Rude Awakening
Tags: anti war

Plot synopsis:
In 1969 New York City, two hippies, Fred Wook (Eric Roberts) and Jesús Monteya (Cheech Marion), flee the USA to avoid arrest by the FBI and hide out in the jungles of Central America. Fred is an idealist, working on an underground newspaper with his friend Sammy, while Jesús is a stoner whose brain has been fried after being given huge amounts of LSD by researchers (the theory being that acid and appropriate visual stimulation can turn pacifist hippies into committed soldiers; Jesús proves their failure by wishing them 'peace' as he leaves the lab.) The two flee the inner-city commune they are living in, leaving behind Sammy (Robert Carradine) who feels it is important that he keep writing and publishing their message, and Fred's girlfriend, artist Petra (Julie Hagerty).20 years later, Fred and Jesús are still living in the jungle of Central America in an commune getting stoned from marijuana, when they find a dying man who has been shot by local soldiers that invade their isolated compound. The dying man reveals that he is a CIA agent and gives them some documents and tells them it is vital they get the papers back to the US government. The documents imply that the US is planning to invade the country, and outraged, Fred and Jesús decide to return to the US to get the action stopped.Having been living in isolation (and by implication, stoned the entire time) for the last 20 years, upon arriving back in New York City, they find the 1980s, entrenched in the yuppie ethos, to be something of a shock. Their former coffee house den mother Ronnie Sommers (Louise Lasser) has turned their hangout place into a retro jazz club to remember the 1960s hippy culture.Eric and Jesús soon find that both Sammy and Petra have both embraced the materialistic culture. Sammy is wealthy yuppie married to an uptight businesswoman named Julie (Cindy Williams) whom they have a 15-year-old activist son. Petra is a single and wealthy commercial and film producer trying to get by the best she can.It takes considerable persuasion from Fred and Jesús (including a memorable speech where Jesús makes numerous profound points, ending each one with 'That's all I got to say', before launching into another ramble) before Sammy and Petra agree to help them expose the covert CIA plan, but not after Jesús and Fred force themselves into Sammy's apartment to ruin a deal between him and his wife to charm another yuppie couple the Stools (Buck Henry and Andrea Martin) to let them settle in a new high-priced co-op.At the climax, Fred, Jesús, Sammy, and and Petra take over a building at NYU where they stage a sit-down protest for the upcoming war in Central America, until an FBI agent (Cliff De Young) who had been searching for Jesús and Fred for the last 20 years, tracks them down and arrests all of them. The results of a sit-in at the university to protest the planned invasion leave the group despondent; the student body is indifferent and the documents turn out to be a theoretical exercise and not genuine invasion plans. However, the controversy brought up by their publication implies that Americans would welcome a war 'we can win' and so the invasion actually happens.Fred is broken by the idea that he started a war, and gives up all hope. He decides to leave New York once again, with Jesús tagging along, to an unknown destination to plan his next move, while Sammy and Petra decide to stay behind in New York, not willing to abandon their new yuppie lifestyle. Fred sits on a sidewalk crying until some college students track him down to ask for his help in mobilizing action; they are concerned by the numerous ecological and social problems they see around them. Fred now stops crying and agrees to help the students. Fred finally sees that despite the fact that the "establishment" (U.S. government) always wins in the end, as long as there are liberal students out there that speak out, there will always be hope for the world. The final shot shows Jesús having another acid flashback where he talks with the magical talking fish that he encountered earlier at the commune in Central America.

Review: This is a very funny movie that is worth watching more than once!.
I cannot understand why this movie is not rated higher.
I have seen this movie several times and it gets funnier and better each time.
It is unique and if you are a Baby Boomer that attended university during the 70's, it will bring back some beautiful and nostalgic memories of period of youthful innocence and curiosity that so quickly came and then disappeared.
It was an age of new thoughts and philosophies that were lost to our Boomer generation during the oncoming greed and corruption that arose in the selfish "Yuppie" 80's.
If you have not seen it ...
