WasAnnon
Slow pace in the most part of the movie.
Gutsycurene
Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
Sameer Callahan
It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.
Roxie
The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;
dogismygod
If you like esoteric and dream-like 60's movies, this is an awesome flick! The James Gang rides again in this one and there is a surreal, 60's flavored feeling that features some sweet folks from that era, musician having fun acting!!!. Think of Easy rider turned into a Spagehetti Western that was made in the USA for trippers and folks that love a flower power trip back to the old west, with a Grateful Dead feel, they do not appear, but their spirit is there and you will love this soul searching -find- yourself film that hearkens to a more innocent time when imagination and music was all that was necessary.. find it and rent it! Take a trip down on Haight St. in a Western dream!GROOOOOVY! Peace!
Rod Morgan
Firesign Theatre has distanced themselves from the film, having spoken of a script they wrote for a comic western "that was never made." But this is a quirky little coming-of-age tale some years BEFORE "Blazing Saddles" that has a lot of fun trying to cram rock and roll, dope and westerns into the same screen. Uneven, certainly, but with a number of rewards. Sort of like a Firesign Theatre album.
batzi8m1
Siddhartha done as a Rock and Roll Comedy Western by two of the members of the Firesign Theatre - What's there not to love. Even if you don't recognize the themes of self discovery based on Herman Hesse's classic story of the Buddha's early journey, this is still a fun movie featuring the classic American western outlaw story done as a send-up. It's like a light hearted version of El Topo only it made me laugh where the other made me squirm - in a good way. This is not to say that the story is the same as either. It merely shares the same themes. Particularly amusing are the scenes with Country Joe and the Fish as the bungling highwaymen. Louisiana Man Doug Kershaw as the lone fiddler in black and the James Gang's opening scene are breathtaking and funny at the same time. It reminds me of Hesse's line in Steppenwolf when Mozart laughs at the hero in his dream because he can't hear the music through the static on the radio. This music celebrates the joy of life that epitomized the counterculture rebellion against the darkness of the times. Max Frisch, the Swiss author, defended an attack on the silence of the Swiss writers during the horrors of Nazi Germany by saying he wanted to set up against that all the other things that still can be called life. This movie was part of that movement -- forget superficial commercial ventures like Hair or JC Superstar or the Tommy movie -- this was the musical of the rock and roll generation as much as Rocky Horror was the musical of the Glam Rock generation. Only back then young people were just grateful to be alive and have any dreams at all. It's no wonder that the votes on this one has old farts like me rating it much higher than anyone else. I guess you had to be there back when these musicians couldn't even get radio airplay. I haven't seen this in nearly twenty years when it last played at one of the revival houses but it's one of the few movies whose scenes I can replay in my mind an laugh out loud. This is how we celebrated all those other things that we still called life.Although I would no longer condone such practices, this film appears to have been made to also be enjoyable under the influence of the popular psychoactive alkaloids of the era.
Hermit C-2
The ads referred to this as "an electric Western." You'd have to be pretty stoned, then or now, to get much enjoyment out of this confused mishmash. I can't believe the members of the Firesign Theatre had anything to do with writing this comedy or whatever it is. The only reason for watching would be to see Elvin Jones (and how did HE get mixed up in this?) He does a typically awesome drum solo, the movie's only highlight, unless you like the James Gang (Joe Walsh), featured in the opening.