On the Road

Plot synopsis:
The two main characters of the book are the narrator, Sal Paradise, and his friend Dean Moriarty, much admired for his carefree attitude and sense of adventure, a free-spirited maverick eager to explore all kicks and an inspiration and catalyst for Sal's travels. The novel contains five parts, three of them describing road trips with Moriarty. The narrative takes place in the years 1947 to 1950, is full of Americana, and marks a specific era in jazz history, "somewhere between its Charlie Parker Ornithology period and another period that began with Miles Davis." The novel is largely autobiographical, Sal being the alter ego of the author and Dean standing for Neal Cassady.
=== Part One ===
The first section describes Sal's first trip to San Francisco. Disheartened after a divorce, his life changes when he meets Dean Moriarty, who is "tremendously excited with life," and begins to long for the freedom of the road: "Somewhere along the line I knew there would be girls, visions, everything; somewhere along the line the pearl would be handed to me." He sets off in July 1947 with fifty dollars in his pocket. After taking several buses and hitchhiking, he arrives in Denver, where he hooks up with Carlo Marx, Dean, and their friends. There are parties—among them an excursion to the ghost town of Central City. Eventually Sal leaves by bus and gets to San Francisco, where he meets Remi Boncoeur and his girlfriend Lee Ann. Remi arranges for Sal to take a job as a night watchman at a boarding camp for merchant sailors waiting for their ship. Not holding this job for long, Sal hits the road again. "Oh, where is the girl I love?" he wonders. Soon he meets Terry, the "cutest little Mexican girl," on the bus to Los Angeles. They stay together, traveling back to Bakersfield, then to Sabinal, "her hometown," where her family works in the fields. He meets Terry's brother Ricky, who teaches him the true meaning of "mañana" ("tomorrow"). Working in the cotton fields, Sal realizes that he is not made for this type of work. Leaving Terry behind, he takes the bus back to Times Square New York, bums a quarter off a preacher who looks the other way, arrives at his Aunt's house in Paterson, just missing Dean, who had come to see him, by two days.
=== Part Two ===
In December 1948 Sal is celebrating Christmas with his relatives in Testament, Virginia, when Dean shows up with Marylou (having left his second wife, Camille, and their newborn baby, Amy, in San Francisco) and Ed Dunkel. Sal's Christmas plans are shattered as "now the bug was on me again, and the bug's name was Dean Moriarty." First they drive to New York, where they meet Carlo and party. Dean wants Sal to make love to Marylou, but Sal declines. In Dean's Hudson they take off from New York in January 1949 and make it to New Orleans. In Algiers they stay with the morphine-addicted Old Bull Lee and his wife Jane. Galatea Dunkel joins her husband in New Orleans while Sal, Dean, and Marylou continue their trip. Once in San Francisco, Dean again leaves Marylou to be with Camille. "Dean will leave you out in the cold anytime it is in the interest of him," Marylou tells Sal. Both of them stay briefly in a hotel, but soon she moves out, following a nightclub owner. Sal is alone and on Market Street has visions of past lives, birth, and rebirth. Dean finds him and invites him to stay with his family. Together, they visit nightclubs and listen to Slim Gaillard and other jazz musicians. The stay ends on a sour note: "what I accomplished by coming to Frisco I don't know," and Sal departs, taking the bus back to New York.
=== Part Three ===
In the spring of 1949, Sal takes a bus from New York to Denver. He is depressed and lonesome; none of his friends are around. After receiving some money, he leaves Denver for San Francisco to see Dean. Camille is pregnant and unhappy, and Dean has injured his thumb trying to hit Marylou for sleeping with other men. Camille throws them out, and Sal invites Dean to come to New York, planning to travel further to Italy. They meet Galatea, who tells Dean off: "You have absolutely no regard for anybody but yourself and your kicks." Sal realizes she is right—Dean is the "HOLY GOOF"—but also defends him, as "he's got the secret that we're all busting to find out." After a night of jazz and drinking in Little Harlem on Folsom Street, they depart. On the way to Sacramento they meet a "fag", who propositions them. Dean tries to hustle some money out of this but is turned down. During this part of the trip Sal and Dean have ecstatic discussions having found "IT" and "TIME". In Denver a brief argument shows the growing rift between the two, when Dean reminds Sal of his age, Sal being the older of the two. They get a '47 Cadillac from a travel bureau that needs to be brought to Chicago. Dean drives most of the way, crazy, careless, often speeding over 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), bringing it in a disheveled state. By bus they move on to Detroit and spend a night on Skid Row, Dean hoping to find his homeless father. From Detroit they share a ride to New York and arrive at Sal's aunt's new flat in Long Island. They go on partying in New York, where Dean meets Inez and gets her pregnant while his wife is expecting their second child.
