dubbio,volente o meno, ha contribuito senza dubbio,a una forte presa di coscienza dei giovani di tutto il mondo da tardi anni 50' in poi....( gli hippies in primo luogo!) Molti neppure lo conoscono...ma siamo in molti ad essere in debito con lui!!! Grazie....Jack.

[@kevinogracia1615]

That's wild. My wife and I drove through Lowell years ago, found Kerouac's grave, had a slug. He's a misunderstood poet, a wrecker of dreams, a follower and a leader... although he despised that. Being an artist is such a bitch.

[@massimonipote5899]

@@kevinogracia1615 I'm sorry,but my english is not good and google translation is not perfect... But,I understand that you don't like Kerouac and maybe not even the Beat generation.... Maybe it's right,maybe it's wrong. In a mail there is little space to talk about such a big and important concept,however.... Have you read any of his books...?! I think that,rightly or wrongly,his merit was to"give voice" and to describe the malaise,the bewilderment and distrust that,eventi now... after some time,afflicts man and the society modern!.... " The suffering of the soul..." I don't know if he failed,maybe everything had become too big even forma him... he certainly didn't want to be famous! How ever,if after 53 years...many of us still talk about him....there is a reason!!! Perhaps,the great ness and skill of a writer and this too! Being an artist is never bullshit... Ciao!!!

[@48voodoocult]

Kerouac fundamentally changed my life. I got my B.A. in literature because of him. I travelled because of him and have been to seven countries all fifty states; it’s never enough. I read and write because of him. My cat is named after him. He was a genius who was robbed of his intelligence by fame and alcohol. We lost a prophet on 10/21/69.

[@marknewton6984]

Met him in St.Pete, FL in '68 in bookstore. He was hammered, I was straight. We talked briefly then I ran. 😎

[@joycegeertsma7115]

Loved how Kerouac reads from his own work, accompanied by jazz musicians- no frills- not one word or phrase out of place. The necessity of experience and hardship in order to find meaning and fulfillment, and never losing sight of the beauty in little things, nature or people- I wished he lived longer to find fulfillment in his own life.

[@wormsnake1]

There are way too many films/books/documentaries that beatify writers. However I think Jack Kerouac deserves it. He was a genuine, seeking soul, searching for something that had already found him. A tortured, brave, authentic man, who gave poetic form to reality, to his dreams, to a better America. His spirituality and unique journey lives beyond his writing, he wrote not just of this life but the one to come. I seriously believe he was a mystic of sorts who lost his mind in the process of his writing life. It can be a lonely road when you can see and you know too much. Only Jack can know whether it was a price worth paying? Only he and God can know the true sanctity of his beating heart, not just the one of the Beat Generation. I can only give my opinion as a reader and admirer to say he was a special soul. A sufferer on the road, prepared to take the road less traveled, in order that we may steal a glimpse of what lies beyond it. Some great people go beyond the perimeter, they see visions of the unseen, they burn bright but fade out way too prematurely. For sure the peace and understanding Mr Kerouac craved was waiting for him, it embraced his worn, broken soul and in an instant his solitary life and existence made complete sense. Good God more than ever, this sorry world needs people like Jack in it. R.I.P JK.🙏❤️.x

[@gurvinder9250]

Your emotions is pure.

[@christianrokicki]

If you can just put the cross-burning aside.

[@Zepster77]

He lost his mind from drinking too much alcohol.

[@brianjacob8728]

@@Zepster77 yup. a lot of the writers from his era turned to the bottle. I think they feel that was where they found some of their inspiration, and soon it became a deadly crutch. Life alone in your thoughts can get perilous when you can't manage your alcohol/drug in-take. These lives burn out way too fast.

[@ryanbuckley3314]

Well said. I wonder, who is here today, to tell us about night, on 3rd st.? Is there anyone, or are we alone, in between the pundits? I don't know whats true anymore. JK seemed true, but I don't know.

[@rattyrachel4316]

Jack Kerouac was apparently totally misunderstood as a writer and as a human being. I certainly don’t envy him his fame - he was a very sad man. I do hope he’s happy wherever he is now. Thank you, Write Like, for an enlightening and entertaining documentary!

[@chrischambers8079]

He’s dead, that’s where he is now 😂 He died in 1969 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@rattyrachel4316]

Chris Chambers, I was referring to a spirit life. Maybe none of us ever truly dies. Or maybe we do. Who knows. If you Know definitively, one way or the other, you know more than anyone else on the planet.

[@Thedarkestduchess]

@@chrischambers8079 yeah.. I think it's clear she knows Jack Kerouac is dead honey. Lord have mercy. Lol. Her comment read just like it should have. I believe it went over your head. 😉 -Or, are you a non believer?

[@Thedarkestduchess]

@@rattyrachel4316 I know that our souls are eternal! I know that certainly. And I'd like to believe Jack Kerouacs soul is happy currently. Who knows, maybe it's reincarnated as someone who is carefree with a peaceful heart. ❤️

[@mark-c802]

Jack Keriouac was a unique pattern of behavior that happened in a big way. What happens once can happen again. You wouldn't know you were alive unless you once were dead. 🌀

[@fredmcloughlin9893]

Memory babe is one of the best biographies I have ever read,if you want to understand Jack kerouac it's a must read. I Highly recommend it.