I recommend you watch it with someone who lived through this time period.
Further, if you have seen it before and failed to take it in and appreciate its a unique capturing of a special time in our Boomer generation, try it a second time and perhaps you will get it...because it is definitely there and worth a second chance..
Good Film Great Fun..
Good film, the fish parts are great, The scenes with the Stools are great especially Mrs. Stool & Jesus, Terminally fun, Jesus goes through life completly stoned, while Fred struggles with coming down and finding the 60's have turned into the 80's and money talks, enviromental disasters are rife, and that not everyone is please to see him.
Petra is a walking complex time bomb, wanting to be loved although running away, shes always trying to FIND herself to no avail while Sammy (ex 60's geek) makes some money which turns into more and a spoiled must have wife,hippy son and a am I good enough complex.Great film which brings back together 4 friends after the 60's with serious, funny, tragic and soul searching consequences.Watch out for the fish..
Kicks the evil 80s in the teeth.
Classic tale of two stoners dropping out to have a good time in the jungle for twenty years and then coming back to find the whole world has been taken over by a terrible sickness known as the eighties - yup, they all wear stupid clothes and talk and do a load of rubbish, while the real men from the sixties have all kiinds of trouble fitting in and showing people the value of slobbing around, caning it and having fun without dressing up like Rebecca DeMornay in Weird Science.
This film carries a very important message for us all about avoiding eighties style and values, but, like the other guy said, don't watch it in a serious mood, this is a hilarious comedy classic NOT a horror flick, after all..
I loved this movie...eventually.
Hey, this movie was on HBO in the eighties...thats when I got it on tape.
Then the years went by...and eventually I lost my cable connection somewhere around 1998...funny, but I never saw this movie on cable since.
I luckily had it on tape and it "grew" on me...I just kept remembering it, and laughing....
I am so glad I had it on tape...cuz I don't think it ever came back...but it is a delight.
If you like Cheech and Chong then you know you like "stupid" comedy...yup I like it...I like them....LOLThis movie is a classic in my opinion....there is stuff here under the surface that is important....check it out!
The movie lays out some down home ideas of brotherhood and peace that the world needs!
(my world needs them!) Love to All!
Peace, bro!.
From Flashback to Déjà Vu. In 1969, peace loving hippies Eric Roberts (as Fred) and Cheech Marin (as Hesus) flee to Central America, to avoid being drafted into Vietnam War service.
Why the US government believes Mr. Marin would be of any real use during warfare is never explained; but, Mr. Roberts looks like a major Commie-killing loss.
Anyway, they spend the next 20 years hiding in the jungle, smoking marijuana, and enjoying peace.
Their hippie friends, Julie Hagerty (as Petra) and Robert Carradine (as Sammy), remain behind.
While in Central America, Roberts and Marin learn about a US invasion plan, and decide to return to New York, and stop the war.
They are in for a rude awakening...In 1989, the peace movement appears dead.
Roberts and Marin try to adapt to the changes in American society.
They try to re-connect with Ms. Hagerty and Mr. Carradine, who have become materialistic yuppies.
How can they erase their friends' 1980s brainwashing, avoid capture by perseverating FBI man Cliff De Young (as Brubaker), and stop the war?Aaron Russo and Neil Levy's underrated "Rude Awakening" certainly doesn't always work; but, it's funny more often than not.
Roberts and Marin are almost a satirical casting in-joke (sixties, meet the eighties).
One of the film's most obvious misses is that the main attempt to transcend a 20-year-gap is an unconvincing pair of pasted-on beards.
Although, to answer Roberts' later, more general question, "How's my hair?" Great.
It's impossible to hold back laughing at Marin's first meeting with the "fish".
But, they should have used Don Knotts voice.
Of the four "hippie" friends, Carradine's is, performance-wise, most convincing.
Check out Louise Lasser (as Ronnie)'s customers!
The highlight of the film is a terrific "cocktail party" hosted by Carradine and uptight wife Cindy Williams (as June).
