On the Road

     Jack Kerouac’s original novel/biography On the Road helped speak to and define a generation. Unfortunately, Walter Salles film version can’t be expected to do the same.

    Set in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, On the Road follows the cross-country adventures of Sal Paradise (Sam Riley) and the encounters with friends and strangers along the way that help shape him as a writer and as a human being. One of the friends who travels often with him is Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund), who seems to live without rules or morals. Though there are other members in their Beatnik group, the movie focuses mainly of the friendship between these two men.

    It’s hard to describe the plot of the movie when there really isn’t one. Much of the film is little vignettes and glimpses into some of the adventures Sal has on the road, but there is no constructed narrative, no beginning, middle, end, and no true climax or satisfying ending.

    Part of the publicity for the film included highlighting all the big-name actors and actresses who were in the film, but many audience members were disappointed these roles consisted of only a few lines and little action. Viggo Mortensen is on one of the main posters for the film, but has a very minor part in the film. Other actors, like Amy Adams and Steve Buscemi, also have small, almost insignificant parts. However, Kristen Stewart’s, who plays Mary Lou, Dean’s first wife and lover, part in the film was written to make her a more major character than she was the original book. Perhaps this is based on the marketability and current attraction of Stewart (trying to reel in Twilight fans, perhaps?), but her character seemed dry and boring and did little to enhance the film.

    The two main, relatively unknown actors – Garrett Hedlund and Sam Riley – carried the majority of the film and their performances were remarked on and complemented for days after the film premiered. Many of the larger female roles, however, were criticized by the press and audiences. Kristen Stewart plays a vulgar and trashier version of the same expressionless character she plays in almost every movie, and Kirsten Dunst (who plays Dean’s second wife Camille) comes across as whiny and bitter. This can be partially blamed on the screenwriter Jose Rivera, who tried to rewrite the women’s parts in the movie, but the casting choices also felt unnatural.

    Terrence Howard has a small part in the film as a jazz saxophonist whom Sal and Dean listen to in a small, primarily African-American club. Though he has few lines and short scenes, Howard’s small character stands out because of the inspiration he incites in Sal. Sal and Dean often find a comfortable place among people on the edge of society and spend much of their time in jazz clubs. Sal finds other fringe groups during his travels, such as Mexican cotton pickers and Mid-Western farmers, and tries to find his place among them despite his apparent New Yorker demeanor and attitude.

    The original book explores more of Sal’s independence as he travels across the country and as he tries his hand at many different jobs, but the film tries to focus more on the relationship between Sal and Dean. Many scenes show Sal’s frustration and disbelief at some of Dean’s actions, such as his sleeping with the driver (Steve Buscemi) for a couple dollars or his inability to commit to either marriage or his kids. This tension builds up and seems to escalate in Mexico, where Sal gets very sick and Dean leaves him behind, without a car, to return home. Many audiences, including myself, expected a confrontation between the two men or at least a reality check for Dean, who has hurt so many other people in his impulsive actions, but Sal quietly returns home and just doesn’t see Dean for a while.

    The ending, it seems, tries to give the audience some closure with the relationship between the two men – Sal, on the way to a concert, runs into a ragged Dean on the snowy sidewalk. Dean asks him to help him out and to come along with him on another adventure, but Sal says he can’t anymore (which is the first time he’s ever really turned Dean down). As Sal gets into the limo with a shivering Dean watching, the audience is given the idea that this friendships has been fractured and perhaps Sal has decided to mature beyond Dean’s destructive and childish impulses, but I felt like the movie ducked out of a true ending or a true character arc for Sal. The book has more definite closure between the two as Sal finally decides to settle down with a girl and Dean continues to bounce from wife to wife, lover to lover. In that, there is a clearer break in the friendship – Sal chooses to mature and commit, while fondly remembering his adventures on the road, and fully separates from Dean.

    Overall, the film does a decent job of capturing much of the emotion and excitement of the adventures between Dean and Sal on the road, but fails to include the important character transitions and growth (or lack of growth on Dean’s part) that make the evolution and conclusion of the friendship more understandable and complete. 

Directed by Walter Salles

Written by Jack Kerouac (book) and Jose Rivera (screenplay)

Produced by Patrick Batteux, Francis Ford Coppola, Jerry Leider, Peter Cavaney

WITH Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Tom Sturridge, Amy Adams, Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Elizabeth Moss, Terrence Howard

Running time – 137 mins