[@karenk6337]

Joyce Johnson, a girlfriend, wrote an excellent biography of that period as seen through a woman's perspective. Her book is called "Minor Characters " and is well worth a read. She later became an editor for Dell/Delacorte Press.

[@dluap569161]

Minor Characters is an excellent book that gives an insight to so many things about that time. That photo of Jack Kerouac and Joyce Johnson is amazing as well.

[@deannilvalli6579]

I always saw him as a Walt Whitman sort of writer- both in terms of his open, rambling prose style, and in terms of his world view- the openness and the desire for new experiences of all sorts, and the celebration of life rather than its criticism.

[@Recoveryplus]

When I was an alcoholic I used to love Kerouac's writing. Now that I'm recovered I can see how sick, lonely, and depressed he was.

[@A10011]

This resonates.

[@skyeblu1722]

Your alcohol issues and recovery does not negate the karmic experience of Jack’s time on earth and his personal contribution as a brilliant writer who felt deeply the issues of the day……..he contribute a stark perspective and appraisal of the existentialist dilemma so many experience, alcohol or not.

[@Recoveryplus]

@@skyeblu1722 i still find his writing beautiful, but i no longer resonate with his perspective. i can see now how it is shaped by his alcoholism and depression.

[@swagnusmcduck7566]

Or.. you became another victim of mental gymnastics. Either feeling a deeper purpose to the madness, or becoming apathetic towards it. Madness is madness, and you have mistaken blindness for a cure.

[@Recoveryplus]

@@swagnusmcduck7566 you're making a lot of assumptions

[@jimrebr]

I have loved Jack Kerouac since I was a teenager. I wanted to name a daughter, Cassady since I was a teenager. My husband and I had boys, no girls, sadly, but our youngest is named Jackson, so I kind of honored Jack Kerouac after all. We live right under Marblemount, I never knew about his time at Desolation Peak, wow! We took our sons hiking up their so many times over the years. Love it here, my husband and his brothers were all all born here, just as our sons were, though I’m 5th generation Californian, I lived in the Bay Area for 10 years, met husband there. Went to City Lights whenever I got the chance. Never imagined that JK had a strong connection to Skagit County, Washington, until today. Just Wow!

[@user-jv9qz2bu1r]

moved to Port Townsend in 2000 ,,, my Fam arrived in San Francisco less then 10 years after the '49 Gold Rush

[@Lyrielonwind]

I was in the pub Vesubio close to City Lights in Little Italy, SF. I loved the place and it was around 1992.

[@corinnehernandez4549]

I discovered the name Jack Kerouac when I was in high college and I read a book about the Doors. Jim Morrison was a fan of On The Road. This documentary is sad. I know writers are complex people but i didn't expect something so tragic.

[@abw48]

That part of Washington State is far from being a ''godless terrain'', it is in fact beautiful beyond words in its rugged beauty. As a young man born in a slum in Glasgow Scotland in 1948, I found the book On the Road, I dont know how, but I remember reading it and thinking that one day I will drive across America in a Cadillac.... In 1983 I drove across America for the first time from Times Square NYC to Palm Springs California in a Drive Away, delivering somebodies Car to them, and on the way I was thinking of those days so long ago though the Car was an Oldsmobile, a Baby Caddy, however I have driven across America many times since as I became in the 1990s a Long Haul Trucker,48 States and Canada, driving 13 thousand miles a Month and I am a proud American Citizen. The America The Beats inherited and the America I experienced were not the same though I lived in San Francisco most of the 1980s, after I delivered the Car, I moved there, married a lovely woman from LA and the rest they say...Is history... God Bless The USA.

[@henrywasserman]

Jack inspires the best in us. Everything he touched was larger than life. Obviously the alcohol ruined him. But there was a large portion of what he left that can not be ruined in that way.

[@beastylad7418]

Enjoyed your comments’ you seem a bit like Jack yourself’ having travelled America 🇺🇸 by car and truck’ I envy you’ unlike me you went and done it , I’m still talking about it ‘ anyway I’m going to read this that book again’ even though I’m 72 ‘ perhaps this time I’ll understand it’ Thanks 👍

[@abw48]

@@beastylad7418 : Im also 75 and have traveled the World and now reside in SE Asia.. I was a Long Haul Trucker in the USA once upon a time.

[@Tigerbrown44]

Watching this documentary made me realize how much i have internalized Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, and Henry Miller. Back in the 80’s, when i was a young man, I traveled across the country several times. I stayed in shitty motels, ate in diners, drank in dive bars, and saw all of the lower 48 states. I related to the hobo vagabond life style. Now in my late 50’s i appreciate those experiences even more. I loved the road, the big cities, the beautiful nature of this country. I’m dismayed at the rampant consumerism, the vicious capitalism, the confining modern day narcissism and thought control that dominates society. Now i worry about retirement and health care and aging. It’s rather sad.

