The taglines on the poster for Psych-Out announced: "These are the Pleasure Lovers! They'll ask for a dime with hungry eyes...but they'll give you love - for NOTHING!"

Other taglines for the film include "Taste a Moment of Madness...Listen to the Sound of Purple" and "Have you ever TASTED FEAR or SMELLED MADNESS?"

After the immense success of The Trip (1967), American-International Pictures realized there was boxoffice gold in "psychedelic movies" and rushed Psych-Out into production before rival studios began exploiting the same idea.

Jack Nicholson made Psych-Out after an appearance on The Andy Griffith Show TV series but before his star-making turn in Easy Rider in 1968. At the time, he still considered himself a screenwriter more than an actor (even though he still struggled to win roles) and would go to work on the screenplay of Head for director Bob Rafelson immediately following Psych-Out.

The daughter of New York City acting coach Lee Strasberg and stage actress Paula Strasberg, Susan Strasberg made her Broadway debut in the title role of The Diary of Anne Frank in 1955 and her film debut in 1955 with supporting roles in two films, Picnic and The Cobweb.

After her marriage to actor Christopher Jones in 1965, Strasberg began appearing in more unconventional films (The Name of the Game is Kill, 1968) and B-movies such as The Trip (1967) and Psych-Out (1968) for AIP which was also the studio that released Wild in the Streets (1968), starring Strasberg's husband Jones in the lead. She died of breast cancer at the age of 60 in 1999.

During the early part of his film career, Bruce Dern was typecast as psychos or weirdos in many films and TV shows. Directly after making Psych-Out, he played one of several villains in the Clint Eastwood western, Hang 'em High (1968). He would begin to receive better film offers and marquee placement after his performance in the Oscar®-winning They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969) which led to major roles in Jack Nicholson's directorial debut, Drive, He Said (1971), Silent Running (1972), The King of Marvin Gardens (1972), opposite Jack Nicholson, The Great Gatsby (1974), and Alfred Hitchcock's Family Plot (1976).

Dean Stockwell enjoyed a highly successful career as a child actor at MGM and transitioned successfully into an adult career giving critically acclaimed performances in Compulsion (1959), Sons and Lovers (1960) and Long Day's Journey into Night (1962) with Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson and Jason Robards, Jr.

Stockwell's film career as a leading man faltered in the mid-sixties and he concentrated more on television work while occasionally accepting parts in offbeat films such as Psych-Out, The Dunwich Horror (1970) and The Last Movie (1971), directed by Dennis Hopper.

Stockwell's film career enjoyed a resurgence in the early eighties when he appeared in Wim Wenders' critically acclaimed Paris, Texas and David Lynch's Dune

(both 1984). He later was featured in Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986) and received a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Jonathan Demme's farce, Married to the Mob (1988). His cult status was also given a boost by his regular appearance in the TV series, Quantum Leap (1989-1993).

Director Richard Rush has had a very uneven career but is generally perceived as a strong action director, due to his work on several better-than-average exploitation films such as Hells Angels on Wheels (1967), starring Jack Nicholson. The Stunt Man (1980) is generally regarded as his best film and the pinnacle of his movie career.

Cinematography Laszlo (aka Leslie) Kovacs, emigrated to the U.S. from Hungary with fellow cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond in the late fifties and both found work in Hollywood, shooting low-budget features. Kovacs' collaboration with director Rush began with A Man Called Dagger (1967) and continued for five more features, ending with Freebie and the Bean (1974). Kovacs was never nominated for an Oscar® despite his acclaimed work on such films as Easy Rider (1969), Five Easy Pieces (1970), What's Up, Doc? (1972), Paper Moon (1973), Shampoo (1975) and New York, New York (1977). He died in 2007 of an undisclosed illness.

by Jeff Stafford

SOURCES:
afi.com
The Films of Jack Nicholson by Douglas Brode
Jack's Life: A Biography of Jack Nicholson by Patrick McGilligan
Five Easy Decades: How Jack Nicholson Became the Biggest Movie Star in Modern Times by Dennis McDougal
Things I've Said, But Probably Shouldn't Have by Bruce Dern (Wiley)
Dean Stockwell Interview by Craig Edwards, Psychotronic Magazine
FilmFacts
Hollywood Rock: A Guide to Rock 'N' Roll Movies by Marshall Crenshaw (HarperPerennial) IMDB