Imagine being at the intersection of the American Dream and the Manson family.
How would you even begin to encompass it?
Here’s one way: Two brothers tour Charles Manson murder sites. One is a devoted family man. One is devoted to The Family.
After all, how do you really go about describing post-modern America unless you at least try to reconcile the two. Or argue that the two have absolutely nothing in common at all.
But Charles Manson [and explaining him] has always been somewhat of an obsession here in America:
Title card: In 1969, Charles Manson was imprisoned for orchestrating the notorious Tate-LaBianca murders. To this day, Manson remains a source of public fascination, receiving an estimated 60,000 letters each year.
Here are two brothers that, over the years, have become…estranged. One can hardly imagine them being more different. Nick being straight out of the heartland and Conrad being straight out of, well, it’s not the heartland that’s for sure.
Nick is as straight as they come, Conrad as crooked. Some will identitfy with one more than the other. And some [like me] will more or less identify with both. So, basically, this is an exploration into the the ties that bind. Or the lack of ties that don’t. It’s about how the past and present become inextricably intertwined in the dynamics of any one particular family. And families like this one are few and far between.
It’s that part bursing at the seams with dasein.
Anyway, can Charlie Manson reconcile the two? Or, perhaps, Blackbird and Sunshine?
On the other hand, is that something that anyone else would even care about?
Trust me: You’re gonna wonder just how much of this movie is based on what is in fact true about Manson and his followers today. For example, was the Conrad character based on any one of the children that Manson is said to have fathered? Is that part actually true?
Where are Manson’s kids now? laist.com/2007/10/30/where_are_manso.php
IMDb
[b]Was funded via a Kickstarter campaign, where it received $40,607, $607 more than the target: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kickstarter
Charles Manson has been imprisoned since late 1969. Assuming 40-year-old Conrad was conceived before Manson was imprisoned, this film must take place in 2010 or earlier. [/b]
no wiki entry
trailer: youtu.be/geP6RMJRqOc
MANSON FAMILY VACATION [2015]
Written and directed by J. Davis
[b]Reporter [interviewing Manson in prison]: I’ve heard that you get a lot of letters from kids. Have you gotten these kind of visits and letters from kids that you don’t know?
Manson: Sure.
Reporter: Why do you think these kids write you?
Manson: Because I am those kids. I am a child. I never grew up. I never lived in your society. I never went to school. I never had a mother and father. I raised myself up.
Reporter: What do you think it is about you that makes people want to be a part of whatever it is you’re a part of?
[suddenly Manson leaps to his feet moving about frenetically, spasmodically]
Manson: I’m brand new. Everything I do is always brand new.
…
Amanda: You okay?
Nick: I’m good. Expect for the fact that our son Max is a sociopath.[/b]
Max it seems is obsessed – really obsessed – with death.
[b]Amanda: I think it’ll be fun. It’ll be the first time we’ve spent real quality time with him since…probably…well, probably our wedding.
Nick: Oh, my God.
Amanda: What?
Nick: The wedding gift that he gave us? That…thing.
Amanda: Oh. Oh, Fuck!
…
Conrad: You know Charles Manson?
Nick: Uh, yeah, I know who Charles Manson is.
Conrad: Well, there are these sites all around the city, um, that I was hoping we could go to. I have it all mapped out. It’s amazing 'cause, like, no one knows that, like, right there, you know, that’s the LaBianca house, you know. Or the Tate house.
Nick: Wait, these are the murder site houses?
Conrad: You… You’re acting so uptight, this is a thing people do.
Nick: No, they don’t. No, this is the thing that weird conspiracy people do. Trust me, I have friends that come into LA all the time. We’ve never…Manson has never even come up.
…
Nick [listening to a news report on the Manson murders]: "Charles Manson set into motion a wave of terror in Southern California. In two nights, Manson’s murderous spree took the lives of at least seven people, including actress Sharon Tate. Manson was portrayed as a guitar-playing ex-convict with a following of runaway young women, his so-called family members. The cult, or family, spoke of launching a holy war against the rich and the powerful. The Tate-LaBiance murders were bizarre and merciless. They triggered a public panic and raised the specter of drug-crazed youths slaughtering their victims at random.