[@kmshallaed8989]

This is a brilliant documentary. I wish I could like it 20 times. It captures the spirit of Jack Kerouac in a way many film-makers ought to be envying. Thank you, Andrew O'Hagan.

[@robearle3976]

Society will Never understand the seeking creative mind, and what it means to be a private sojourner in the fields of the mind…….

[@noneofurbusiness5223]

True in the West. If you live in India 🇮🇳 it's part of life.

[@scudfarcus4343]

Western society, and in particular, American society, is the ultimate, the end all, be all, collective creative mind. Nearly everything that benefits humanity, nearly everything in the real world that humanity seeks, is a product of that collective mind.

[@kamalmanzukie]

@@scudfarcus4343 what a lovely thing to say

[@stevennorfolk830]

And yet the entire system of thought came from the East! Read Ginsbergs intro to Pomes All Sizes. Synthesis and Whitmanic merging of Eastern traditions with Western spontaneity. Dostoyevskian events in rooms. As we stand,the West is entirely antithetical to art and thought. It ate Jack alive as it eats all.

[@johnedward8352]

Love that.

[@omarhernandez7188]

Oh man, I ‘ ve been looking for this documentary for a long time. I watched in 1998 in a Mexican cultural channel. I recorded it in a VHS cassetteAt that time I was amazed for the Jack Kerouac’s life and work and learned and loved the beat generation. Thank you

[@NSEW_Mag]

Thank you for posting this- it is so stripped of agenda, and shows the real side of a misunderstood genius. watched this on his 100th birthday this past weekend!

[@edwardhaglin2322]

I hitchhiked the rainbow road for ten years after reading Kerouac books in the late seventies the beats were still around and hippies still young and beautiful

[@guytwombly2955]

Nice

[@alexcarter8807]

I grew up in Hawaii and in the 70s we certainly got our share of hippies. Hippy-ism was all about avoiding the draft, that's all it was. The hippies who got burned out on drugs or weren't very smart to begin with eked out a living on welfare, food stamps, and petty scams. The smarter ones ended up owning most of the North Shore. In general they were not fun people - keep in mind they're the group who invented "political correctness" and gatekeeping.

[@jamesfyffe2610]

So how did your story end …. or going ?

[@velocitygirl8551]

Wow this was beyond words!! The editing … shots of San Francisco while he read his book aloud… just, all of this. Wonderful! Bravo!

[@mandolinwind]

Loving all the comments, funny, Chet Baker blowing his soul into " My Funny Valentine" as i read . How i wish i could meet people in the flesh with the same love of Kerouac, Bukowski, Tom Waits - goes on and on " Need to make a big connection, baby somethings got to give" ...., this nagging, achey feeling of being so misunderstood, and understanding everything but the words. .im glad this popped up in the feed! Thank you fabulous, interesting people! For a moment, i felt it, you know - that squealy feeling. Cheers!

[@EveHoward631]

My favorite author, 1 of 4 - I have read with passion all he wrote. His books I will read over & over again to my last day! His own person forthright individualistic, his belief in God, his goodness yet naughtiness, his respect for animals & all things of beauty brightest star-struck his words appeared startingly! Desolation Peak just added another dimension - his craft came first❗️❣️ My appreciation!

[@kaykayron2222]

Too bad he was a deadbeat dad.

[@gaminawulfsdottir3253]

This documentary saved the best for last -- Kerouac himself, performing his words the way they were meant to be.

[@georgedantz4027]

I really enjoyed this documentary about Jack Kerouac! By emphasizing Jack's Desolation Peak experience, it really shines a light on his frame of mind before and after achieving his great fame.

[@alankovacik1928]

can you imagine using the same fire finder equipement as Kerouac?, this stuff should be in a museum!

[@privateprojects2950]

Lowell, Massachusetts was a Textile town not a steel town.

[@tarralynne9256]

The BEATles were inspired by Kerouac, (hence their choice of spelling) the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, all inspired by Jack get back Kerouac ! Jack was rapping to Jazz in the 50’s

[@mosessupposes2571]

The “beat” generation seemed to be one of self-absorption which led to self pity which led to self-destruction with an exaggerated sense of entitlement.

[@joanodom2104]

Says only you.

[@kelman727]

@@joanodom2104 And me. Dull too. You can hear the soft thuds as Kerouac’s readers nod off and slump to the carpet.

[@jg6698]

@@joanodom2104 I agree with him. Says me. Also. Just self absorbed drunks and dopers.

[@myytchanneldinakoha8498]

@@kelman727and me.

[@bbeaup]

@@joanodom2104and me. some of the stuff by the beats was interesting and challenging but overall yeah lmao. Arrested development and hints of the puer aeternus.

[@philipadam7870]

This expat from San Francisco loved seeing / hearing Ferlinghetti too! A rich and well done documentary. Thank you!

