Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
Upon receiving his draft notice and leaving his family ranch in Oklahoma, Claude heads to New York and befriends a tribe of long-haired hippies on his way to boot camp.
Miloš Forman's adaptation of the landmark counterculture musical is a visually inventive and kinetically choreographed film, with Twyla Tharp's dance sequences making the cinematography genuinely exceptional — Central Park bursts with energy and color. The novelty is high: Forman's approach to translating the anarchic stage musical into cinematic language is distinctive and bold, capturing late-'60s spirit from the vantage of 1979 hindsight. The plot is serviceable but thin, largely a vehicle for the songs and spectacle rather than deep character development. Acting is competent with moments of charm (Treat Williams is magnetic) but uneven across the ensemble. The ending, which reframes the story with a tragic Vietnam twist, is emotionally resonant but feels somewhat abrupt and imposed rather than fully earned by what precedes it.