An electric-haired John Sinclair, more than one toke over the line, outlines the 10-point program for his White Panther Party, which includes a “total assault on the culture” and abolition of the monetary system. That was then, 1968. Two decades later, watching himself on a video monitor, he laughs hysterically. “When you see this guy,” he says, referring to himself, “all you wanna do is have him arrested.”
Sinclair is one of eight 1960s radicals revisited on video in “Growing Up in America” (First Run Features). As with the series of “7 Up” films, this 1988 award-winning documentary charts the evolution of their lives, re-examines their ideals and reflects on their legacies.
Director Morley Markson intercuts more recent interviews with, among others, Chicago Seven defendants Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, their lawyer, William Kunstler, the widow and son of slain Black Panther Fred Hampton, poet Allen Ginsberg and LSD guru Timothy Leary with footage he shot in 1968 for his award-winning film, “Breathing Together: Revolution of the Electric Family.
What a difference 20 years makes. In 1968, Jerry Rubin proclaims, “Growing up in America means you gotta be a responsible citizen. We don’t want to be responsible. We’re irrational.” Cut to a later time, and Rubin, who died in 1994, is renovating a restaurant and hosting nightclub happenings.
In contrast, an older Hoffman, who died in 1989, seems bemused, but no less defiant. “We’re trained that each generation’s going to be more radical or more silly,” he says. “And the next generation looks at you like, `You’re so weird.’ “
Markson, a Toronto native, got “the film bug,” he says, after creating motion pictures for Montreal’s Kaleidoscope Pavilion at Expo ’67. He says he was sensitive not to make a revisionist, “you sold out” documentary. “Allen Ginsberg said he didn’t think that was fair for people to exploit anyone else’s life that way,” he says.
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“Growing Up in America” (available Sept. 9; First Run Features; 90 minutes; $29.98) can be ordered by calling 800-488-6652. (star) (star) (star) 1/2
