 The movie was meant to perform the same function in relation to  _Trip, The (1967/II)_ (qv). Jack Nicholson (qv) had written a  script that director Richard Rush (I) (qv) thought was too  "experimental" for mainstream cinema, so the concept of a youth"  film based in San Francisco and dealing with flower power and drugs  was taken over by other writers and Nicholson did not eventually  receive a screen credit for his work, although he took what was  essentially the male lead in the picture. But Nicholson wrote the  part of Stoney for himself as part of the package.