The Source (1999)

Traces the Beats from Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouacs meeting in 1944 at Columbia University to the deaths of Ginsberg and William S Burroughs in 1997 Three actors provide dramatic interpretations of the work of these three writers and the film chronicles their friendships their arrival into American consciousness their travels frequent parodies Kerouacs death and Ginsbergs politicization Their movement connects with bebop John Cages music abstract expressionism and living theater In recent interviews Ginsberg Burroughs Kesey Ferlinghetti Mailer Jerry Garcia Tom Hayden Gary Snyder Ed Sanders and others measure the Beats meaning and impact