[@tedjumble8826]

Great documentary.I read mostly all the books of Kerouac,including two biographies.His writing style and point of views were unique and touch the deep human thrills.Thaks 1 million times,Jack.🙏

[@kevinogracia1615]

Well done doc... great snapshots. Didn't Gary Snyder hook him up with the Desolation Peak gig so he could dry out and be one? It was there he had a satori, I believe... Inspiration for "The Dharma Bums." Peace on earth.

[@myytchanneldinakoha8498]

I don’t regard Kerouac so highly as i did as a young man.

[@dluap569161]

Desolation Angels was the first Jack Kerouac I read, which I guess is not so common. Apart from the beautiful writing, as somewhat of a loner who also needs human connection myself it connected with me despite it not being the most positive take on existence. After that, I had to read everything he wrote, with Visions of Cody being the most mind-blowing.

[@hueyfreeman8388]

Thank you for this excellent documentary! That fire watch cabin in the North Cascades meant a lot to me. Had a Mexican dinner with the last fire watchman of that era in 1975. Lonesome Traveler influenced me to travel throughout North America and Europe, mostly alone. Too bad Jack Kerouac died so young. I met most of the other beat writers in the 1970s, in and around San Francisco. Kerouac had clashed with them, because they were strongly against the Vietnam War. As this film showed, he stood strong for conservative values. Too bad alcohol dragged him down. It was interesting to me that only Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who was a great guy, was interviewed, of all the beat writers in his circle. Kerouac and Ferlinghetti were the most down to earth of them all. I'm just guessing about Kerouac, because he died before I ever saw any of them. But he was a great inspiration to me, to be a writer, an individual and lonesome traveler.

[@hannahhanson133]

What a talented person with words are you. Thankful to read your thoughts on Kerouac

[@MG-ge5xq]

Thank you. This gave quite an insight. I wasn't that familiar with Jack Kerouac. But now I know. It was a pity that his writing career didn't go on for another 20 years or so.

[@xx7secondsxx]

Wow!!! When hes in the show with the man playing Piano.... what it says, makes me think of Kurdt Cobain! A man just TRULY LIVING IN HIS PASSION and making art! His art is sooo REAL AND TRUE! the responsibility of being a voice of an entire generation is a HEAVY burden!!! You can see the weight and effects it had in both. They've both changed my life and I could never say and thank them enough for their passion that created the art that is wise sooo much and have shaped my life around

[@Sassyjass2012]

The man playing piano was Steve Allen. He was the first host of The Tonight Show, as well as of later variety shows, a comedian, a songwriter, and a published author. Steve also recorded albums with Jack and championed many jazz performers.

[@marknewton6984]

Steve Allen was underrated.

[@MinionofNobody]

The Jack Kerouac interview on The Steve Allen Show is interesting. I have a copy of the full video. If you watch it in isolation, Kerouac comes across as an author at the peak of his abilities. Kerouac’s description of that event is quite different. He wrote about being unable to cope with it, running out of rehearsals, and leaving Steve Allen unsure if Kerouac would come back. Kerouac found a bar and got drunk. He was still drunk while he was on the show. Allen was treating Kerouac with kid gloves because he was afraid they would have a repeat of Kerouac’s behavior during the rehearsal. For all his faults, Kerouac was an experienced drunk. It is thus hard to realize he was drunk unless you know to look for it. The Steve Allen Show resulted in a successful collaboration album in which Kerouac read his work while Allen improvised on the piano. It was a big success. That success, however, led to a huge disappointment for Kerouac on the second album in which Kerouac collaborated with some of his jazz heroes. Kerouac felt that the jazz musicians didn’t take it seriously like Kerouac did. They played over him while he was speaking, failed to match the mood of his speaking, etc. This series of events strikes me as being a pretty good microcosm of Kerouac’s life. He would have huge successes with which he had trouble coping, followed by failures and depressions, followed by successes, and more failures. His drug and alcohol use only exacerbated these cycles. Toady, he might be diagnosed with bipolar disorder and prescribed medications to help him cope. Sadly, I suspect he needed those cycles to write as he did.

[@plasteredbastard]

Kerouac off the pervasive influence of OTR alone could be credited, perhaps singlehandedly, of setting people off in various tangents across the country in the late 50s embracing that same sense of enterprise and prospect of what lay outside our own geographical and philosophical orbit.

[@blackbird5634]

I got a second hand account of some beat-poet times from a 93 year old Zen Monk named Stan (Butan) White who had been a member of their group way back. Old Stan recalled some good times but after serving in both WW2 and Korea he settled on welding and then art as careers which somehow brought him to the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. By the time I met Stan he was a rebellious old coot cadging cigarettes and coffee at the World Cup Coffee shop in Taos New Mexico. The Hokoji Zen Center there was a little tired of his antics and they admitted he had strayed somewhat from the teachings. He chain smoked other people's cigarettes, and gave me black coffee and what he called Dharma Transmission as "gifts from an old reprobate." He was bent like a question-mark and funny and irreverent and he was the coolest old dude I've yet come across. *That Kerouac was "repulsive" as an aging alcoholic is not a surprise to me, also an alcoholic, but it is disheartening to hear considering he at one time embraced, and guided others toward Zen Buddhism. And I prefer to think of him in his mother's garden, in quiet meditation and contemplation and later holding the cat that he is photographed with on that book jacket cover.

