Traces the Beats from Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac's meeting in 1944 at Columbia University to the deaths of Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs in 1997. Three actors provide dramatic interpretations of the work of these three writers, and the film chronicles their friendships, their arrival into American consciousness, their travels, frequent parodies, Kerouac's death, and Ginsberg's politicization. Their movement connects with bebop, John Cage's music, abstract expressionism, and living theater. In recent interviews, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Kesey, Ferlinghetti, Mailer, Jerry Garcia, Tom Hayden, Gary Snyder, Ed Sanders, and others measure the Beats' meaning and impact.
Johnny Depp
as Jack Kerouac
Dennis Hopper
as William S. Burroughs
John Turturro
as Allen Ginsberg
Allen Ginsberg
as Self (archive footage)
William S. Burroughs
as Self (archive footage)
Philip Glass
as Self
Robert Creeley
as Self
Ann Charters
as Self
George Steade
as Self
David Amram
as Self
Ed Sanders
as Self
Gregory Corso
as Self
