The Source is a 1999 documentary film directed by Chuck Workman.[1]
The film is about the Beat Generation (which originated in the 1940s)[2] and its impact on the counterculture movements from the 1960s-70s onwards[3] and features appearances by Johnny Depp, Dennis Hopper, and John Turturro each reciting one writer's work (as with Turturro reciting Howl) to another intermixed with archival stock footage and excerpts from various films and shows like Jeopardy (where an entire category is dedicated to the Beats).[4][5]
The film received positive acclaim with an 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.[6]
Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised the film, stating:[5]
"A stirring, kaleidoscopic documentary about the Beat generation and its legacy... spans from the exultant 1940s photo of the young friends of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs to the Jeopardy show on which contestants could win money by asking 'Who were the Beats?'" 'It's eternity all the time, so there's no point being nostalgic for eternity,' Ginsberg is heard saying. But that wisdom runs counter to the moving experience of watching this film unfold."
Gary Morris of Bright Lights Journal, however, states that the "intriguing yet shallow" documentary is less a linear biography of the movement than a kind of "Beat chic" sampler.[7]