=== Part Four ===
In the spring of 1950, Sal gets the itch to travel again while Dean is working as a parking lot attendant in Manhattan, living with his girlfriend Inez. Sal notices that he has been reduced to simple pleasures—listening to basketball games and looking at erotic playing cards. By bus Sal takes to the road again, passing Washington, D.C., Ashland, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, and eventually reaching Denver. There he meets Stan Shephard, and the two plan to go to Mexico City when they learn that Dean has bought a car and is on the way to join them. In a rickety '37 Ford sedan the three set off across Texas to Laredo, where they cross the border. They are ecstatic, having left "everything behind us and entering a new and unknown phase of things." Their money buys more (10 cents for a beer), police are laid back, cannabis is readily available, and people are curious and friendly. The landscape is magnificent. In Gregoria, they meet Victor, a local kid, who leads them to a bordello where they have their last grand party, dancing to mambo, drinking, and having fun with prostitutes. In Mexico City Sal becomes ill from dysentery and is "delirious and unconscious." Dean leaves him, and Sal later reflects that "when I got better I realized what a rat he was, but then I had to understand the impossible complexity of his life, how he had to leave me there, sick, to get on with his wives and woes."
=== Part Five ===
Dean, having obtained divorce papers in Mexico, had first returned to New York to marry Inez, only to leave her and go back to Camille. After his recovery from dysentery in Mexico, Sal returns to New York in the fall. He finds a girl, Laura, and plans to move with her to San Francisco. Sal writes to Dean about his plan to move to San Francisco. Dean writes back saying that he's willing to come and accompany Laura and Sal. Dean arrives over five weeks early, but Sal is out taking a late-night walk alone. Sal returns home, sees a copy of Proust, and knows it is Dean's. Sal realizes his friend has arrived, but at a time when Sal doesn't have the money to relocate to San Francisco. On hearing this Dean makes the decision to head back to Camille. Sal's friend Remi Boncoeur denies Sal's request to give Dean a short lift to 40th Street on their way to a Duke Ellington concert at the Metropolitan Opera House. Sal's girlfriend Laura realises this is a painful moment for Sal and prompts him for a response as the party drives off without Dean. Sal replies: "He'll be alright". Sal later reflects as he sits on a river pier under a New Jersey night sky about the roads and lands of America that he has travelled and states: ". . . I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty."
=== Characters ===
Kerouac often based his fictional characters on friends and family.
"Because of the objections of my early publishers I was not allowed to use the same personae names in each work."

Tags: flashback

Review:
Whilst the book takes the reader on an exuberant, spirited journey full of life, the film puzzlingly slows the pace right down and presents a muted, almost depressed version of the same story.This is best illustrated by the presentation of the character of Dean Moriarty.
He is the muse for the writer character of Sal, but anyone coming to the film fresh without having read the book, may well struggle to understand why.The film lacks a rounded sense of the hedonistic side of the journey.
The film seems to focus on the melodramatic, miserable aspects of the characters lives at the destinations they travel to, but fails to contrast this with wild and exciting times spent on the road.
The only time the film gets anywhere near the free spirited adventure of the book is when the characters reach Mexico in the later stages of the film, but this is too little too late.I did wonder whether the muted atmosphere of the film was a deliberate ploy of the filmmakers, however the last ten minutes would indicate not.
yes there are great landscapes, the photography is nice and the actors surely are OK, the music is often inspiring, but even if the movie basically tells the same events as in the book, I found it pretty boring, and above all the spirit of the book, about freedom etc, was completely gone.
