3 Movies That Perfectly Capture the Musical Spirit of 1960s Hippie Culture

There are so many amazing hippie movies out there that explore the 1960s counterculture movement. The following three films, though, remain some of the very best. Let’s take a walk through music and cultural history and check out a few 1960s hippie movies that told the story of the counterculture movement that would come to define a generation.

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‘The Strawberry Statement’ ( Stuart Hagmann, 1970)

An underrated film that deserves way more love today, The Strawberry Statement focuses on student protests that took place in the late 1960s. Released in 1970 and directed by Stuart Hagmann, this film is based on real accounts of the 1968 Columbia University protests. The film follows Simon, a college student at a fictional university in San Francisco, who gets involved in demonstrations against the construction of a segregated gym on the campus. 

This film is so well-made and boasts both documentary and drama elements that make it unique. And, of course, the soundtrack is solid, made up of tunes from CSNY, Thunderclap Newman, Joni Mitchell, and more.

‘Easy Rider’ (Dennis Hopper, 1969)

This road drama film isn’t exclusively about hippies, but about the whole of the counterculture movement in the US and life on the road in the great American Southwest, as well as the drug culture of the time. Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper deliver incredible performances. And despite being an indie film with a modest budget of only $400,000, Easy Rider pulled in $60 million globally. The film also received two Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Jack Nicholson’s role in the film. 

And the soundtrack? Perfection. Everyone from The Band to Steppenwolf to The Jimi Hendrix Experience can be heard in the backdrop of this iconic film.

‘Woodstock’ (Michael Wadleigh, 1970)

Would this be a proper list of hippie movies without mentioning this documentary about the famed Woodstock Festival in 1969? This is by far one of the most legendary hippie documentary movies of all time, and it covers important moments, performances, and cultural goings-on during the famed music festival. 

Woodstock exposed the counterculture movement of the time through footage of attendees, but the heart of this movie lies in the music. Woodstock features some of the greatest performances at the festival, from Canned Heat to The Who to Joe Cocker to Jefferson Airplane to Janis Joplin, and many, many more.

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