The Trip

Paul Groves (Peter Fonda), a young director of TV commercials, is in the midst of an existential crisis. His wife Sally (Susan Strasberg) has left him for another man, and he seeks help from his friend John (Bruce Dern), an advocate of LSD. Paul asks John to guide him through his first "trip," and John takes Paul to a "freakout" at the mansion of another acquaintance, the self-styled guru Max (Dennis Hopper). Splitting the scene, they score some acid from Max and return to John's split-level pad with an indoor/outdoor pool. Paul experiences visions of sex, death, strobe lights, flowers, dancing girls, witches, hooded riders, a torture chamber, and a dwarf. Most prominent among his hallucinations, however, are two women. He can't let go of his memories--good and bad--of Sally, but he has only just met Glenn (Salli Sachse), an acquaintance of Max's with whom he nonetheless feels an immediate connection, as she admires those who dare to try LSD and has expressed a desire to see him again soon. Paul panics as his visions intensify, but John tells him to "go with it, man." Would you trust John?