Timothy Leary

The proposed metaphysical highs of psychedelic drugs versus the harsh actualities of concrete metropolitan life. These two opposing realities form the backdrop of an adolescent encounter in the city of London, told through still images and written narration.

An examination of the notorious high priest of LSD Timothy Leary through the eyes of his famed lover Joanna Harcourt-Smith.

The fascinating story of the cultural, social, spiritual, and musical revolution ignited by the coming of the Beatles. Tracing the impact that these four band members had, first in their native Britain and soon after worldwide, it reappraises the band and follows their path from young subversives to countercultural heroes. Featuring fresh, revealing interviews with key collaborators as well as a wealth of rarely-seen archival footage, this is a bold new take on the most significant band in the history of music and their enduring impact on popular culture.

Icons of '60s counterculture, Harvard psychologists Timothy Leary and Ram Dass became estranged until an illness inspired their fascinating reunion.

An audio-visual journey through the mind of Terence McKenna.

A retrospective of events in director Louis van Gasteren’s life from 1964 to 1969, filmed by him in that period and reflected on from his vantage point over 40 years later at the age of 90.

Provides an insider's view of the groundbreaking, outrageous, creative juggernaut that was the band Ministry - during their world tour - as front man Al Jourgensen slips into drug addiction. Ministry made industrial rock mainstream, and along the way their music and take no prisoners lifestyle influenced the leaders of today's most important bands, many of whom are in the film.

Plant Explorer Richard Evans Schultes was a real life Indiana Jones whose discoveries of hallucinogenic plants laid the foundation for the psychedelic sixties. Now in this two hour History Channel TV Special, his former student Wade Davis, follows in his footsteps to experience the discoveries that Schultes brought to the western world. Shot around the planet, from Canada to the Amazon, we experience rarely seen native hallucinogenic ceremonies and find out the true events leading up to the Psychedelic Sixties. Featuring author/adventurer Wade Davis ("Serpent and the Rainbow"), Dr. Andrew Weil, the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir and many others, this program tells the story of the discovery of peyote, magic mushrooms and beyond: one man's little known quest to classify the Plants of the Gods. Richard Evans Schultes revolutionized science and spawned another revolution he never imagined.

5 psychedelic short films, broadcast on the French/German tv channel "arte" on 2007-07-16 "Be-In" USA 1967, 7 min "Beatles Electronique" USA 1966-69, 3 min "San Francisco" Great Britain 1967/68, 15 min. "Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable" USA/Great Britain 1967, 12 min. "Eyetoon" USA 1967/68, 8 min.

The 1960's and 1970's were a time of change, a time of revolution, a time of the Hippies. Hippies reached across the nation and their effects are still felt today.

While recorded in the late 70s and early 80s, the theme to this Tom Snyder release is icons of the 1960s. Features Ken Kesey, the Grateful Dead, Dr. Timothy Leary, and Tom Wolfe as Guests The Dead play a short set of 'On the Road Again,' 'Dire Wolf,' 'Deep Elm Blues' and an abbreviated 'Cassidy.

Long before Timothy Leary urged a generation to "tune in, turn on and drop out," lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, was being used by researchers trying to understand the human mind. This documentary is a fascinating look at the story of "acid" before it hit the streets. Featuring interviews with many LSD pioneers, Hofmann's Potion is much more than a simple chronicle of the drug's early days. With thoughtful interviews, beautiful music and stunning cinematography, it is an invitation to look at LSD, and our world, with a more open, compassionate mind.

The year: 1969. Headlines blare war and civil unrest while John Lennon and Yoko Ono are in love. The eccentic rock 'n' roll couple has just gotten married, and more than happy to be together, they want to change the world. Lying in a hotel bed surrounded by journalists, they announce their mission for peace and invite the rest of the world to symbolically climb into bed with them and share their dream. People call them silly, naive, even ridiculous, yet one famous couple's bed-in spread new hope that there really could be an end to war, hate and violence. Here is rare footage from that amazing time, including footage from John and Yoko's wedding, the infamous bedside confrontation between John and conservative cartoonist Al Capp, Lennon debating media expert Marshall McLuhan, and meeting Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Now twenty years after Lennon's murder, Yoko and others involved in the peace mission reflect on the events of that magical, mystical year.