…
Conrad [with Nick where the Sharon Tate house once used to be]: Oh, my God! This is probably the same pole that Tex climbed up. See, they thought there was gonna be an alarm, so he climbed up with wire cutters, and he snipped all the wires. He jumped over, and then right then there was this young kid driving away. He was just randomly there that night. Never been there before. And Tex, like, starts stabbing him through the window. But he scooches back, put his hands up. So Tex has to shoot him four times in the chest.
Nick: Okay. You know what? I’m gonna go back to the car.
…
Nick: Charles Manson killed people right here. You have to be fucking respectful about that.
Conrad: He wasn’t even here that night. He wasn’t at the Tate house or the LaBianca. He didn’t kill anyone.
Nick: Then why is he in jail for murder?
Conrad: Exactly! I mean, it was a fucking conspiracy…It’s because of his ideas. They couldn’t have someone that free being, living out amongst us, 'cause it would make everyone else feel like that.[/b]
Of course that isn’t entirely true, is it?
Conrad: So, wait, before we go, I got to tell you, um, this table that we’re sitting at…This very same table. This is the same booth that they ate at before they went home that night.
Nick: Who? What are you talking about?
Conrad: Sharon Tate and her friends. They ate here before that same night they went home. And then, Tex and the girls came.
Nick: Yeah, okay. Yeah. Got it. Got it. So that’s why we’re here.
Conrad: Oh, come on. It’s just a fun fact.
Nick: You think it’s a fun fact, but it’s not. I mean, it’s, like, really disturbing.
Conrad: Okay, I’m sorry, but I mean, it is something that I’ve been thinking about that…I mean, a lot of people ignore death, and it’s something to think about and not just shove away.
Nick: Are you… Do you hear yourself right now? I mean, you… You’re talking about not ignoring death, and embracing it.
See? How do you reconcile that?
[b]Conrad [to Nick]: This is the LaBianca house, man. Holy shit! Come on. Come on. I bet the kitchen is on this side, and the kitchen is key here, okay? Because that’s where they wrote on the fridge in blood, “Helter Skelter”.
…
Conrad [posing as the LaBianca’s grandson!]: I’m sure this is not a subject you’re fond of, but I was just wondering, you know, after what happened here, do you ever feel, like, you know, just creeped out, you know?
Janice: No. Not really. It is strange, knowing that Charles Manson was actually in the house.
Nick: Wait. What? Charles Manson was in the house?
Janice: Yes. He’s the one who broke in.
Nick [looking at Conrad]: That’s weird, because I had heard that Charles Manson was not a part of the murders at all.
Conrad: Well, no, he just came in and tied them up, but he wasn’t part of the murders.
…
Janice [to Conrad]: A horrible thing happened here! And you want to celebrate that?! Haven’t you ever lost anyone?
…
Nick: I personally think that you expected Dad to do everything for you as a kid. But, like… .
Conrad: No, just to love me, maybe.
Nick: He’s an army guy, all right? And he has, you know, he has that power thing, and that’s part of his setup. Like, you had to add that to that a little bit, if you want…
Conrad: That’s not love. That’s not raising someone to be their own person. That’s making a little fucking clone.
Nick: So, uh, so what, I’m dad’s little soldier? That’s basically how you see me?
…
Conrad [to Nick]: You know, Dad wasn’t the only one in the family who treated me like a fucking outcast, okay? You did your fair share of treating me like a piece of shit.
…
Manson [being interviewed in prison]: I’m just a messenger of the truth.
Reporter: God’s messenger?
Manson: Life’s messenger. But we use the word “God”. “God” hooks all the other words up. I’m the pope. I’m ten times the pope. I’m 50 times the pope. But I’m the pope in the hills and the mountains. I’m already out of here. This enclosure here? I’m out of here. My body is stuck here, but my thought is already gone.
…
Nick: What are you guys talking about?
Conrad: Oh, nothing, just hanging out, playing…
Max: We’re reading Helter Skelter. There’s really cool pictures of dead people.
[Nick, furious, drags Conrad out of the house]
Conrad: All right, before you start, I was just looking at the book, he asked me questions. He’s curious. What am I gonna fucking say?
Nick: You’re showing him dead bodies?
