SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Overrated and overhyped

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

THE PLOT: Bizarre adaption of John Barth's already bizarre novel detailing the story of a man (Keach) who goes into a catatonic state at a train station. He is sent to a strange mental hospital run by a weird man named Dr D (Jones). After he is considered to be 'cured' he takes a job as a college Professor and proceeds to have an affair with the wife of one of his colleagues.THE NEGATIVE: It has been noted that author Barth disliked this film version of his novel and it is easy to see why. It gives only a basic outline of the story while leaving out all of the deeper meanings. It also tried to tie the story to all the chaos and rebellion of the 60's even though the book was written in 1955. The final result is a very confusing and off putting mess with nothing coming together at all. The characters all act very odd and with no understanding of their motivations it becomes impossible for the viewer to relate to them or anything else that goes on. Most viewers, especially those that are not familiar with the John Barth book, will easily become confused and turned off by this film after the first five or ten minutes if not sooner.THE POSITIVE: The film-making style is refreshingly audacious in a way that is rarely seen anymore. Everything is just thrown out there no matter how outrageous with little or no regard to mainstream acceptance. The kinetic imagery and music has a certain hypnotic effect that keeps you connected to it even if you don't understand what is going on. The film culminates with a very intense, grizzly, and tasteless abortion scene that will not be soon forgotten by anyone who sees it. Jones gives one of the most bizarre and over-the-top performances that you will ever see anywhere. Anyone who is a fan of his or has an interest in acting MUST see him in this film.THE LOWDOWN: The film is a misfired experiment that manages to be enough of a period artifact to make it an interesting curio. It definitely has the ability to stay with you for awhile after it is over.THE RATING: 6 out of 10.

In the late 60's up until the late 70's Stacy Keach appeared with pleasing regularity in a sizable volume of seriously offbeat try-and-do-whatever defiantly unconventional and noncommercial oddball indie movies. These pictures include John Huston's beautifully downbeat "Fat City," the gloomy dope addict feature "Watched," the wonderfully outré "The Ninth Configuration," Jack Starrett's delightfully giddy'n'quirky crime romp "The Dion Brothers," and this truly idiosyncratic cinematic marvel of deeply depressed late 60's anarchy, disillusionment and spiritual malaise, which is arguably the strangest of the whole kooky bunch. Keach delivers a typically all-out loopy performance that's all fried nerves, eroding mental stability and spaced-out behavior as Jack Horner, a recent dejected college graduate who seeks psychological help from wacko unorthodox maverick shrink Doctor D (an extraordinarily nutty turn by a bearded, slender James Earl Jones). Doctor D encourages Jack to "do his own thing," a treatment which prompts Jack to get a job at a college as an English professor. Pretty soon Jack is having an adulteress fling with the neglected unhappy wife (superbly played by Dorothy Tristan) of a crazed, pompous colleague (marvelously essayed to smug, callous perfection by Harris Yulin in his film debut), a precarious situation which begets tragic consequences for all concerned. Addressing such pertinent topics as loss of identity, commonplace violence in contemporary society, abortion, drug use, infidelity, insanity and the sheer lunacy and bleak emptiness of middle class American existence with a bracing and fiercely pointed sense of sardonic humor, this grim social satire that was co-written by Terry Southern and garishly shot by Gordon Willis never lets up on its nihilistic, everything's-going-to-hell acid-soaked tone, thus making for a properly harsh, often funny and frequently provocative ridicule of trippy uninhibited 60's excess and messed-upness.

Man, it is hard to digest some of the bile and acrid animosity of many of the comments here. I saw this when it first came out right as I was about to graduate high school in 1970, and I loved it. I had not read John Barth's novel, so I had no prejudice about the approach. I have watched the film a couple of times since on video (though it is virtually impossible to find) and must testify it more than holds up. Stacey Keach really gives a great, subtly nuanced performance (perhaps the best of his career when he was still getting 'serious' roles) as the guy plagued by occasional catatonia, and James Earl Jones is also fantastic as a brilliant, maverick innovator of psychiatry (think Wilhelm Reich by way of Malcolm X) who, at the end, may be a bit too godlike for his own good. I personally think Terry Southern is a wonderful writer, and I love all of the films from his work from the more favorably acknowledged, like DR. STRANGELOVE and MAGIC Christian, to the less so (CANDY, which is probably my favorite). There are some crazy juxtapositions here as well as absurd humor (that would do the 1920s-30s surrealists proud), but the humor is not stupid by any means. Director Aram Avakian and Terry Southern were a good pairing. It's too bad that they never did another film together. I can only guess that this dark, dark comedy that is about America in the sixties and about human vulnerability, hubris and arrogance touched many raw nerves with not only some of the IMDb commentators, but the few people who saw it on its initial release. A totally uncompromising picture with the courage of it's twisted convictions. The intention of director, screenwriter and cast was to rattle complacent, uptight people's cages -and, judging from the invective here, I'd say they succeeded in spades. I will echo: whomever owns the rights to END OF THE ROAD, put it out on DVD - NOW!

Well folks,here it is,my nomination for the WORST movie ever made!I bought this movie in 1980.I had never seen it before,and a video store had it on sale for 4.99,when BLANK tapes were about 8 bucks or so,so how could I lose?I still have it,I give it to friends to see what they think about it,and they think it is pretty bad,if not worse than me.I never thought a movie with this cast could be this bad,but it is!Let's see,Stacy Keatch in a catatonic state,after his college graduation with a whole load of degrees.He goes into zombie mode at train station,stands there for a couple of days,dog pees on foot.Along comes Mr Jones,who sees Stacy is in trouble,says something like "Yo mama's t*t's as hard as cold cement!",and Stacy wakes up!Goes to "asylum" run by Jones,gets tour,sees guy SCREWING A CHICKEN,along with other sights!Then he begins "treatment"consisting of sound effects playing at earshattering levels,and lots of pictures of war,babies,naked girls,etc flashing on walls,while Jones makes faces and talks very strangely.He eventually is improved enough to leave,gets a job teaching english(I think),has affair with older woman,has occasional relapses,then has affair with boss's wife,gets her pregnant,Jones does abortion,she chokes on own vomit and dies during the procedure.What a flick!What a load of crap this thing is,it's so full of itself!It IS amusing if watched while drunk or drugged,but if you are sober,watch out!!!