A few minutes spent on reviewing beatnik stereotypes from cartoons, television, and books is too much. Similarly, the three dramatized scenes in the film are of limited benefit. Dennis Hopper as Burroughs is too dry, with both his looks and voice impeding the portrayal's quality. There is no way to come close to the vitality of great writers in staged deliveries of their work, and The Source would be better if it had dropped these scenes in favor of real recordings of the actual writers. The Source is an attempt to filter the records left by other media through the medium of film.
Film is well-suited to deliver montages of sounds, photographs, and films.
This attempt does succeed in bringing to the viewer a sense of the vitality of its subject, though it gets sidetracked at several spots. The Source works best when Workman skillfully arranges the source material, and not as much when he offers new commentary. Copyright 2000 Michael R. Allen.