Emmy Coer, a computer genius, devises a method of communicating with the past by tapping into undying information waves. She manages to reach the world of Ada Lovelace, founder of the idea of a computer language and proponent of the possibilities of the "difference engine." Ada's ideas were stifled and unfulfilled because of the reality of life as a woman in the nineteenth century. Emmy has a plan to defeat death and the past using her own DNA as a communicative agent to the past, bringing Ada to the present. But what are the possible ramifications?

Traces the Beats from Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac's 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, Kerouac's death, and Ginsberg's politicization. Their movement connects with bebop, John Cage's 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.

A film about Timothy Leary's life and death. Dr. Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 -- May 31, 1996) was an American writer, psychologist, futurist, and advocate of psychedelic drug research. An icon of 1960s counterculture, Leary is most famous as a proponent of the therapeutic, spiritual and emotional benefits of LSD. He coined and popularized the catch phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out."

A group of anarchists use their public-access TV show to satirize the government until a right-wing preacher attempts to shut them down.

How to Operate Your Brain, is a 29 minute, guided, electronic (spoken/musical) meditation. In it, Dr. Leary tries to impart to the listener essential aspects of his visionary LSD experiences. While it may have been intended for use with drugs to provide some of the positive "set" and "setting" that he saw as essential for a good "trip", it stands alone as a profound, guided meditation. In it, you will hear some of the central, sacred principles of Yoism.

How to Operate Your Brain, is a 29 minute, guided, electronic (spoken/musical) meditation. In it, Dr. Leary tries to impart to the listener essential aspects of his visionary LSD experiences. While it may have been intended for use with drugs to provide some of the positive "set" and "setting" that he saw as essential for a good "trip", it stands alone as a profound, guided meditation. In it, you will hear some of the central, sacred principles of Yoism.

Starring Timothy Leary

A 12-minute documentary about the house of RHCP guitarist John Frusciante. The film's main purpose was to depict the chaos & instability in his life.

Eli is a burglar who is caught in the act by Twinkle, an heiress who coerces him into a sexual relationship. Their violent break-up makes him a fugitive in search of a new identity. He lands in a trashy trailer park where he touches the lives of several dysfunctional residents.

Sid and Nancy screenplay author Abbe Wool makes her directorial debut with this tale of a factory worker name Joe (X front man John Doe) who hits the road on his Harley to scatter the ashes of a co-worker. Joined by wannabe biker Sam (Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys), Joe journeys from Los Angeles to Nevada, meeting all sorts of characters (played by the likes of David Carradine, John Cusack, Timothy Leary and Arlo Guthrie) along the way.

A playful story about the microcircuitry of love.

Ted is a 1970s Venice Beach poet who spends his days drifting along the boardwalk, reciting his poetry to anyone who will listen. His life changes when a bikini-clad beauty named Linda strolls by him. Instantly, Ted believes he's found his "Venus" and becomes obsessed with Linda. He tries to woo her with poetry, obscene phone calls and romantic overtures, all to disastrous effect.

A Los Angeles detective hunts a serial killer with a woman who has telepathic multiple personalities.

Skydivers drop in on a suspicious quarry.

This video covers the Los Angeles Whole Life Expo, in which cultural leaders of importance to the New Age movement are interviewed and vendors promote wares.

Stylistic documentary about the cyberpunk movement. William Gibson, author of cyberpunk classic Neuromancer, and Timothy Leary, famous advocate of psychedelic drugs, share their thoughts on the future of society and technology.

After being sent to the electric chair, a serial killer uses electricity to come back from the dead and carry out his vengeance on the football player who turned him in to the police.

In the later 1960s, two hippies are forced to leave their friends as they are wanted by the FBI, who sees them as criminals. They hide in the jungle for 20 years, secluded from the outside world. In the later 1980s, the find out that a secret war is about to start in the US, and decide to return to New York to tell someone about it.

Filmmaker Morley Markson shows Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, and other '60s rebels, then and now in a follow up to his 1971 film "Breathing Together: Revolution of the Electric Family."

Death of his wife's pet poodle and a threatening movie producer create a world of trouble for a middle-aged B-movie mogul. He hires two psychopathic goons to take care of it, which only creates more trouble and attracts the cops.

Return Engagement is a 1983 documentary film directed by Alan Rudolph about the tour debate between Timothy Leary and G. Gordon Liddy.