[@kurts4867]

Booze and alcoholism killed this talented young man. Tragic. He likely was a depressive but the alcoholism kept him depressed in a vicious circle. You can’t cure the depression unless you get a hold of the substance-abuse i.e. alcoholism. The death toll of booze for artist is staggering. Jack Kerouac, Jim Morrison, Chris Farley and countless others were taken from us by alcohol

[@ryanbuckley3314]

I don't want to glamorize disfunctionality, but...always but, but, but... Could a perfectly well adjusted Hemingway, or Thompson, or Kerouac, ever understand how to compell us so?

[@KarlKrogmann]

@@ryanbuckley3314 No. Great writers are blessed with great flaws.

[@ryanbuckley3314]

Well said.

[@GunnerRDS]

@@ryanbuckley3314 I think they were creative DESPITE the alcohol, not because of it

[@ryanbuckley3314]

That's right. That's the real point. Demons provide context, but not strength or ability. Good point.

[@myradioon]

A good overview however there were many important facts left out. He was 1/8 native American (Iroquois) on his Moms side. His Dad drank himself to death after loosing a middle class lifestyle, having to move to NY with his mother while Jack was in school. Jack broke his leg while playing for Columbia and his football career was ended. He had to join the merchant marine to pay for school and was almost torpedoed on a boat to Greenland. When he got back to school a poet friend of his Lucian Carr was being stalked by a friend of William Burroughs. Carr stabbed the man in Riverside Park and Jack helped throw the body in the Hudson River. The two were arrested, landing on the front page news (he wasn't famous yet). Jack had a baby on the way (he did in fact have daughter and a wife). He had to marry his girlfriend in part to get bail. Carr was charged with Second Degree Murder. Jack dropped out of school because of all of this. The doc just jumps to him taking off for unspecified reasons. Many people read into Jack's reasons and or assumed privilege for going on the road without the important parts of the story. He was far from Middle Class stability at that point.

[@DexterHaven]

Thanks for dropping those knowledge bombs from 5k feet. That helps.

[@myradioon]

@@DexterHaven Thanks. "Vanity of Doluoz" (1967) is his direct telling of those years. "Windblown World" is his private journals.

[@finnmcginn9931]

Why would having a great grandparent who was indigenous be pertinent to the story?

[@myradioon]

​@@finnmcginn9931 Because many people dismiss him as nothing but a privileged middle class white guy. His famous line "America is an Indian thing" from 'Railroad Earth" has much more meaning in this context. It also may explain his genetic disposition toward alcoholism which Native Americans have. His Mother was a functioning alcoholoic and his drinking buddy in later years. His daughter drank herself to death.That's why.

[@DexterHaven]

@@myradioon Good answer. Jack's ancestry and heritage probably helped shape his self-understanding and perspective on the world and his role in it, as it does with others. [For example, I am descended from Brit's; as I've aged, I've gravitated toward the British thinkers, Bacon, Newton, Austin, Russell, Keynes, Strachey, Moore, Wittgenstein (who became a British citizen), the Bloomsbury Group, etc. A subconscious draw, perhaps, a sense of hanging with my peeps.]

[@HermeticWorlds]

63 days without anyone else around - sounds like heaven!

[@marknewton6984]

Go for 64...

[@bboldt2]

Thank you for this revealing portrait. Jack Keroack, un freighted of all my assumptions was both a simpler and deeper than I expected. The poetry of his language never fails to transport me.

[@duvidl]

Read Kerouac's "Desolation Angels". Tells the whole story.

[@plev10]

This is beautiful. Thank you for the reminder of Jack's enormous spirit and outsized dreams.

[@johnclark1146]

This took me back. I read On the Road in high school.

[@georgemunoz878]

“On the road” is the only book I’ve had read from the beginning till the end in one day, I couldn’t put it down I was mesmerised by his writing.

[@ellioteaston7745]

How can this documentary not mention his daughter, Jan Kerourac, who was a writer in her own right and whose life was destroyed by his negligence?

[@effdonahue6595]

Plus she wrote Off the Road with Dina Moriarty 🤓🤡

[@peterschlipf9114]

I lived "On the Road" when I was 17-21, hitchin coast to coast 5x 1978-1983 - then I discovered the book around 2003:-)

[@christinacascadilla4473]

63 days without any company sounds pretty good.

[@geraldkaczmarek626]

Christina, Agreed and great minds think alike 😊❤

[@TimGreig]

I agree. Didn't really see it as a huge challenge. An introvert like him probably handled it better than they claim. However, I guess if he was dead set on a mystical experience he would have been disappointed

[@paulinerochin]

do it

[@paulinerochin]

Finish the documentary. It is NOT about 63 days. Read the book.

[@rossriver75yukon27]

I learned a lot from that. What a sad story. And I enjoyed the interviews. Especially with Carolyn Cassidy. What a classy, mature woman.

