''Riot on Sunset Strip'' is a 1967 counterculture-era

exploitation movie An exploitation film is a film that tries to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. Exploitation films are generally low-quality "B movies", though some set trends, attract critical attention, become hi ...

, released by

American International Pictures American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...

. It was filmed and released within four months of the late-1966

Sunset Strip curfew riots The Sunset Strip curfew riots, also known as the "hippie riots", were a series of early counterculture-era clashes that took place between police and young people on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California in 1966. History By the mid-19 ...

. The film stars

Frank Alesia Frank Alesia (January 4, 1944 – February 27, 2011) was an American actor and television director. He was best known for his work in the beach party film genre during the 1960s, including such films as '' Pajama Party'' (1964) and ''Riot on Su ...

Aldo Ray Aldo Ray (born Aldo Da Re; September 25, 1926 – March 27, 1991) was an American actor of film and television. He began his career as a contract player for Columbia Studios before achieving stardom through his roles in ''The Marrying Kind ...

, Mimsy Farmer, Michael Evans, Anna Strasberg, Laurie Mock, Gene Kirkwood,

Tim Rooney Timothy Hayes Yule (January 4, 1947 – September 23, 2006), better known as Tim Rooney, was an American actor. Rooney was the second son of actor and comedian Mickey Rooney. Later in his life, Rooney suffered from a rare muscle disease known as ...

, and features musical appearances by

The Standells The Standells are an American garage rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in the 1960s, who have been referred to as a "punk band of the 1960s", and said to have inspired such groups as the Sex Pistols and Ramones. They are best kno ...

and

The Chocolate Watch Band The Chocolate Watchband is an American garage rock band that formed in 1965 in Los Altos, California. The band went through several lineup changes during its existence. Combining psychedelic and garage rock components, their sound was marked by Da ...

. Earlier that year, Farmer, Mock and Kirkwood appeared in ''

Hot Rods to Hell ''Hot Rods to Hell'' is a 1967 American suspense film, the last by director John Brahm. The film was based on a 1956 ''Saturday Evening Post'' story by Alex Gaby, "52 Miles to Terror",p. 170 Goble, Alan ''The Complete Index to Literary Sources i ...

'', where Farmer portrayed the bad girl and Mock a vulnerable virgin. In this film, they switched characters. The film attempts to capture the essence of the period around the Sunset Strip riot, and also adds a subplot that revolves around a young girl's troubled relationship with her divorced parents. Her dosage with

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

by a would-be seducer, the subsequent '

acid trip A psychedelic experience (known colloquially as a trip) is a temporary altered state of consciousness induced by the consumption of a psychedelic substance (most commonly LSD, mescaline, psilocybin mushrooms, or DMT). For example, an acid tri ...

' she experiences, and her later discovery by a police sergeant as the victim of

gang rape Gang rape, also called serial gang rape, group rape, or multiple perpetrator rape in scholarly literature,Ullman, S. E. (2013). 11 Multiple perpetrator rape victimization. Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrator Rape: A Multidisciplinary Re ...

, are among the movie's peak moments. The film is now available on DVD through the MGM Limited Edition Collection.

Production notes

"Riot on Sunset Strip", a classic song in the genre of garage punk, was written for the film by Tony Valentino and John Fleck of

the Standells The Standells are an American garage rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in the 1960s, who have been referred to as a "punk band of the 1960s", and said to have inspired such groups as the Sex Pistols and Ramones. They are best kno ...

. The film was made for MGM but they could not move fast enough to release it so Katzman sold it to

.Mark McGee, ''Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures'', McFarland, 1996 p263

Cast

* Aldo Ray as Walt Lorimer * Mimsy Farmer as Andrea Dollier * Michael Evans as Frank Tweedy * Laurie Mock as Liz-Ann Barbrey * Tim Rooney as Grady Toss * Bill Baldwin as Stokes * Anna Strasberg as Helen Tweedy (credited as Anna Mizrahi) * Hortense Petra as Margie * Schuyler Hayden as Herbie * Gene Kirkwood as Flip * Pat Renella as Perry * Forrest Lewis as Aynsley * George E. Carey as Arnow * John Hart as Pritchard *

Dick Winslow Richard Winslow (March 25, 1915 – February 7, 1991) was an American film actor, mostly in supporting roles. He died of complications of diabetes on February 7, 1991, in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California California is a state in ...

as Curtis

References

External links

* *
Review by Dennis Schwartz

DVD available {{Sam Katzman American International Pictures films 1967 films 1967 drama films American drama films Films about hallucinogens Films directed by Arthur Dreifuss 1960s English-language films 1960s American films

Production notes

Cast

See also

References

External links