Road Trip to Nowhere: Hollywood Encounters the Counterculture

The sixties counterculture had a significant commercial and political impact on Hollywood, leading to a generation-long box office slump and struggling to get young people into the habit of going to the movies. Road Trip to Nowhere examines a ten-year span (from 1967 to 1976) rife with uneasy encounters between artists caught up in the counterculture and a corporate establishment still clinging to a studio system on the brink of collapse. Many among the young and talented walked away from celebrity, turning down the best job Hollywood had on offer: movie star.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 352 pages
Publication date: 19 October 2022
Publisher: University of California Press

The commercial and political influence of the 1960s counterculture on Hollywood had reached a point where it could no longer be disregarded by 1967. The studios were facing significant challenges, including a protracted box office slump that had lasted for several generations and an ongoing struggle to attract young people to the movies.

Road Trip to Nowhere explores a decade (from 1967 to 1976) marked by tense interactions between artists influenced by the counterculture and a corporate establishment that was still clinging to the studio system on the verge of collapse. During this tumultuous period, many young and talented individuals chose to leave the world of celebrity, declining the most prestigious job opportunities in Hollywood and in America: becoming a movie star.

Road Trip to Nowhere provides a firsthand account of the culture of movie production, delving into the lives of several talented actors who became entangled in the politics and lifestyles of the counterculture. These actors, disillusioned by the allure of celebrity culture, rejected the traditional narrative of success and its accompanying material trappings, much to the dismay of the studios and directors who supported them.

In Road Trip to Nowhere, film historian Jon Lewis provides a captivating and rigorous historical account of the out-of-touch Hollywood establishment and the counterculture workforce that they would never fully comprehend. The book details dramatic encounters that took place on movie sets, in corporate boardrooms, on the job, and on the streets, offering a vivid portrayal of the complex dynamics between these two groups.

Weight: 454g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520343740