Wild In The Streets (1968)
On the same record buying expedition that netted me The Touchables soundtrack, I managed to score a copy of Wild In The Streets. The LP sounded fantastic, garage punk and acid rock trippiness thanks to Mike Curb, Les Baxter, Jerry Howard and mythical band Max Frost And The Troopers aka The 13th Power….awesome.
Directed by Barry Shear and created under the auspices of ever-so-hip American International Pictures, this has Christopher Jones playing Max Frost, rebel cum self-made millionaire cum acid guru rock star who runs for election as the President of the USA and wins. He successfully gets the vote for 14 year olds, forces everyone over 30 into retirement camps and dispenses LSD as a form of control. He seems unstoppable…or is he?
I saw this film in America a few years ago and time hasn’t diminished my regard for this strongly acted classic of its genre. It really stands head and shoulders above the other late 60s teen exploitation, counter culture, anti-establishment flicks and even got an Oscar nomination. It features great over-the-top turns by a young Richard Pryor, Shelley Winters, Hal Holbrook and Diane Varsi and songs, Shape Of Things To Come, Free Loving and Wild In The Streets are uniformly excellent..
Again, Youtube come to our rescue with some great footage from another hard-to-get long lost gem...
Mark Ellis
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