Alice's Restaurant (1969)

Arlo Gutherie plays himself in this adaptation of his famous folk song.  What I liked most about this movie is how Arthur Penn somehow makes it work.  It's a messy film that goes all over the place with crisscrossing story lines.  Yet Arlo is intriguing enough to carry the film and Penn keeps the pace moving at an easy pace.  My favorite parts are when Arlo goes to the Army recruiting center and a powerful sequence at the end that almost seems out of place in a film that never really looks that great.  But what do you expect with a movie about hippies?  Grade: B+