Jacksonville Public Library

Howl, Oscilloscope Laboratories ; a Werc Werk Works production ; in association with Telling Pictures and Rabbit Bandini Productions ; a Rob Epstein/Jeffrey Friedman film ; written for the screen and directed by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman ; produced by Elizabeth Redleaf, Christine Kunewa Walker, Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman

eng

videorecording

MPAA rating: Rated R for strong sexual content including language and images, and some drug material

Howl

videorecording

671816079

Oscilloscope Laboratories ; a Werc Werk Works production ; in association with Telling Pictures and Rabbit Bandini Productions ; a Rob Epstein/Jeffrey Friedman film ; written for the screen and directed by Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman ; produced by Elizabeth Redleaf, Christine Kunewa Walker, Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman

84

"Every word in this film was spoken by the actual people portrayed. In that sense this film is like a documentary. In every other sense, it is different"--Title screen. In 1957, in San Francisco, poet Allen Ginsberg has just published "Howl." This distinctive work immediately generates a great deal of controversy. Publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti has been sued on charges of obscenity, as many feel the poem is simply too explicit for publication (it contains strong language and frank references to homosexuality). When prosecutor Ralph McIntosh and defender Jake Ehrlich go head to head in front of Judge Clayton Horn, freedom of expression hangs in the balance. For the author, filled with the heady joy of poetic success, the trial demands the courage of being Allen Ginsberg--himself

1955 San Francisco -- "Howl" -- Jack Kerouac -- Your muse -- Institutions -- Neal Cassady -- "A howl of pain" -- Prophecy -- Meeting Peter -- Moloch -- "Dadaist persuasion" -- Closing arguments -- Obscene? -- "Holy, holy, holy" -- Epilogue -- End credits

live action