The Trip

The Trip (1967)

A Lovely Sort of Death

After his wife leaves him, a disillusioned director dives into the drug scene, trying anything his friend suggests.

Date of release
1967-08-23
TMDB
5.8 / 10 (116)
Runtime
1h 25m
Genres
Drama
Director
Roger Corman

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Budget: $100K
  • Filmed in: Malibu

The Trip is a 1967 American psychedelic film produced and directed by Roger Corman and written by Jack Nicholson. It was shot on location in and around Los Angeles, including on top of Kirkwood in Laurel Canyon, the Hollywood Hills, and near Big Sur, California, over three weeks in March and April 1967. Peter Fonda stars as a young man who experiences his first LSD trip.

Production

The film was first announced as early as July 12, 1966, in the Los Angeles Times with Daniel Haller considered to direct, although Corman soon took over the project. Peter Fonda's agents had warned him against taking the lead role, as he already had a bad public reputation with drugs including a recent arrest for marijuana; Fonda was adamant, however, and even performed for a reduced salary.

Corman did research by taking LSD himself while scouting locations at Big Sur, noting it was under "strict medical supervision" with a stenographer to record what happened, and stated that the film would not be unsympathetic to the drug. Charles B. Griffith wrote the first two drafts of the script; the first one was about the social issues of the sixties; the second one was an opera.

On using Nicholson as a screenwriter, Corman said, "I hired him because I knew he was a very good writer. He had written several scripts before. His career wasn't really doing that much at that time. I knew he had experience with LSD, so I hired him as a writer. I was thinking of possibly using Jack for the role that Bruce Dern played.

Filming began on March 29, 1967 and lasted approximately three weeks. The interior of the house with the indoor/outdoor pool where Fonda takes his LSD trip was located on Blue Heights Drive near Laurel Canyon and occupied at the time by Arthur Lee of the band Love. According to Corman, most of the intensely psychedelic decor seen in the house had already been set up by Lee with little additional decoration needed.

Roger Corman wildly edited some scenes for The Trip, particularly the exterior night scenes on the Sunset Strip, to simulate the LSD user's racing mind. The Trip also features photographic effects, body paint on seminude actresses to lend atmosphere, and colorful patterned lighting, both during sex scenes and in a club, which imitates LSD-induced hallucinations. Assistant cameraman Allen Daviau recalled that "Bob used liquid light projectors.

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