Zachariah (1971 film)

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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	Buena Vista Pictures
Release date(s)	1971
Running time	93 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

Zachariah is a 1971 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. 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 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, due to the fact that 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.