So I was curious about the movie: would Walter Salles be able to turn this legendary but rather monotonous novel into a good film?
Anyone that has read "On the Road" has to question the wisdom of attempting to translate that into a decent movie.Like the novel, there are parts of this film you just have to fight through in the hopes that he'll move off his love for grape picking & into something interesting again.The plus side is, once you make it past the stagnation, the plot picks up again & you feel the sense of freedom having overcome the monotony of Kerouac.
Sticking to the fictional character names of Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise (this feels historically faithful as these are the names used in the book up until a recent re-edition of the original text) we follow Sal's attempts to find 'it' in his travels across America, and through his relationships, and his attempts to write a meaningful work of art.
For a young audience jaded and sick of a seemingly constant avalanche of super hero and action block buster no-brainer movies this film will shine like a refreshing breath of much desired escapism in times of depression and high unemployment.
The film seems part biopic as it departs often from the book, young audiences will easily connect and relate to mind-set of Kerouac as they are given insight into one of America's legendary free-spirits that pre-dated "Generation X" and the much earlier Easy Rider generation by decades.
Whilst Kirsten Stewart will draw a large teen audience following for the Twilight Saga movie franchise, Riley for his stand-out award winning art-house performances, it will be the scenes of drug taking, sexual experimentation, visuals of haunting beautifully shots landscapes and a sense of escapism that will all have a massive teen audience appeal, but most memorable of all will be Garrett Hedlund star in the making, charismatic scene stealing performance that will be prominent in reviews, garner excellent word-of-mouth and leave an indelible mark..
I despair to think that people who watch this movie will think that it is in any way representative of the book, because it simply is not.(Please, please read 'On the Road' and follow that by reading 'Junky' by Burroughs, they are life-changing books).The film is not, in one iota, representative of the book!
Very important parts of the book are brushed over, and the parts that remain are not recreated effectively.I don't have time to list the many ways in which the creators of this movie just simply did not "get it".If I did not know better, watching this movie I would assume that the people behind the movie hadn't even read the book, and if they had read it, they had not understood it in the slightest.However, I am sure Hollywood played a part in removing the soul of the movie because they were afraid the mass audience wouldn't understand or be interested in it.
I get that any adaptation of this was going to have to do some reconfiguring just because any movie is going to need to have a story with a clear through line for people who aren't familiar with the book to understand and that's OK, but at the same time it kind of takes away some of the amazing strength of the book.
I did in fact watch virtually the entire movie with a huge smile on my face because i enjoyed in no small measure the staging of certain scenes from the book, as well as catching certain lines that i remembered vividly from the book but not until hearing them spoken in the film did i think about how great it was that the screenwriter and director thought to include them.The film itself to me even gets better in retrospect because at first i didn't particularly like either Sam Rielley or Garret Hedlund as Sal or Dean.
Thought they were both entirely miscast, but in truth as the film went on it was a lot easier to accept them as the characters if only because i think i had such a specific type in mind for both characters--Sal should have been less grizzled, more naive...and Dean should have been way more manic and charming instead of the fairly low key but very affable man.
(i feel like maybe James Franco would've been a good choice for this cause he can definitely do both manic and depressed.) Even that i understand that you can't overdo Dean Moriarty because then you run the risk of going too far and having him not be believable as someone who could easily charm this entire group of people, but again as the film goes on, and the scenes go by--it becomes a lot easier to accept the two actors as Sal and Dean.
It kept my attention for two hours, and, no matter how dissatisfying it proved to be in the end, I found it quite beautiful in certain places.ON THE ROAD follows a linear, too-often patchy storyline (just like Life itself, eh?) The film basically captures what it's like to be young and restless, but it would have been nice if the makers had found more to show us beyond all the scenes of Sal, Dean, and the others getting high and screwing.
Novels can be exciting challenges for many directors, but clearly the challenge in this case is to not get too bored as a viewer until about the last third of the film when the writing and the acting become more complex and go beyond what are often silly quasi-philosophical comments the various characters issue like exhaust.
The aspirant writer Sal Paradise (Sam Riley) befriends the reckless and sexually liberal Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund) and they travel across the United States of America in a journey of sex and drugs with their friends.
