Walking On Water Wasn't Built in a Day

Description
Reviews
Citation
Cataloging
Transcript

If you are not affiliated with a college or university, and are interested in watching this film, please register as an individual and login to rent this film. Already registered? Login to rent this film. This film is also available on our home streaming platform, OVID.tv.

In April 1970, the first Earth Day in Philadelphia was actually a weeklong celebration for Mother Earth.

Newly remastered in 2K from an original 16mm print, WALKING ON WATER WASN'T BUILT IN A DAY was shot in and around the city, with cameo appearances and observations by the likes of Terry Southern, Jerry Rubin, mayor John Lindsay, Wavy Gravy, and many more.

Featured prominently in the film is famed Beat poet Allen Ginsberg, riffing on American culture and society—at the main Earth Week event on Belmont Plateau, during a van ride across Pennsylvania, over breakfast at a Howard Johnson’s, and reading from his poem “Bayonne Turnpike To Tuscarora” as he sits on the banks of the Susquehanna River. The talk is of polarization and the battle for the soul of America.

Fifty years later, the battle goes on.

Citation

Select a citation style:

Main credits

Abrahall, John (filmmaker)
Bamford, Christopher (filmmaker)
Feldman, Robert (filmmaker)
Katz, Michael (filmmaker)
Krotoczynski, Peter (filmmaker)
Ginsberg, Allen (on-screen participant)

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

beat poet; american poetry, Terry Southern, Jerry Rubin, John Lindsay, Wavy Gravy; ; "Walking On Water Wasn't Built in a Day"; Bullfrog Films,doc,art,env; history; shod; sociss

WEBVTT

00:00:19.500 --> 00:00:35.499
(chanting Buddhist mantra)

00:01:09.950 --> 00:01:23.450
(chanting Buddhist mantra)

00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:43.499
- [Announcer] Allen Ginsberg!

00:01:43.500 --> 00:01:44.799
(audience applauding)

00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.499
- I\'ll read one short poem,

00:01:54.100 --> 00:01:57.599
chant one short mantra

00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:01.599
and then if time, read one other poem.

00:02:02.300 --> 00:02:05.899
First poem, \"Kiss Ass\".

00:02:10.300 --> 00:02:13.399
Kiss ass is the part of peace.

00:02:14.500 --> 00:02:18.099
America will have to
kiss ass Mother Earth.

00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:25.299
White will have to kiss ass blacks
for peace and pleasure.

00:02:25.800 --> 00:02:29.099
Only pathway to peace, kiss ass.

00:02:29.600 --> 00:02:30.799
- You don\'t a pacifist revolution.

00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:32.599
- Okay, what type of...?

00:02:32.600 --> 00:02:34.249
- Because a pacifist doesn\'t
believe in revolution

00:02:34.260 --> 00:02:35.699
because he doesn\'t believe
in war, you idiot.

00:02:37.500 --> 00:02:38.799
- You say we can\'t have a
communistic government....

00:02:39.600 --> 00:02:43.889
- We were, because you know
damn well, Bill Toggle,

00:02:43.900 --> 00:02:47.389
that the same capitalists
that are capitalists now,

00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:50.199
in your lifetime, would be capitalists
in the same government

00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:52.489
in 10 years after a
communist revolution.

00:02:52.500 --> 00:02:54.799
Look at Russia, it\'s becoming
just as capitalist as us.

00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:58.199
- Russia has not used
a pure form of communism.

00:02:58.500 --> 00:03:01.199
- Well, fuck it, you can say that
about any government.

00:03:01.600 --> 00:03:03.539
You said that about China,
you already said that.

00:03:03.550 --> 00:03:06.399
\"China doesn\'t use a pure form
of communism, neither does Russia.\"

00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:09.299
Then who the fuck does?

00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:10.199
- We will darling, we will.

00:03:12.400 --> 00:03:15.299
Remember woman\'s lib, it\'s gonna
get you smacked back someday.

00:03:17.900 --> 00:03:20.000
- Well, it\'s a total disaster of course.

00:03:20.100 --> 00:03:29.999
I mean, if absolutely drastic
measures aren\'t taken

00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:34.099
on the most emergency-like level,

00:03:34.800 --> 00:03:36.789
we\'re all going to end up
in the, I mean,

00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:38.099
we\'re in a toilet right now, aren\'t we?

00:03:38.100 --> 00:03:46.499
We are going to end up in a worse,
much worse toilet than this.

00:03:46.500 --> 00:03:49.199
(marching band music playing)

00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:55.589
- And it\'s, it\'s happening,
it\'s happening.

00:03:55.600 --> 00:03:58.299
Kids gotta, gotta realize that
they have to kill their parents

00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:01.079
\'cause their parents are
responsible for it.

00:04:01.090 --> 00:04:03.299
And when they can kill their parents,
then they can be free.

00:04:04.500 --> 00:04:08.099
- I hear kids five years old,
six years old, saying words

00:04:08.300 --> 00:04:10.799
that I didn\'t know maybe
till a few years ago.

00:04:11.500 --> 00:04:14.589
And I\'m sure you must agree that
television has made the kids

00:04:14.600 --> 00:04:16.699
more sophisticated
and more intelligent.

00:04:16.899 --> 00:04:18.799
Now what has happened about the youth?

00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:20.799
I should ask you.

00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:21.898
I don\'t know, what is?

00:04:22.600 --> 00:04:23.899
What\'s your personal feeling?

00:04:24.300 --> 00:04:27.589
- Well, my personal feeling is
that I think a lot of people

00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:29.499
have just not been able to communicate.

00:04:29.600 --> 00:04:33.179
And I think just because of
the situation that we\'ve,

00:04:33.190 --> 00:04:37.089
that we\'re now existing in,
a lot of our potentiality

00:04:37.100 --> 00:04:39.099
for communication has been marred.

00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:42.199
- Order, huh!

00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:45.899
(shouting orders)

00:04:47.900 --> 00:04:49.699
(drumming)

00:04:50.400 --> 00:04:52.399
(shouting orders)

00:05:08.500 --> 00:05:10.699
(guns firing)

00:05:16.200 --> 00:05:18.989
- And they try to put, they try
to destroy the best people,

00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:20.999
you know, like Spock and Leary.

00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:24.899
I mean the idea of putting people
like that in jail is just incredible.

00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:29.299
It can only happen in
a totally mad society,

00:05:30.600 --> 00:05:33.799
deliberately destroying the best

00:05:35.100 --> 00:05:39.199
and most gentle and
well-meaning people, you know.

00:05:41.200 --> 00:05:43.899