On Saturday, the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington, Massachusetts is holding a special fundraiser screening of the late director Arthur Penn’s counterculture cult classic “Alice’s Restaurant.” Shot in and around Stockbridge in 1968 and released the following year, the movie is an adaptation of the Thanksgiving tale related in Arlo Guthrie’s 1967 song of the same name starring the singer-songwriter as himself. Guthrie lives in the Berkshires to this day. Matthew Penn, Arthur’s son, will complement the screening with a Q&A with Guthrie. Penn is an established director in his own right, with credits including “Law & Order,” “Gossip Girl,” and “The Sopranos.” He spoke with WAMC.
PENN: My family has lived in Berkshire County for since 1962- A long, long time. And you know, the Triplex for us has been a really- You know, it's a vibrant, cultural, fun cinema, and it's a place we took our kids for years, and we go together, and it's been kind of an essential part of Great Barrington. And when the Triplex was put up for sale, and for a period of time, shuttered, it really was important to sort of get involved and try to figure out a way to put it back on its feet. And fortunately, Nicki Wilson and the team there, I had the opportunity to speak with them, and we started to kick around possible ideas that would be fun benefits for the theater, I mean, and the community. And so, we started talking about this possibility of “Alice's Restaurant” and Arlo, who I know from lo those many years ago. And so, this benefit was hatched.
Walk us through this event- what is this going to look like? And how do you feel like it speaks to the spirit of Berkshire County and the goal of the fundraiser?
So, on April 27th at four o'clock at the Great Barrington Triplex theatre, we'll be screening “Alice's Restaurant,” which is a film my father Arthur Penn directed many years ago right here in the Berkshires in 1968. But what's important and unique about this screening is that Arlo Guthrie will be there, and after the film, Arlo and I are going to chat about his experience of making the film, his experience of writing the song. It'll be a really kind of wonderful opportunity for the audience to have a Q&A with Arlo and myself about the film that was shot in Stockbridge, Great Barrington, Housatonic, and Lee. So, this is definitely a benefit for the Triplex cinema, and as many of your listeners know, the Triplex has been a really important part of both the cultural and economic life of Great Barrington. And so, when it was shuttered and put up for sale, it was purchased by a community-owned group who created a not-for-profit cinema. And their programming has been wonderful. It's been a combination of first run films, foreign language films, classic films, cult films, locally made films, and children's films. So, this is an opportunity not only for your audience to go and enjoy seeing “Alice's Restaurant,” but also to have an opportunity to talk and interact with Arlo and not be part of 17,000 people, but be part of, you know, 75 or 100 people at the at the Triplex. So, as I said, that's on Saturday, April 27th at 4pm.
Obviously, that movie is close to the hearts of many in Berkshire County. You have this unique connection to it- What do you think you can bring to light in this conversation with Arlo from your own relationship with the film that maybe folks who are very familiar with it might be surprised or find a new angle on it?
I've talked to Arlo a couple of times over the years just about his experience and making the film. And Arlo being such a smart and interesting person had some kind of wonderful anecdotes to share about his experience in making the film and about what the song meant to him as he composed it, his opportunity to play it for his father before his father passed away, and obviously, Arlo’s working with my father, and the connection that we have to fathers who were dominant forces in American culture. So, it's a nice opportunity for Arlo and I to speak towards some of those points publicly, and share our experiences, and the movie just sort of coalesces kind of all of those elements and in the nicest way. So, this is a uniquely kind of personal experience, as well as a public experience that Arlo and I are kind of eager to share.
Now, the movie is a real snapshot of an era. It has this incredibly charming shaggy quality and it sort of speaks to the nature of what that moment was like culturally in Berkshire County. Given your extensive experience as a director yourself, I'm interested- When you watch it today, what do you take away from it? What are its qualities that make it unique as a film from that perspective?
Well, you know what it what's interesting about the film is that it's really part of a trio of films that my father made- “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Alice's Restaurant,” and “Little Big Man.” And he made them in those, in that order. And at one point, my father said to me, whenever you can, tell a story in which the protagonist is woven into the tapestry of his time, in which they are acting and acting upon the culture that surrounds them. And so, you have that in “Bonnie and Clyde” in the Depression. You have that in “Alice's Restaurant” in Arlo and the antiwar movement. And then you have that in Jack Crabb, played by Dustin Hoffman, in “Little Big Man,” who finds himself both part of the Native American culture and part of the white man's culture, and privy to the horror of the genocide that was being perpetrated upon the Native Americans. So, “Alice's Restaurant,” which seems in a way like an unassuming little film, and is, is actually part of this trio of films that was very near and dear to my father's heart, and very important to talk about at a time when we were living through assassinations, and our time living in the Berkshires and then subsequently in New York. He felt compelled to tell the story of the moment and heard this song, and it excited his imagination.
It also offers this glimpse of Berkshire County at this point over half a century ago. What does that bring up for you, watching a movie that captures, at this point, a very different moment for Stockbridge than we have today in 2024?
When I watch one of his movies, sort of personally, the first thing you do is you go, oh, I remember being on the set for that scene, or I remember when that was shot, or you have this sort of subjective experience. But then as time goes by, you're able to step back and look at the film in a kind of more objective, more analytical fashion. What's going to be fun, I think, for your audience, and the Berkshire audience is, in particular, is going to be to see Stockbridge as it was then, and to be able to compare it in a way to the way it is now. I mean, as you walk down Main Street, there's still that little sign that says, used to be, this is the location of Alice's Restaurant, you know, that tiny little placard hanging from the side of the building. And “Alice's Restaurant” really made its mark on that town, credit to, first, to Arlo, and then subsequently to the movie. So, I think it's an opportunity to kind of see this moment of that little town in a time that was a part of a cultural spasm in America, not dissimilar to the days we're living through now. So, I think that that's going to be as fun for your audience in a way as it is for me to go back and see the Berkshires in that 1968 moment.
To close things out, I'm going to indulge my own dorkiness around film and just point out that we just lost the iconic American character actor M. Emmet Walsh, who is in “Alice's Restaurant.” I know he was also in “Little Big Man.” Do you have any thoughts on the passing of M. Emmet Walsh? He's such an iconic presence in film. Viewers might know him from Blood Simple, he's been in, what, like over 200 movies, but a really fascinating actor and a really unique presence. Any thoughts on his legacy and what it means to have him in this real slice of 60s American culture?
You know, Emmet Walsh was not only an extraordinary actor, he was a wonderful man. And my father worked with so many actors over the years, but Emmet was one of those people who came in prepared, eager, thoughtful, and dad just loved working for him and with him. And it's interesting- There's a scene in which he plays sort of an army sergeant, which is pretty famous in the film. You cannot understand a single word that Emmet Walsh says, and that's part of the iconic pleasure of the film. So, it was a real loss because he had a kind of uniqueness of personality and work that the Coen Brothers recognized, that my father recognized, that, you know, 198 other film directors recognized. He was an extraordinary talent and presence.