I understand Salles was taking a biographical approach to capturing the essence of On the Road, as well as the beat scene of the time, rather than an attempt to transform the book into a film (which is what I was kind of expecting), but because of this, the movie wound up with too much content in too little time..
Yes i know this movie is based on a classic novel and blah blah blah but this movie is trash, the characters are all old school hipsters who are all unlike-able people, the movie had no plot or any kind of story line that can keep you gripped or even to wonder whats gonna happen next all you get are these weirdo characters drinking booze and having weirdo man hugs as they roll around the apartment stoned in old school new york i mean who acts like this?.
there are a lot of people who may disagree with my view as they made have read the book or whatever but me being someone who watches a lot of films and appreciates all genres i found this movie to be utter crap, also this is my first ever review..
Life would speed up with drugs and alcohol, slow down for a night with a beautiful woman, speed up when it was time to hit the road again, and slow down as they fail to find themselves where they thought they would be.Sal Paradise (Sam Riley) was a writer.
Charmed by Kerouac's prose, I never noticed how shallow and self-destructive the main characters actually were.I read the book many years after the Beat generation run on the road to nowhere.
Nowadays, "On the road" - the movie – looks like a slice of crystallized history, rather than the vibrant narration of the adventures of the post-war generation.I think most people know that the book does not really have a plot, but narrates how Sal and Dean (Kerouac and Cassidy alter-egos) aimlessly wandered across the US, consuming many illicit substances, having plenty of casual sex and meeting other similar-minded youngsters along the way.Some critics complained about the fact that the "greatness" of their generation does not resonate in the movie.
Even worse as Sal/Kerouac is Riley, a thin, charm-free Englishman, with not the physique nor the angst required to play such a well-known personality.As far as Stewart playing sluttish Marylou and getting first billing and her face on the movie poster I must confess I did not even remember the Marylou character was in the book, so insignificant is her part – and the part played by any other woman in the narrative and in the life of these men.
First of all, it's crucial to note that the book is not easily adaptable, and the task might be hard even for an experienced filmmaker such as Walter Salles, who directed another road-trip film The Motorcycle Diaries back in 2004.
After his father's death, Sal meets a charismatic, handsome, rebellious, up-to-no-good guy named Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund) - a perfect example of the Beat culture - and his 16 year-old, moody, and very straightforward girl Marylou (Kristen Stewart).
Jack Kerouac's Novel On the Road was thought to be an Unpublishable Book in the 1950's and when it finally was reluctantly given a chance it became a Perennial and Seminal Work and must Read for all Bohemians, Rebels, and Counter-Culturalist.
Hell, I lean to the left but that was a bit too much and this is a story that should remain true to the authors soul -- don't think JK was going there to that extent = just sayin' One would be best served watching this movie while not ever having read the book.
Good looking, yes, but charming he is not.Reading the film's trivia page, previous attempted adaptations of Kerouac's book had the likes of Marlon Brando and Brad Pitt in mind to play the role of Dean.
But none of it really mattered because, in the end, none of them really changed.I'm aware, of course, that Kerouac's book is a much-loved piece of literature, which leads me to conclude that it must be much, much better than this film.
The film feels like it relies too heavily on people knowing - and liking - the characters of the book, and in doing so fails to deliver an adaptation worthy of its source material..
The movie captures but a fragment of the real story and turns the characters into caricatures, the complexity of Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassidy and Alan Ginsberg (which are the real life persons the characters are based on) lost in this Hollywoodesque version in which classic scenes in the book are reduced to fit the director's Disney vision.
On the Road (2012)** 1/2 (out of 4) Wannabe writer Sal Paradise (Sam Riley) wants to experience life so that he can do his job better so he becomes friends with a more free spirited rebel named Dean (Garrett Hedlund).
Disappointing is the one word I would use to describe Walter Salles's long-anticipated film adaptation of the much-beloved, semi-autobiographical Jack Kerouc novel, On the Road which is the definitive American novel of the post war Beat Generation about aspiring writer Sal Paradise (Kerouc) as he traverses 1950's America and experiences life via car/bus/foot with friends, buddies and strangers.Sal (Sam Riley - Control, Brighton Rock) meets and befriends charismatic Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund - Country Strong, Tron: Legacy) and his young wife Marylou (Kristen Stewart - Twilight, Snow White and the Huntsman) in New York City.
