Alice's Restaurant

"Every Generation Has A Story To Tell."

1969 1h 51m EN

😐

6.2

MID

🍅

63%

FRESH

⭐

6.2

IMDB

★6.2TMDB · 88🍅63%Rotten Tomatoes★6.2IMDB · 4,813

DramaComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After getting kicked out of college, Arlo decides to visit his friend Alice for Thanksgiving dinner. After dinner is over, Arlo volunteers to take the trash to the dump but finds it closed for the holiday, so he dumps the trash in the bottom of a ravine. This act of littering gets him arrested and sends him on a bizarre journey.

“Every Generation Has A Story To Tell.”

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Cast

Arlo Guthrie
Arlo Guthrie
Patricia Quinn
Alice Brock
James Broderick
Ray Brock
Tina Chen
Mari-chan
Geoff Outlaw
Roger Crowther
Michael McClanathan
Shelly
Pete Seeger
Himself
Lee Hays
Himself

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Arthur Penn
Writers: Arthur Penn, Venable Herndon
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

57 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Arthur Penn, shot by Michael Nebbia. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Arlo Guthrie. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Dede Allen shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Arlo Guthrie and Patricia Quinn and James Broderick carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Every Generation Has A Story To Tell.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0064002 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 88 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Arthur Penn directs. Michael Nebbia behind the camera. Arlo Guthrie scores. Dede Allen cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

157 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Arthur Penn, shot by Michael Nebbia. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Arlo Guthrie. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Dede Allen shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Arlo Guthrie and Patricia Quinn and James Broderick carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Every Generation Has A Story To Tell.".
7IMDB entry: tt0064002 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 88 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
9Classified under 10 themes, including "hippie", "free love", "junkie", "commune".

The technical file

Cinematography: Michael Nebbia
Original score: Arlo Guthrie
Editing: Dede Allen
Production design: Warren Clymer
Makeup / hair: Phil Naso
Sound: Dick Vorisek
Runtime: 111 min · 1h 51m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Alice's Restaurant (1969)
Rotten Tomatoes: 63% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 6.2/10 · 4,813 votes
MPAA: R
US box office: $13,991,240

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 4 nominations total

Also by

Arthur Penn

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Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2026-01-12
★ 6/10
Having been unable to convince the draft that some hereditary health condition should exempt him from army service, Argo Guthrie decides to hitch his way to an old church being re-purposed by “Ray” (James Broderick) and “Alice” (Patricia Quinn) for his last few weeks of freedom. His journey isn’t exactly uneventful, and just about everyone he encounters en route takes him for a long-haired waste of space. When he finally arrives at the commune, a bit bruised, he helps out “Alice” as she puts the finishing touches to her fine dining establishment that sells Boeuf Bourginon, don’t you know. What now ensues is a folk-music enveloped rite of passage for Arlo that he encapsulates in the some quarter of an hour that the title song takes so complete. No, don’t worry - we don’t get the entire song, but it filters through as his escapades and those of his friends see him prosecuted for an early example of fly-tipping; thrown through a plate glass window and on the wrong end of the law on a few occasions - and so we do understand where much of that lyric comes from. Guthrie is an engaging actor here, very much in the young Bobby Dylan vein, and there’s a duet with Pete Seeger for dad Woody (Joseph Boley) that gets the toes tapping. Sadly, though, it has lost much of it’s lustre over time and now comes across as a pretty weakly structured drama that has points to make, but that Guthrie himself hasn’t the gravitas to deliver. At the time, in the USA, it might have resonated with many a youth but now it’s really just an assembly of light-hearted episodes that are enjoyable enough but nothing special as it begins to drag a little too much toward the end. It doesn’t really show off the USA as much of a land of opportunity either and though it has it’s moments, there just weren’t enough of them for me.

Production companies