Like The Men Who Make the Music, We're All Devo! has a storyline to tie the videos together. In it, the character of Rod Rooter (Michael W Schwartz) is reviewing Devo's music videos for Big Entertainment. Much to his chagrin, his daughter Donut Rooter (Laraine Newman) is a fan of the band. Donut discovers the videos after asking her father for money to get an abortion (though this is not explicitly stated). Two excerpts from the storyline were included in the "Complete Truth About De-Evolution" laserdisc and DVD (both out of sequence) but the rest is exclusive to this videocassette. "Theme from Doctor Detroit" was also not included, and is unique to this tape. (Wikipedia)

Cheech and Chong house sit for a marijuana grower and rip off the crop. Stalked by keystone-style cops, Los Guys have a series of encounters with L.A. area characters even weirder than themselves

After World War II a group of young writers, outsiders and friends who were disillusioned by the pursuit of the American dream met in New York City. Associated through mutual friendships, these cultural dissidents looked for new ways and means to express themselves. Soon their writings found an audience and the American media took notice, dubbing them the Beat Generation. Members of this group included writers Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg. a trinity that would ultimately influence the works of others during that era, including the "hippie" movement of the '60s. In this 55-minute video narrated by Allen Ginsberg, members of the Beat Generation (including the aforementioned Burroughs, Anne Waldman, Peter Orlovsky, Amiri Baraka, Diane Di Prima, and Timothy Leary) are reunited at Naropa University in Boulder, CO during the late 1970's to share their works and influence a new generation of young American bohemians.

Uncovering government agencies (especially the CIA) that secretly tested the effects of LSD on humans. (archive.org)

At Folsom Prison with Dr. Timothy Leary is an extraordinary counterculture document, filmed during Leary’s incarceration there. Under 30 minutes in length, this 1973 film shows Leary at his most engaging and personable. It’s a testament to his considerable charm that he was able to pull off such a performance, considering that the prison warden and other officials were sitting across the room listening as this was filmed. Leary discusses his jailbreak (intimating that the daughter of a United States senator he refuses to name helped him), the revolution in consciousness and drugs, Eldridge Cleaver and what it feels like to be an imprisoned philosopher.

The title of this Canadian documentary may have some relation to Canadian Marshall McLuhan's theories. It combines interview with famous U.S. militants of the '60s, such as Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, with reenactments of their Chicago trials (i.e., the "Chicago Eight," etc.). Other figures of cultural interest from the time, including Alan Ginsberg and Buckminster Fuller, are interviewed or featured. The filmmaker indicates his belief that powerful forces in the U.S. government worked together to suppress American radicals. This view, widely disbelieved at the time, has since been confirmed.

An epic portrait of the New York avant-garde art scene of the 60s.

Three sailors are talked into trying LSD and marijuana--which, this film implies, are basically the same thing--and the effects of the drugs endanger the lives of their fellow sailors aboard ship.

A special documentary dealing with topics as narcotics, sex, promiscuity, fads, pop culture and morals in 1967.

Captures the spirit and essence of the great San Francisco Human Be-In of January 14, 1967. Ten thousand people imbued with peace, love and euphoria. Set to hard rock such as only San Francisco blues can produce. BE-IN contains Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Timothy Leary, Michael McClure, Lenore Kandel and Buddha. Music by Blue Cheer.

"The whole film are non-art portraits of people in which they do what they want with this hat – and therefore, act or stand in front of my camera. It’s only love: therefore it can’t harm you". Joyce Wieland.

Experimental movie, where a man comes home and experiences LSD. His kaleidoscopic visions follow, with readings inspired by the Tibethan Book of the Dead.

Description by D.A Pennebaker: "This movie is something of a mystery. Timothy Leary was getting married to a model named Nena Von Schlebrugge up in Millbrook, New York at the Hitchcock house, where Leary had been carrying on his hallucinogenic revelries for the past year or so after leaving Harvard. It was rumored that this was going to be the wedding of the season, the wedding of Mr. And Mrs. Swing as Cab Calloway put it. Blackwood took me downtown to meet Monte Rock III who was singing at Trudy Heller’s but who was also a very pricey and off-the-wall hairdresser and was in fact going to be doing the bride’s hair. Nena’s brother, Bjorn, known as the “Baron” was a friend of the Hitchcock’s, as was I, and the idea of going along and filming the wedding seemed not unwarranted. I’ve always wanted to film someone getting married."