Following a brief friendship/courtship, the trio leaves the city seeking freedom, life, love and the open road.While "On the Road", Sal meets a variety of other individuals who make him experience and appreciate other aspects of life and living including characters played by an all-star supporting cast including Viggo Mortensen (The Road), Kirsten Dunst (The Virgin Suicides), Amy Adams (Enchanted), Elisabeth Moss ("Mad Men"), Tom Sturridge (Pirate Radio), Alice Braga (I Am Legend) and Steve Buscemi (Ghost World).There is some beautiful cinematography here with many shots of picturesque, wide-open landscapes; there is a nice soundtrack; and the acting is good with some interesting characters; but the movie is unfortunately a much-too-literal adaptation of the novel without any of its spirit.
This movie is for me a BIG 10!!!Indeed, the film is totally different from the book of Jack Kerouac.
The movie is a beautiful looking road film, that's pretty aimless in story but does have some somewhat fascinating characters.The film begins in 1947 when writer Sal Paradise (Riley) meets Dean Moriarity (Hedlund).
Damn, Kristen Stewart can actually act and the scene where she gives both Moriarty and Sal a joint hand-job in the car, on the road, is worth it alone!A great trailer to encourage one to read the book which I am about to do...then I will watch it again when it comes on general release....
A piece of art.Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund and Kristen Stewart weren't the actors I pictured playing any of the roles, but they were amazing, and captured the captured the soul of the characters and the spirit of the story perfectly.
You're taken 'On The Road' with Dean, Sal and Marylou, you can sit all day, googling, looking at the worlds most incredible places, places you want to go someday, people that inspire you, people that are 'free', but one thing I took from the film is what those characters feel throughout, the experiences they have and that shape them, those that can't be truly grasped without truly doing it yourself.
The book is very difficult to adapt, anyway, so it's probably best that the screenwriter and director found their way to film it.The film chronicles Sal Paradise (Kerouac's alter ego) and his trips with Dean Moriarity (Neal Kassady) as they journey across America.
It's hard not to have expectations when a movie is based on a classic novel like Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." So when the film opened with a rambling narrative that's all over the map, I became increasingly frustrated at what appeared to be overly random character development -- albeit somewhat necessary -- that was more continuous than transformative.
Even though the movie lacks the absolute energy and pace I had in mind when i read the crazy mad novel, I feel Kerouac would not only be satisfied but would have been ecstatic, he would have tears of joy like I did.
If as many people hit the road because of the movie as they did with the book, I'd be a happy manP.S. To all those Twilight fans who'll go watch this film only for Kristen Stewart, Team Dean and Team Sal anyone?
I have seen that there is a book which this movie is based on, I would like to read that.
On the Road adapted from the novel by Jack Kerouac features a great cast including Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams, Tom Surridge, Alice Braga, Kirsten Dunst, Viggo Mortensen, Steve Buscemi, and Terrance Howard, but does it pack the punch to bring this iconic book to life?
having finished jack kerouac's original scroll of on the road to watching the film in the same 24 hours, i feel i may have a strong bias within this review as i championed this moving the whole way through, cheering at scenes that were so perfectly laid out, and laughing hard at moments where the characters charm shined stronger in the film then in the book.an important thing to be aware of regarding this film is that on the road is not a straight forward read, and so within that, how could the film be?
if you can find the beauty in these things, you'll love this film, regardless of whether you've read the book..
I do think those who loved Kerouac's novel will enjoy the movie and in some ways, that is the most you can ask for from a film.
Since the settings and time period were, to me, one of the best parts of this film, I am looking forward to the documentary about Kerouac and the story behind On the Road that Salles worked on prior to and during the making of this movie.
That is what it's about, Jack Kerouac's life on the road, his experience, and he did seem to sail through the story – angelic, quiet, sage-like - in amongst the craziness of Dean and all the others' irresponsibility and struggle.
And it had quite an original script as well.I haven't read Jack Kerouac's novel, but after watching this film I really wish I would.