| Zachariah | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | George Englund |
| Produced by | George Englund Lawrence Kubik |
| Written by | Phil Austin Peter Bergman |
| Starring | John Rubinstein Patricia Quinn Don Johnson Dick Van Patten |
| Cinematography | Jorge Stahl Jr. |
| Editing by | Gary Griffin |
| Distributed by | Cinerama Releasing Corporation |
| Release date(s) | 1971 |
| Running time | 93 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Zachariah (1971) is a film starring John Rubinstein as Zachariah and Don Johnson as his best friend Matthew. The film is loosely based on Herman Hesse's novel Siddhartha, surrealistically adapted as a musical Western by Joe Massot and two members of the Firesign Theatre comedy troupe. The band Country Joe and the Fish perform as an inept gang of robbers (more adept as musicians) called "the Crackers," who are always "looking for people who like to draw." In the same vein, Zachariah boasts: "I can think, I can wait, and I'm fast on the draw." This is a parody of Siddhartha's famous line: "I can think, I can wait, I can fast."
Underneath the gunplay, the jokes, and the music, an important message is delivered: a life of pacifism, quiet contemplation, male bonding and vegetarianism is preferable to a life of violence.
This film is defined as being part of the Acid Western genre. More precisely, in its own publicity releases, it was called, "The first electric western." This was, in no small part, because this film featured several appearances and music supplied by successful rock bands from the era, including the James Gang and Country Joe and the Fish. Fiddler Doug Kershaw has a musical cameo that advances the plot of the film. The movie also features former John Coltrane sideman Elvin Jones as a gunslinging drummer named "Job Cain."
Cream's drummer Ginger Baker was originally going to play the part of Zachariah.
The Minneapolis group White Lightnin' (an off-shoot of the band The Litter) performs their rock and roll version of the William Tell Overture on the soundtrack. The New York Rock and Roll Ensemble perform Grave Digger on the soundtrack. The soundtrack features songs by the James Gang, Joe Walsh, and Country Joe and the Fish which are not available elsewhere. The soundtrack is out of print.
At a solo concert in Cedar Falls, IA in the autumn of 1973, Country Joe McDonald asked if anyone in the audience had seen the film Zachariah. When the crowd yelled, "Yeah," he said, "It was a crummy movie."
The film and its soundtrack received a positive review in the pages of Circus, a rock music magazine.