”What is holy? Is baseball holy? Is a cockroach holy? Holy, holy!”

Whether you’re a Beat Generation expert, an On the Road dilettante, or have no idea of what I’m talking about, you should watch Pull My Daisy. It was written and narrated by Jack Kerouac, directed by The Americans photographer Robert Frank and Abstract Expressionist painter Alfred Leslie and it stars Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky. Even the smaller parts are played by notable artists, musicians, and actors but it’s not just the “who’s who” cast that makes it an iconic Beat film. The storytelling is funny and full of vitality.

The plot is simple—a railway brakeman’s wife invites a bishop to dinner, the brakeman’s bohemian poet friends show up and chaos ensues. Slackers gonna slack.

For nearly ten years, the film was assumed to be totally improvised—the Beats’ emphasis on extemporaneous art seemed to suggest as much, plus the film looks and feels ad-libbed. In 1968 co-director Alfred Leslie told The Village Voice that it was actually painstakingly coordinated, with thorough rehearsal, hands-on direction and a professionally lit studio. Only Kerouac’s narration was off-the-cuff (and it was likely still edited). The fact that audiences assumed the entire film to be impromptu speaks to the quality of Pull My Daisy, a film that feels like it captures something raw and truly organic.