{"id":6883,"date":"2007-08-19T23:10:52","date_gmt":"2007-08-20T03:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=6883"},"modified":"2026-03-18T08:12:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:12:49","slug":"dean-stockwell-2-movies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=6883","title":{"rendered":"Dean Stockwell: Anchors Aweigh<\/i> and Psych-Out<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, I watched Anchors Aweigh<\/i> (featuring Stockwell’s debut in 1945) – and Psych-Out<\/i>, a movie about hippies in San Francisco from 1968, starring Stockwell and Jack Nicholson – back to back. <\/p>\n

It’s the most unlikely double bill ever. <\/p>\n

Stockwell in the first film is fresh and adorable and squeaky-voiced and totally natural. In the second film he’s a Buddha-like presence who sits back, holds court, and doesn’t miss a thing. He dominates everyone through his moral superiority. He also wears flowery flowing shirts and a headband. He’s the alpha male in the film. He sits in a dark hole, smokes cigarettes, and nothing moves but his eyes (and his eyebrows). He’s wonderful in it, riveting.<\/p>\n

After seeing Anchors Aweigh<\/i>, where he prances around in his pajamas, and cries shiny money-in-the-bank tears, and rides around on Gene Kelly’s back, and looks eagerly and wistfully up at Frank Sinatra, I was struck by how bizarre it must have been to grow up on screen. To have everyone know your every phase of life. It’s documented. Your journey is objectified – it’s the nature of the beast. Your movement through time is made public. So to see him lolling about in a hippie halfway house, drawling out incisive remarks and observations, with a hot hippie babe with a flower in her hair curled up in his lap, makes me think: Is that the same person? Is this even the same WORLD that made Anchors Aweigh? The films are only 20 years apart. <\/p>\n

The entire culture had shifted.<\/p>\n

And Stockwell? Same dimple, same grin, same person. But the journey in between!! Wild.<\/p>\n


\n\"aa6.jpg\"
\nAnchors Aweigh, 1945<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\"po10.jpg\"
\nPsych-Out, 1968<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\"aa11.jpg\"
\nAnchors Aweigh, 1945<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\"po16.jpg\"
\nPsych-Out, 1968<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\"aa14.jpg\"
\nAnchors Aweigh, 1945<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\"po39.jpg\"
\nPsych-Out, 1968<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\"aa2.jpg\"
\nAnchors Aweigh, 1945<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\"po56.jpg\"
\nPsych-Out, 1968<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\"aa17.jpg\"
\nAnchors Aweigh, 1945<\/i><\/p>\n

\n\"po25.jpg\"
\nPsych-Out, 1968<\/i><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, I watched Anchors Aweigh (featuring Stockwell’s debut in 1945) – and Psych-Out, a movie about hippies in San Francisco from 1968, starring Stockwell and Jack Nicholson – back to back. It’s the most unlikely double bill ever. Stockwell in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[66,380,751],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6883"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6883"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194934,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6883\/revisions\/194934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}