[@angelop9332]

Love this documentary which I had on videotape... so grateful to watch it again.... thank you... love your channel

[@leewilson1316]

I read somewhere once that Neal dragged Jack into a Merry Pranksters "happening". Obviously appaled/disgusted, Jack commented to Neal, " You mean to tell me I had a hand in creating this?"

[@marknewton6984]

Jack knew. 😎

[@zarquondam]

Mostly an excellent documentary, but I have a few gripes: a) Commenting specifically on this very documentary, Charles Shuttleworth, in the intro to his Kerouac collection DESOLATION PEAK, takes issue with the claim that Kerouac’s time on Desolation Peak “ruined him as a writer.” Shuttleworth points out that Kerouac’s period on Desolation Peak was in fact an exceptionally productive time for him as a writer, and that after coming down he went on to write many of his most highly acclaimed works, including DHARMA BUMS, DESOLATION ANGELS, BIG SUR, OLD ANGEL MIDNIGHT, and the second half of TRISTESSA. Shuttleworth also notes that Kerouac’s journals while at the top of the peak alternate between ecstatic enthusiasm and dark depression; to take either one of these without the other as the sole meaning of his time there is misleading. The journal entries quoted in this documentary are accurate, but they’re also very selective. Taking Kerouac’s experience on Desolation Peak as solely or mainly one of enlightenment and regeneration (as Kerouac himself tries to spin it or romanticise it in some of his writings, e.g. DHARMA BUMS), and taking it as solely or mainly one of self-hatred and despair (as this documentary does), are equally one-sided. b) Saying that Kerouac was brought up to be an American patriot and therefore could have no use for young men who refused military service neglects the fact that Kerouac himself faked a psychiatric condition in order to get out of military service. (Relatedly, his entire WW2 service experience is left out of this documentary.) c) Re Kerouac’s hammering out ON THE ROAD “high on booze and Benzedrine” - that’s a popular legend, and probably describes the composition of *some* of Kerouac’s books, but Kerouac himself always said that the only thing he was high on when he wrote ON THE ROAD was coffee. (See Howard Cunnell’s intro to ON THE ROAD: THE ORIGINAL SCROLL.) d) Kerouac may at some point of said “no editing!” (with regard to ON THE ROAD), but in fact he would go on to do lots of editing - some in accord with, and some contrary to, the publisher’s suggestions. (Again, see Cunnell.) e) Describing Neal Cassady as a logical-minded, consistent thinker and a reliable worker and homemaker is ... let’s say, odd, if you know anything about his biography. Also odd to talk of Cassady’s despair at seeing his friend spiral into death by alcoholism when Cassady himself died a year earlier than Kerouac, wandering along the railroad tracks, high on barbiturates. e) The documentary uses “in the public domain” to mean “published,” which is certainly not what it means!

[@AlvaroEchanove]

Awesome documentary. Jack is so touching in that last piece of footage, brooding under the applause.

[@godsowndrunk1118]

The trip to desolation peak took Kerouac three days because they had to take the long way because of the pack horses....the road was only five miles down the mountain.... that's Diablo lake you see a short way away.... the Dam was completed in 1930. Fire watcher was no job for a city boy....

[@ClaudioGabrielSalgado-qt5ee]

Even here, in south america, sometimes once in a while the jack kerouac's spirit use to fly, specially around the andes mountains. Thanks for posting this great document ! ❤(from jujuy,argentina)

[@jayj6406]

Too much has been made of Karouac. He's a guy who had a knack for words, who wrote a book about being young. It came along at a particular time that put a magnifying glass on it.

[@dluap569161]

No. His name is Kerouac not "Karouac" and he had much more than a knack for words and wrote many things - poetry, prose and more - but never a book just about being young.

[@richardmarsh3312]

Why comment on something you clearly know nothing about?

[@irvhh143]

That's true of virtually all successful writers. It is talent and hard work, but luck is a factor, the right story at the right time. There are many that were as good or better, but fortune smiles on one at a time. FSF's Tender is the night was not a monetary success. Depression era America had no interest in a story of a playboy bumming around Europe.

[@joanodom2104]

I can't begin to imagine how agonizing it must have been trapped in the fire lookout cabin, experiencing unrelenting anxiety. He had such hopes for a spiritual awakening, but I think he underestimated his dependence on booze and amphetamines. How hellish it would be, realizing that departure was not an option. It always amazed me how much he and Cassady looked alike. I would further imagine it would be difficult to have the creative, sensitive soul of a poet, whilst still trying to remain a Catholic, macho, conservative. That double-mindedness absolutely drives one to insanity. The alcoholism just helps one get there quicker, simultaneously killing the drunk's physical health. One simply can't maintain trying to portray what every person wants one to portray. Not being true to yourself is deadly.

[@SpockMonroe]

Indeed.

[@DexterHaven]

Your judgment in general is keen, I sense. I wish you were in the White House.

[@henrywasserman]

Jack was living the life of those he truly respected. The jazz bum, the dharma bum, the beauty seeker, the honest to goodness die hard. He was angry and lonely - but he could write it all down and appreciate the sound of it.