Conrad: I was trying to…
Nick: You’re showing him the Manson family? What else are you gonna show him?
Conrad: I’m sorry, but he’s the one who kept asking me questions.
Nick: He’s a child. He’s gonna want to do whatever you want to do. You just say no. If he wants to look at it you just say no. That’s what you do.
Conrad: Why? I’m not gonna fucking lie to him.
Nick: Why don’t you just open up Internet fucking porn and show him everything that’s out there.
[Conrad breaks out in a fit of laughter]
Nick: It’s not funny, dude. He’s having a really hard time and I don’t need you putting your shit on him.
Conrad: Okay. Well, why is he having a hard time?
Nick: “Why is he having a hard time?” He’s a child. Growing up is hard. People have hard times.
Conrad: Okay, yeah. It has nothing to do with like how you treat him?
Nick: You are so fucking clueless right now, you have no idea what you’re talking about…Oh, my God, dude. You are so fucking out of touch with reality. I can’t even deal with it.
Conrad: Yeah, fuck you.
…
Nick [after Conrad puts a CD in the car stereo]: Who’s this?
Conrad: Is it okay?
Nick: Yeah, it’s pretty good.
Conrad: It’s Charlie. That’s him singing! Oh, it was his main thing. He was so into music. That’s what he wanted to do. Like, in LA, he knew Neil Young, and like, Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys really liked him. He was so close to getting a record contract…
…
Conrad [motioning toward a man in the bar]: That’s Blackbird. That’s him. I’m gonna check it out.
Nick: Why is this girl in the photograph wearing a Manson t-shirt?
Conrad: Is she?
Nick: Yeah. She’s wearing the same t- shirt that you had on.
Conrad: I…I hadn’t noticed that. I’m gonna just go over and talk to him.
Nick: Wait, wait a second. What the fuck is going on?
…
Nick: You’re coming out here to work with Charles Manson?
Conrad: Dude.
Nick: See, I knew.
Conrad: I fucking bring up Charles Manson and you fucking freak out.
Nick: Everybody freaks out! Everybody freaks out when you bring up Charles Manson!
…
Conrad: Holy shit. Is that what I think it is?
Blackbird: Sure is.
Conrad: Oh, God.
Nick: What is it?
Blackbird: It’s the bus. The Manson family bus.
…
Blackbird: Charlie drove everywhere in this bus. Drove all over California, stopped by the side of the road, picked up kids that had been kicked out of their homes, you know.
Conrad: Yeah. He helped a lot of people.
Blackbird: You know, this world is more of a mess now even than it was then. We got these guys down at Washington, can’t get out of their own way. Rich people, snacking on the poor. We got fire coming out of our water faucets 'cause of all the fracking that’s going on. We got fish belly-up in the rivers and streams. We do a lot of talking about it. But we’re not doing very much about any of those things.
…
Blackbird: You know, maybe you don’t know this, but old Charlie, he had quite a few kids. And they locked him up and they took all the kids away. And they put them with new families. Like yours.
Nick: Yeah, I think my parents would have known. I mean, they have to reveal that legally.
Blackbird: They didn’t reveal anything back then. Nothing. Conrad was a ward of the state and he was adopted just like a normal kid.
[he points to a photo on the wall]
Blackbird: See that baby? That’s your brother.
…
Man: Hey, Conrad, Charlie’s on the phone.
…
Nick [to Conrad]: Dad was right about you.
…
Nick: I wanna see my brother.
Sunshine: I don’t think he wants to see you.
Nick [shouting into the house]: Connie!
Sunshine: He went to visit Charlie. Connie’s dad.
…
Reporter [interveiwing Manson in prison]: Somewhere out there, there’s at least one son, that we know of, that’s your child. Look in that camera. What would you say to that kid? What do you say to your son out there? This could be the first time he’s ever seeing his father. What do you say to him?
Manson: You gotta catch it on your own, boy. Train’s hard. The road’s rough.
Reporter: And that’s it?
Manson: That’s all I knew. That’s all anyone ever told me. And you wanna hear something? He’ll do it better than me. Whatever he does. He’ll do it a little better. Kids do, don’t they? Yeah. That’s what makes them such a gas. They always seem to get through.[/b]