They are visited by the "Stools", Buck Henry (as Lloyd) and Andrea Martin (as April).
A cocktail party attended by Cheech Marin, Eric Roberts, Robert Carradine, Buck Henry, Cindy Williams, and Andrea Martin is every bit as funny as it sounds.
If only they could have figured out how to get Lasser there (and the overhead mike out).
There are enough funny moments, all around; but, the hilarious supporting characterizations by Martin and Williams, alone, make this well worth watching.****** Rude Awakening (1989) Aaron Russo ~ Eric Roberts, Cheech Marin, Andrea Martin.
Loved It!.
Very funny and very sad in the truths questioned.
Eric Roberts is a doll.
Cheech Marin is hysterical and my favorite, Mrs. Stool.
She had me in tears.
Why haven't we seen more of this actress?
It's a good, fun time that throws out food for thought..
"Hey man check it out !".
"Rude awakening" is a creative "fish out of water" scenario, including a talking, pot smoking fish.
Eric Roberts and Cheech Marin escape to a South American utopia, avoiding the Vietnam War, but returning twenty years later to help stop another war.
Problem is the "Hippie Movement" has moved on to materialistic endeavors.
Thus the stage is set for Roberts and Marin trying to adjust to their friends cop out lives.
The supporting cast here is excellent, with Julie Hagerty, Louise Lasser, and especially Buck Henry and Cindy Williams as the "Stools".
Disillusioned by the apparent lack of interest for their "save the world" cause, Roberts and Marin refuse to give up, and eventually succeed.
The movie is a great nostalgia trip for the right audience.
- MERK.
Rude Joke On Itself.
This appeared at a convenient point in time for pop culture self-examination through the movies; the narrative intent is that we can review the 1980s through the lens of 1960s thinking.It starts off with a 'reprogramming' of a dropout via LSD and movie indoctrination.
This could have been something clever...instead it deteriorates by hallucinating through "Up In Smoke" and Leone westerns.The 'ideal world' is depicted as "Woodstock", with the main characters stolen out of "Easy Rider".
They take an excursion through "Salvador" and "The Mosquito Coast".
The whole thing, production-wise, staggers about in a manner as clumsy as "Where the Buffalo Roam" and "Animal House".
It resolves through "Deer Hunter", "Stripes" and the Beatles' 'Revolution'.The point of all this is to tear down the detached, colorless, sexless, 'boozh-wa' 1980s and reindoctrinate the audience to 'the truth' with the 'romantic' drug of the movie.
An audience is assembled in the movie to first provoke (in us)the intended feeling of 'guilt', and the second time to sublimate into 'activism'.
As I wrote earlier, it's just not clever.
The problem is, it doesn't know how to target the comedic center.
Everything ends up as a target, including Roberts because he doesn't know how to play this in a smart way -- there's no winking at the viewer.
The producers thought this was 'affirming', oblivious to the joke on themselves..
Clumsy, preachy, boring.
The lame gags and jokes fall flat, the actors practically phone in their lines, and the long and frequent preaching about the evils of corporations and conservatives really gets annoying.
If you want to be lectured about the ozone hole, AIDS, the burning Cuyahoga River, the homeless, and the virtues of loopy 1960s-style pothead activism, then this is the movie for you.
But if you want laugh-out-loud humor, then rent something else..
Horrible.
This is the only movie I ever got up and walked out on in a theater.
I remember staring at the ceiling because it was more interesting then this horrible so-called movie.
Just awful!
The is the movie I judge all other bad movies against.
The story was terrible.
Very boring.
The acting was terrible.
I was a fan of Cheech and he is why I decided to see this movie.
I also recalled that Cindy Williams was in this movie and that is how I found it on IMDb. I couldn't remember the name it was so bad I didn't want to remember I wasted money back in 1989.
Obviously not many people have seen this moving since the vote counts are so low.
Lucky them!.
An under-rated, lost gem!!.
This is one of the greatest movies from the 80's, fitting that it is 1989.
