The Source

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.

• 
  Johnny Depp

  Jack Kerouac
• 
  Dennis Hopper

  William S. Burroughs
• 
  John Turturro

  Allen Ginsberg
• 
  Allen Ginsberg

  Self (archive footage)
• 
  William S. Burroughs

  Self (archive footage)
• 
  Philip Glass

  Self
• 
  David Amram

  Self
• 
  Ken Kesey

  Self
• 
  Gary Snyder

  Self
• 
  Jerry Garcia

  Self