Huey Walker (Dennis Hopper) is a hippie and a former New Left radical (in the vein of Abbie Hoffman[2]) who has been on the run from the law for 20 years for something he did not do, disconnecting Spiro Agnew's train car in Spokane, Washington.

Vincent Canby in The New York Times stated, About 30 minutes before it's over, Flashback begins to go to pieces, like someone who has overdosed on carrot juice and organic marzipan.

[3]The Los Angeles Times critic Peter Rainer stated: In "Flashback" (citywide), the casting of Dennis Hopper as an Abbie Hoffman-like radical prankster is weirdly dislocating.

Hopper represents the fringes of hippiedom for us, yet his character here is also being promoted as a robust politico—an Abbie Hoffman in Rip Van Winkle drag.

[5]The then-new Entertainment Weekly magazine gave the film a B+, stating: Ever since the mythic ’60s ended, countercultural idealists have been grappling with the loss of what they believed would be their eternal youth.

Considering how many serious books and movies have addressed the aging of the Woodstock generation, it’s surprising to find Flashback, a seemingly insubstantial film that has something important to say on the subject.