Getting Straight

Getting Straight. 1970 Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Elliott Gould, Candice Bergen, Robert F. Lyons, Jeff Corey, Max Julien, Gregory Sierra, Harrison Ford
Director: Richard Rush
Available from Amazon.

Another entry from Sony's Martini Movies line.

Harry Bailey (Gould) is a returning college student, having already served in Vietnam, and in dogged pursuit of his Master's Degree. His goal is to become a teacher. Even if Harry is a few years older than his peers, he is still caught in the middle between the "establishment" and the youth culture preaching revolution and demanding change. As such, many of the younger rebellious students will often defer to Harry for his take on whatever hot button issue that's bugging them at the moment. Harry will often dismiss any radical idea as unrealistic, even though deep down, he identifies much more with the youth culture than the older generation he's also trying to appeal to with his teaching ambitions. Harry's girlfriend Jan (Bergen) is also caught up in a similar trap: she is eager to join in on any campus protests, but she also has no issue with "selling out" and resigning herself to a conventional life in the suburbs.

In the meantime, Harry begins teaching an English course at the recommendation of one of his professors, Dr. Wilhunt (Corey), while trying to scheme with a stoner friend Nick (Lyons) so he doesn't get drafted and sent to Vietnam. Towards the end of the movie, Nick finally cracks up under the pressure and "goes straight". i.e., trying to sabotage the activities of his counterculture friends while claiming he's doing the right thing now.

Harry knows that he cannot play both sides of the fence for long, and he will have to pick a side: the establishment, or the campus rebels, and it takes a riot on campus to prompt this decision once and for all. Will Harry finally get "straight"?

Getting Straight doesn't really have a definitive message: it goes back and forth between sympathizing with the youth culture and the older generation, but it's still an entertaining film. Recommended.