[@doreekaplan2589]

Those dependent on booze, drugs, to the point of killing themselves are never anyone I admire or would emulate, including Alan Watts, supposedly spiritual...who said he boozed because he didn't like himself....n u t s.

[@bowerbird7463]

Yes, Kerouac & Cassady almost twin likeness..! So nice to see Caroline Cassady interviewed. She would have been the stabilizing (& common sense) influence on those two (alcoholic) men

[@codybluetarp]

Yeah. Reading Kerouac's "On the Road" was a major sign on the way that he described and the rest of us dreamed as we read his account of The Road. The lesson of what describing a moment might entail. And then head with Dean to the next town. What i recall most in general was how driving West in the morning is chasing your shadow, while the afternoon is being chased by the long shadow.

[@danielholman7225]

Really good analysis of the great Jack Kerouac who influenced so many of us for so long. Thanks Jack.

[@shea086]

Jack Kerouac was a genius of the written and poetic words that are conveyed in his books and visually move us, unlike a lot of story /tellers and writers who are unable to convey their visión. That's the way I see Kerouac,s "On the Road" and in my humble opinión that book was written by an inspired genius. Theres no BS or filler in it. Every word is spot on gold. Yes Jack Kerouac appears to have been an alcoholic. He certainly drank way too much booze and died at the age of 47yrs old. Which is about par for the course. Ive known a few heavy drinking alcoholics. Not one lived beyond the age of 50yrs of age. One was 42yrs(Whiskey - liver cáncer). Another was 49yrs old. He died suddenly as he walked along the street with his girl friend. The heart gave out and he was dead before he hit the ground (an ex cop). The last died the same way at 50yrs old. He just didnt wake up one morning. I have to clarify that these good people were not just heavy drinkers. They were very heavy drinking addicts and never had a day without it. They couldnt stop drinking. Im reminded of another member of the so called Beat guys. William S Burroughs. He was a member of the Beats and friend and coauthor of Kerouac. Burroughs freely admits to being a heroin addict into old age. He started in his early 20s whilst studying to be a doctor and never stopped except for the occasionional dry out for legal reasons. He lived into what doctors call normal old age and was still as sharp as a razor. I beleive he was something like 80 - 84yrs old when he died and still working.

[@ergbudster3333]

"Success is like some horrible disaster." Malcolm Lowry

[@effdonahue6595]

Suckcess!! 🥳

[@marknewton6984]

Malcome knew.

[@justinswingle4714]

a trivia: jack joined neil and carolyn after they took up in a small house carolyn came by on the border of los gatos. the area is called monte sereno. they had a menage of sorts. the house no longer exists. the person who razed it didn't know who had dwelled in the small stucco place. at that time it would have been in the boonies.

[@effdonahue6595]

Those sexy futhamuckas!! 💃🕺🏿🕺🏿

[@angiepanjie]

I wasn’t expecting a Scottish guy to be the documentary narrator😁

[@thomasdahlquist7119]

His brother-in-law: "He was a man of the '30s not of the '60s."

[@massimonipote5899]

Anima inquieta e sofferente,come spesso lo sono i pazzi,i geni e gli scrittori come lui... Ho riletto più volte i suoi libri,ed è sempre come se fosse la prima volta... Ti prende per mano pagina dopo pagina,e per"magia" sei lì, con lui... Grande Jack...!!! Malinconico Jack... Riposa in pace ora,ovunque tu sia...e grazie di tutto!...

[@quininde]

I feel the same with reading him. I was attracted to him as a teenager and loved the dynamic energy. Now as I grow into an older man I read the same books and feel the deep sensitivity and melancholy that pervades it all. His eye and heart and words can just totally astound me and my heart just breaks.

[@MapleSyrupPoet]

Thank you ...very excellent documentary 🇺🇸

[@damonjones9606]

Truman Capote on Kerouac-- "That's not writing that's typing"

[@nadapuesnada7716]

The phrase "talk is cheap" describes that quote from Truman Capote.

[@marknewton6984]

Capote was wrong.

[@kevinfrancis6033]

I read On The Road in 1999, I had the miss-fortune on getting adult chicken pox.. so I managed to get a copy from the local library 📖 an outstanding brilliant read

[@redtobertshateshandles]

His book seems to capture America. I'm an Aussie so I don't really know. Start driving and you break with comfort and home. My brothers both died young, I understand the impact his brothers death had.

[@shanewalters4632]

Wonderful documentary. I've read them all. I've been many times to City Lights and Vesuvio and drove across the starry highways and gasoline cities of America. I mightn't have done, had it not been for him.

[@kendrickjahn1261]

Imagine what Jack Kerouac would think about his beloved America now.

[@marknewton6984]

Not much.

[@johnmartin2813]

My favourite Kerouac was 'Dr Sax'.

[@jilsky]

loved it. didn't find it that depressing.

[@matthewmaguire3554]

Jack was like Toto who pulled back the curtain…then had to deal with dog catchers.

