The King of the Beats gets a rather standard documentary treatment, complete with badly done reenactments, but it is hard to screw up such a strong subject. Filmed in the early 1980's, all the Beat writers and various hangers-on are trotted out to tell the story of the author of "On the Road," a novel that changed modern literature. Jack Kerouac was born in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1922 and went ver mais...

Good documentary could have benefited from more interviews and and poetry readings, which are out there. "The Dharma Bums" barely gets mentioned. Still, an informative look at a groundbreaking figure and literary giant.