This uneven film is based on Arlo Guthrie's popular song "The Massacre At Alice's Restaurant." Arlo, son of famous folksinger Woody Guthrie, wrote the almost 19-minute song after being arrested for littering when he threw out some food. He visits his dying father in the film, and Pete Seeger also makes an appearance. Arlo sings three songs including the title track, and Joni Mitchell's "Songs To Aging Children" is appropriately played during a funeral scene. Pat Quinn plays Alice, with James Broderick as her husband Ray. Arlo's criminal past is exposed when he is rejected for a tour in the U.S. Army because he is a "degenerate".