[@TheTeacher1020]

Wonderful, engaging presentation about a fascinating and elusive man.

[@SJ-ni6iy]

This was awesome, great job!

[@apiii73]

I read the book and hit the road as a teen. I have 25,000 miles on my thumb hitchhiking around the country..

[@lyndapierson6338]

just what i needed.

[@devinderbhatia8217]

Beautiful work

[@wraithstrongopark]

a black teenager in the 1980's, i found out about on the road through reading about the doors', jim morrison. i went to the library, got the book and read through it faster than anything i'd ever read, twice. after that moment i was like, fuck the struggle! fuck discrimination! i'm going to be as free as this dude, sal paradise and go where i want and do what i want and to hell with the way things are! i get super emotional thinking about kerouac and on the road, because i have no fucking clue where i would be today if i hadn't found that book.

[@marknewton6984]

The way things are... don't blame you! 😎

[@brian22067]

I wish More people would expand thier mind

[@wormsnake1]

Most people do not have this gift. It’s a gift to be able to access the deeper emotions of oneself. That’s why we need artists, writers, poets, actors, storytellers etc…they help give form to the thinking in one’s mind, to make sense of one’s thought process and to dare to dream.x

[@kimmccabe1422]

amen, awomen!

[@Numbz2dapain]

I think too many people have.

[@deanpd3402]

If you want to expand your mind, read the Bible. You will be amazed.

[@brian22067]

@@deanpd3402 or the mahabharata.

[@stevelawrie9115]

We must have all impressions of "On The Road". I read in when I was young and have read it a few time since. After seeing this documentary I will have to read it again and will probably see it in a totally different light.

[@carolineaustin4138]

Lowell, Massachusetts was a textile manufacturing town, not a steel town. Too bad this significant part of the story was in error.

[@Agapy8888]

I would never be able to sit next to a drunk no matter who it was.

[@markcleveland8338]

You gotta be young...you'll see that everybody has something to get them through, booze , dope ,religion, sex...anyone you think is normal...get to know them better and you'll see they're as twisted and weird as everyone else. There's nobody you've ever sat next to that didn't have their own "wierdness" yourself included. Don't throw stones...

[@Agapy8888]

@@markcleveland8338 Hmmmm. I guess I hit a bad spot.

[@Mr4570Sharps]

Well said, Mark Cleveland.

[@kgilliagorilla2761]

I’ve lived with them, and yeah, no thanks.

[@rajsingharora26]

Loved this ❤️

[@jc6594]

Today Commemorates Jack Kerouac's 100th Birthday

[@fellspoint9364]

How does it go “ like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free “ - L. Cohen speaking for many , old Jack included.

[@godsowndrunk1118]

I'd hardly call the Cascades remote.... they're surrounded by millions of people, have hiking trails and forest service roads running all through and over them and plenty of ski areas. The foot hills are half a mile away from me.. But it sounded good, anyway...

[@tomzeman5964]

Off the road onto the clearcut trail from Desolation Wilderness in Tahoe to the Canadian border I trekked alone only to find myself.

[@agaluch]

Desolation Mt was about drying out and kicking Bennies more than having an epiphany. He was destroyed by those addictions. Buddhism was a mirage he was introduced to by Ginsberg. Watch the interview with William Buckley, by then the hard living had destroyed him. These guys tried to live in the Now. They burned bright and died young. 'A candle in the wind.' to quote Elton John

[@busterbiloxi3833]

Carolyn was Jack's lover.

[@dorisfaust8965]

The names of mountains says it all!

[@ToddRock16]

Thank you❤

[@webstercat]

Kerouac vision of freedom & doing your own thing in the long run leads to a catastrophic life. Family, stability without hipness works in the long run. Speaking from experience. The Beat Generation’s distain for the common man, calling them “square” while at the same time taking advantage of the fruits of their labor reveals their flawed view of the world. As a kid that works, as an adult not so much….

[@brianjacob8728]

Disagree. Would you say that George Carlin had a catastrophic life? No, he changed comedy b/c he made the move away from what was conventional. He simply managed the lifestyle better...

[@robertclarkyoung9141]

Jack Kerouac celebrated the "common" people. His alcoholism was a disease.

[@brianjacob8728]

@@robertclarkyoung9141 alcoholism is not a disease. quit making an excuse. He chose to drink himself to death.

[@robertclarkyoung9141]

@@brianjacob8728 The American Medical Association classified alcoholism as a disease in 1956.

[@brianjacob8728]

@@robertclarkyoung9141 So? That doesn't make it so. If you have to go spend money to make something happen, it's not a disease, it's a choice.

[@davegonnaway6007]

Just listened to on the road audiobook liked it one of the best iv heard..

[@anthonyandmaira8780]

Kerouac and the beats will forever live on in my household

[@johnathandaviddunster38]

65 days on desolation peak would suit me , I once spent a month hiking in the mountains of spain then went to Seville which is loud and colourful and dropped a load of mushrooms quite a trip ......

[@MrZodiac666]

yeeeeehaaa😂