It signifies the end of two eras in one film.
Do NOT let the crappy "4.0" fool you.
That rating signifies the 17 people on IMDb who have seen this movie.
It's not on Netflix, or at Wal-mart; so no one has seen it.
Hell, nobody is going to read THIS for a few years so I'm basically wasting time.
FIND this movie, WATCH this movie!
Great stuff!AND....for the two haters that gave the bad reviews?
YOU are the ones the movie makes fun of.
Get over yourself.Still doubters?
What else, HTownSteve can you tell us?
I say to you, Look at the cast..
The protest movement as a backcloth for jokes?.
The hippie theme fascinates me.
Although at the time the movement was too bold for me, I keep wondering whether I may have missed something.
Thanks to the IMDb I was able to discover the film Rude Awakening, for it is advocated by visitors on the message board of the film Hair.
I had already watched Hair and was dissatisfied because of its distortion of the original narrative in the musical.
On the other hand I really liked the Swedish film Tillsammans (Together), and appreciated Strawberry Statement.
Actually the hippie movement is probably universal, although the motorcycle and camper van aspect (Easy Rider!) appears to be typically American.
I guess that the European countries are too small for that.
Rude Awakening is presented as a comedy, which of course is just an alternative approach to narrate dramatic events.
In the story two New York hippies, Fred and Hesus, have traveled in 1969 to a fictitious Latin American state in order to found a commune in the jungle.
They have embraced the soft drug culture, and make a living by growing hemp for the production of hashish.
(By the way, in the Netherlands the cultivation of hemp for the production of hash is illegal but the sale of soft drugs isn't).
Fred is obviously the leader of the colony, and Hesus has become an addicted zombie, who takes anything that might be hallucinatory.
Although the addiction of Hesus looks hilarious, in real life it is fairly commonplace.
Therefore his role is perhaps meant to be a warning signal: a history of even moderate hash consumption will lead to severe symptoms at old age.
In 1989 a CIA agent is fatally wounded by the local revolutionary army, and in his last moments hands over to Fred a secret dossier about a forthcoming American invasion.
Fred decides to alert the American public, and returns to New York, together with Hesus, who follows him more or less like a pet.
Fred reanimates his former contact in the hippie movement, notably the former commune members Petra and Sammy.
However, Petra and Sammy have done extremely well, and have made careers for themselves.
It is understandable, that they are shocked to see their former acquaintances, and loathe the appearance of Hesus.
But here the story takes a strange turn, because suddenly Petra and Sammy regress into their abjured hippie attitude.
Clearly Rude Awakening is not meant to be a study of characters.
In the mean time the FBI starts to hunt Fred in an attempt to recover the secret dossier.
Here Hesus plays a heroic and illogical part, when during a gun fight he manages to disarm one of the FBI agents.
The quartet decides to occupy the main building on the N.Y. university campus.
From its balcony Fred informs the crowd of students about the forthcoming invasion and tries to stir a rebellion.
However, the times have changed since 1969, and his speech only serves to increase the already bellicose spirit of the American people.
(An old lady sighs: "We have not won something for a long time").
Fred collapses in despair, and loathes his former vegetating life in the jungle.
Still he decides to return to the jungle (it remains a mystery why), but just then a group of students appeals to him for guidance in the renewal of the civil movement.
This climax is apparently the definite acknowledgment of the avant-garde function of the movement of 68, and its lasting influence on society.
Unfortunately Rude Awakening has too many evident weaknesses.
The characters lack logic and depth, the dialogs are superficial and childish, and many of the events are absurd.
Some instances may provide food for thought and meditation, like the balcony scene, where Fred asks: "How is my hair?" Remember that hair is a symbol of the movement of 68, the name of another hippie film etc.
But this is just not enough for a film that pretends to be a reflection on an influential cultural and historical movement.
So maybe this protest movement features as nothing more than a backcloth for jokes.
Rude Awakening is too lighthearted and senseless for my taste, and I recommend Tillsammans or Strawberry Statement instead.