A great cult film of the late Sixties, Wild In The Streets was a projection in fantasy of what the shape of the world would be if youth actually took over. Needless to say this was not the shape of things to come. For one thing the vote at age 18 was actually passed a couple of years after this film came and Congress did it without tripping on LSD. We responded in turn by re-electing Richard Nixon and in 1980 the youth vote went as a demographic majority for the oldest elected president we've ever had with Ronald Reagan. Proving that we really do separate our politics from our entertainment. Not here however as charismatic Jim Morrison like rockstar Christopher Jones rallies the youth of America to assert their status and demand that the voting age be lowered to 14. A very ambitious Congressman played by Hal Holbrook who wants to be California's next Senator tries to ride this particular tiger and gets consumed in the process. Shelley Winters and Bert Freed play Jones's parents and Winters looks like she's having a ball in a part that calls for her bravura style of overacting. Ed Begley also in one his last films first playing one of pillars of Congress as the senior Senator from California and later on as a caricature of an old Testament prophet which is what mandatory LSD has turned him into.Young people today can't quite grasp what Wild In The Streets was all about back then which is why it's an anachronism today. We had the draft back in those days so when older people over 30 in the government sent you to the Army and to some war you didn't quite understand what the issues were there, a slogan like 'Don't Trust Anyone Over 30' had real meaning and it wasn't just a matter of tastes. That's the mentality that Jones in his character of Max Frost is playing into. He calls his followers 'troops' and in a real sense they are.But today in America young folks played a major role in re-electing Barack Obama. If Max Frost was a candidate for president today we might be electing a Jonas Brother. And I only exclude Justin Bieber because he's Canadian.Still this film is quite a view of the Sixties be it a jaundiced view.

I saw this movie in the theater a week or so after my junior year in high school. It was my first date where I was allowed to drive. The film received a lot of fanfare, aimed entirely at my generation. I went with high expectations and was of course disappointed. I think it was supposed to be some kind of Hollywood version of a social protest film, set in a slightly tongue-in-cheek spirit. It came off as just goofy. I thought it was goofy at the time, when I was 17 and almost anything designed especially for me I perceived as at least a little bit cool and hip. But not Wild In The Streets. Nope.Some folks might think it has acquired some kind of cheeky flavor to it that makes it a good film, you know, like Plan 9 From Outer Space is supposedly a good movie too. But nope, Wild In the Street is simply a below par film, and for that matter, so is Plan 9.

I grew up in the sixties and even though I was 8 years old when this was made, I still remember the song "14 or Fight" and all that was happening during that time.Definitely the drugs and clothes and music are true to the time period and the movie is more of a Docudrama than anything else.The young people of the late sixties knew what a potential threat they were to their elders. I believe it was their raising to respect their elders that kept the ideas presented in this movie from actually coming about.Today or I should say when Bill Clinton was President, the idea of lowering the voting age to 14 was again raised as an issue that needed consideration.I have read here that people would like to have this movie, I can give information how you can get it in very good quality! Email me atjcenso at hotmail dot com

When this came out in 1968 I was 17. It made a huge impression on me then. What a wild and strange movie. I was not really ready for this movie but I liked it just the same. When Max said 14 or fight, I believed him. Of course at 17 I couldn't vote but I was facing 18 and at that time the Vietnam draft. Scary times indeed. Just the other night it was on TMC and I recorded it. I don't think I've seen it anywhere since. It was fun to watch it again, Shelly Winters looked really young, Ed Begley was perfect as the stoned out old Senator and Christopher Jones, going from rock star to politician to President and then to "old guy" played the part to a tee. The only thing about this movie I didn't care for was that it type casted Jones and he really didn't do much after this movie.