The film begins with a crudely drawn, yet highly effective opening sequence that has a military man (who talks like John Wayne) and a government official in Alaska giving an opening ceremony for some new chemical warfare plant to some Eskimos (are there Eskimos in Alaska?). Something goes wrong and a gas is released that causes the metabolism in people over the age of 25 to speed up, resulting in a quick death by old age. What happens after this is a subversion of the American way as society breaks down and people squabble over how to best run this new emerging world.
The story centers on an evolving group of hippies who choose to leave their Texas town, which has been carved up into smaller states with their own sets of rules. Their destination? A commune in New Mexico where people of like minds are gathering. Along the way the come across cowboy car thieves, football fascists who call themselves the Warriors and have the motto "Rape, Pillage, Loot," (perhaps an influence for The Warriors? perhaps), and a whole assortment of hippies and the like, even featuring an appearance by Country Joe & the Fish.
The movie almost defies explanation. It is put together in such a haphazard fashion that it is really hard to get into it. Still, there is no denying that Roger Corman and writer George Armitage (who would go on to direct films Grosse Pointe Blank and The Big Bounce) are attempting to make a statement on the country as the 1960s come to a close. The idea of using a post-apocalyptic type set up to tell the story is a rather ingenious one, it is rather effective in breaking up the young populace, throwing them into sudden turmoil where they must come face to face with the world's baser instincts.
With all of that said, the film is seriously goofy. For example, there is a shootout where they fire at each other by saying the names of Western film stars, or another where a flasher goes up to a few people in succession and gets no response until he comes across a cop, and don't even get me started on the love scene ("Arrowfeather!"). We also get dune buggy chases (with the football players) and a golf cart chase (with the Hell's Angels). This movie is all over the map. Then there is the rape sequence, it is not graphic, but it is rather bizarre with how matter-of-factly it is dealt with. (I thought that was left to Euro-horror.)
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