The acid trip alone warrants 5 stars for me; between this and Roger Corman's "The Trip," either LSD's effects were way different in the 60s than effects I've experienced, or maybe it was just Peter Fonda.

Its effects are highly dependent on the imbiber, the situation, and the people around him. If you go looking for enlightenment, you'll probably have a somewhat mystical experience. Do it for fun, and you'll see interesting visuals. Do it "just because", and you'll have yet another experience. And of course, no matter why you take it, if you have unresolved demons taking LSD can result in the infamous "bad trip".

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I disagree, there's no "just for fun" with LSD. It might very well be a fun time, but if you're really tripping there is going to be some point during where you realize that it is a really really intense experience

In my tiny head it works best as a look into the counterculture perspective, not by the story it tells so much as the storytelling choices it makes. It's hard (for me, anyway) not to see Captain America and Billy as self-indulgent, but to the makers of the film they were doing something worthwhile and even noble; that tells me more about the moviemakers than about Cap / Billy.

The arbitrary ending, I think, was there because they needed an ending, it offered some shock value, and it underscored the film's opinion that mainstream America was monstrous. Which I guess I have to agree with at least partway; this was just a few years after the Civil Rights Act, Jim Crow was not that long gone and there were still a lot of shitheels afoot. (Still are to this day, but at least they realize their future is bleak and they are despised.)

If you haven't done so, this would be a good time to program your own Jack Nicholson 1969-1980 film festival.