Neil Young's First Film Shown: A docu-autobio-musico-'Journey'

by Janelle Ellis

'Journey Through the Past' comes off as sort of a cinematic contemplation of the navel. The film will probably disappoint those fans seeking the music of Young and be of value primarily to those searching souls looking for a view of the outside world from inside the hectic, confused, and confusing world of rock music.
          - Bob Porter, Dallas Times-Herald

DALLAS, Tex. - Neil Young's first film, Journey Through the Past, premiered at the US Film Festival here on April 8th. Only a third of the 3500-seat Memorial Auditorium in the Dallas Convention Center was filled for the Sunday afternoon screening; at Young's request, none of the papers had mentioned anything about Neil Young himself showing up. Still, Journey's two showings that day drew the largest crowds of the week, including the festival's handful of celebrities: Vincent Minnelli, Jack Nicholson, Lou Adler and Carrie Snodgress. Minnelli was being honored during the week with a retrospective of his films; Nicholson, who directed Drive He Said, was on a panel discussion; Adler, whose record label is heading toward video (he'll be filming parts of the Carole King tour for a movie or TV special), had a weekend to spare, and Snodgress was there to be with Neil and their six-month-old son, Zeke.

As the title implies, and as Young himself explained later, "Basically, the film is about me. It's a collection of thoughts. Every scene meant something to me - although with some of them I can't say what."

Or, as producer Fred Underhill (whose previous credits include work on Marjoe and Woodstock) put it, "It's a conscious attempt to not do a music film, a performance film. He ventured into fantasy, and did fictional sequences. But it also had his music and some historical context for it, from TV films of Buffalo Springfield through today. But I keep asking Neil what it's about, too."

Young's thoughts are expressed through a character known as the Graduate, played by Richard Lee Patterson, who appears throughout the film. In one Fellini-like sequence, the man, in cap and gown, gets beaten senseless; he's dropped off in the middle of a desert, and from there begins to wander; the church, the military and Big Business are portrayed as the main threats to his Constitutional rights. Later, there is a morbidly drawn-out scene of a junkie fixing up (Neil later indicated that he had witnessed such scenes backstage); shots of Jesus Freaks on Hollywood Boulevard putting the word on Young, and a re-creation of a recurring dream of his: twelve black-hooded men on black horses sweeping down a beach toward a man and his pickup truck. Although Young said he couldn't explain its significance, the scene serves as the illustration for the soundtrack album.

Another scene has Young in a junkyard under a busy freeway. He sits in a '57 Buick, opens his lunchbox and talks ecology: "Like, man, you know, rebuilding old cars instead of manufacturing new ones."

Bob Porter of the Times-Herald, the only critic who covered the film called its philosophy "simplistic - unless there is a gigantic put-on taking place.... It seems at odds that someone so organized and craftsmanlike in his music would approach another media so unstructured. Young expressed the determination to do other films. He is artist enough that he may grow with that. With Journey he stands as a filmmaker somewhat like he would as a beginning musician."

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Neil Young began talking about making movies about four years ago, when he was still with his ex-wife Susan in Topanga Canyon. At that time, his Bauxlieux 8mm camera was a new toy, and his dream was to blow up some of the best of his home movies to 16mm for "the big time" - to show to neighbors at the Topanga Community House. Young had recently joined Crosby, Stills and Nash, and they soon began plotting out a movie of themselves - a documentary of their live concerts and of their lives. David Myers began shooting them on the road, with L.A. Johnson doing sound and Underhill as a production assistant.

"After we'd shot a lot of stuff, they looked at it and did nothing." But whoever might want the footage, it was agreed, could have it. Neil then began plans for Journey Through the Past., through his own production company, Shakey Pictures, in conjunction with Myers, Johnson and Underhill, whose own company is called Taut and Gripping, Inc., from a Judith Crist film review.

In the credits, Journey is identified as "A film by Neil Young." Neil is also credited as editor - "that's what he's most proud of," said Underhill - although he also directed scenes and conceived of most of the fantasy bits. He also went to TV networks in New York to look through stock footage, coming up with, among others, ABC-TV's coverage of Billy Graham and Richard Nixon at a youth rally in the South, singing "God Bless America" together.

By last January, the movie, 80-minutes long, was finished, and Warner Bros., the distributor, released its soundtrack album. But legal problems developed: Clearances had to be obtained for everything from Jesus Freaks to the man who composed "God Bless America," Irving Berlin. Now, the film is scheduled to be released in June, pending a few more clearances, with openings in New York and Los Angeles.

In Dallas, when the film began and Young's name appeared on the screen, the audience burst into spontaneous, spirited applause. At the end, the applause was more... polite, and scattered. Neil had watched the film from inside the projectionist's booth and listened to the response. He judged himself safe and bounded down the aisle, completely surprising the audience. Joined by Underhill, Myers and festival director L.M. "Kit" Carson (who'd worked with Myes on Marjoe and invited Young's participation in the year's festival), he sat on the edge of the stage, legs dangling over the front row.

"Not used to this," Neil began. "We don't have question and answer periods after our concerts." The audience immediately warmed up and shot questions at him for half an hour - the usual inane ones ("Were you drinking gasoline from that jug?" "No, that was apple juice." Neil smiled at Carrie and winked), the technical ones (Underhill said the film cost about $350,000), and some musical ones (Neil brushed aside most of the questions, about a Buffalo Springfield reunion, about how often Stills seemed to appear in the film, about Crosby, Stills and Nash). Young appeared hyper-excited through the session, like a high-school kid who'd just won in the Science Fair, but still nervous over his first film.

The consensus, from his friends, on the film: a decent first try, even if not exactly Academy. "It was a nice film," said Lou Adler (himself a star of such rock movies as Monterey Pop, Brewster McCloud, and A Model Shop). "Neil's touch is great, as it is in his music." But, Adler added, he'd actually be more enthusiastic to see Neil's second and third tries. "Anyone coming out of one industry and going into another has to still be learning the mechanics of the new one," he said. "And now he'll have something to bounce off of."

Young's co-manager, Elliot Roberts, agreed. "This film is not as proficient as his next endeavor," he said. "But it was made with a lot of care and love."