A Head of His Time: Zachariah (1971)

"I can think, I can wait, I can fast." - Siddhartha

"I can think, I can wait, and I'm fast on the draw." - Zachariah

Billed as "The First Electric Western," 1971's Zachariah - which screens tonight, Monday August 30th at 9:40 p.m. at the Alamo downtown - is a movie that could only have been made at that particular time, when the studios were throwing money at anything that might possibly capture the youth market.

Zachariah was one of the lucky recipients of the post-Easy Rider windfall, and on paper, it had the making of a cult classic: Herman Hesse's Siddhartha as a stoner western with a script written by members of the Firesign Theatre, the music of The James Gang, Country Joe and the Fish, Doug Kershaw, and jazz drummer Elvin Jones, and a decent budget.

The resulting film did not quite live up to its premise, but it has its charms. The original screenplay turned in by Firsesign writers - Philip Austin, Peter Bergman, David Ossman, and Phil Proctor - bore little relation to what ended up on the screen. The group has since dismissed Zachariah in various interviews, saying that they wrote a script for a comic western in the early '70s, but "it never got made."

Reading between the lines, one can speculate that the members of the Firesign Theatre had aspirations to not only write the film, but to be in it, probably with Proctor in the title role. They learned the ways of Hollywood were cruel when pretty-boy actors John Rubenstein and Don Johnson were chosen for the leads, most of the supporting roles went to musicians, and director George Englund and writer Joe Massot rewrote their script beyond recognition.

A western parable that adheres loosely to the structure of Hesse's novel, the movie tells the tale of gunslinger/marijuana farmer Zachariah (Rubenstein) and his pistol-packin' pal Matthew (Johnson). Comic highlights are provided by Country Joe and the Fish as the Crackers, a gang of clueless hippie outlaws, and musical highlights by the James Gang, the power trio led by Joe Walsh, playing some of the heaviest hard rock ever committed to celluloid. Kershaw and the New York Rock Ensemble also provide memorable musical moments.

The film was greeted with indifference by the moviegoing public, but gained a cult following over the years among "heads." And it is no doubt best experienced in a certain pychoactive state of mind. Others beware.

The critics certainly didn't dig it, man. Film4's summary cuts to the chase:

"With its strange blend of acid rock and wild west gunslinging antics, there is certainly a singular, anachronistic feel to this movie. But any heads expecting a heady mix of Zabriskie Point and Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid will be disappointed by this uneven hippie-flick...[which] is in some ways a charming film. The West is reinvented as an allegory of contemporary hippie America - and 'squares' had better watch out for Matthew and Zachariah's bullets. Unfortunately the acting is all too unconvincing; and cast and director seem lost in the vast desert vistas. The film has endearing hit-and-miss trippy humour, but ultimately adds up to little more than an off episode of 'The Monkees.' Mind you, it's still way more authentic than Almost Famous."

Zachariah is certainly less than the sum of its parts, but nonetheless highly enjoyable as a time capsule of that brief, golden era when the studios were giving hippies money to make movies.

A rare 35mm print of Zachariah screens tonight, Monday August 30th at 9:40 p.m. as part of the "Music Mondays" series at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, 320 East Sixth Street in downtown Austin.

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