Heart Beat (film)

"Heart beat" redirects here. For other uses, see Heartbeat (disambiguation).

Heart Beat
Movie Poster
Directed by	John Byrum
Written by	Screenplay: John Byrum Autobiography/source: Carolyn Cassady
Produced by	David Axelrod Edward R. Pressman
Starring	Nick Nolte Sissy Spacek John Heard
Cinematography	László Kovács
Edited by	Eric Jenkins
Music by	Jack Nitzsche
Production company	Orion Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	25 April 1980 (USA)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States

Heart Beat is a 1980 film written and directed by John Byrum, based on the autobiography by Carolyn Cassady. The film is about seminal figures in the Beat Generation. The character of Ira, played by Ray Sharkey, is based on Allen Ginsberg.

Plot

The film chronicles Jack Kerouac writing his seminal novel On the Road.

Cast

Actor	Role
Nick Nolte	Neal Cassady
Sissy Spacek	Carolyn Cassady
John Heard	Jack Kerouac
Ray Sharkey	Ira (based on Allen Ginsberg)
Ann Dusenberry	Stevie
Margaret Fairchild	Mrs. Kerouac
John Larroquette	TV Talk Show Host
David Lynch	Painter
Tony Bill	Dick
Steve Allen	Himself	] Critical reception Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2½ out of 4 stars and praised certain aspects of the film: [T]here were long stretches of Heart Beat during which I found myself wishing instead for a film version of On the Road... The movie's a triumph of art direction, all right; the locations, clothes, lighting, moods, music and whole tone of the performances are designed to lower a kind of nostalgic dropcloth over the story... This movie treats its events as so long ago, so finished and done with and bathed in a yellowing afterglow, that we don't sense the very passion and rebelliousness it's supposed to be about. What an irony for the first serious film about the Beats. References External links Heart Beat at IMDb Template:Amg movie