The Official Chris Jones Website
REST IN PEACE
WILLIAM FRANKLIN (CHRISTOPHER) JONES
AUGUST 18, 1941 - JANUARY 31, 2014If you were a teenager in 1968, chances are good you would have given up just about anything to run Wild in the Streets with Christopher Jones. While many of our generation were fortunate to have been players in the cultural revolution that stormed through the big cities in the late sixties, the majority of American youth lived in rural communities across the nation. As war raged in Vietnam, hippies embraced the Sunset Strip & Haight Ashbury, and Woodstock brought peace & love to New York; most of us watched from a distance through our family TV sets and Saturday movie matinees.
We've come a long way in thirty years. For all of the obstacles and hype our generation has been handed down; like it or not; in triumph or defeat; we've worked hard individually and collectively to try to make the world a better place to live. I believe we have earned the right to be proud of those accomplishments.
The greatest influences in our lives don't always come with earth shattering intensity, sometimes a few words of encouragement said in passing to a child is enough to become the inspiration of their lifetime. Why has a film like Wild in the Streets lived in the back of our minds, even if we haven't consciously thought about it for years? Why do we remember the lyrics "14 or Fight"? For many of us, Wild in the Streets was an awakening, a call for unity, and a realization of the cumulative power in the number of our generation. There were a few genuine rebels back in those days who had the kind of charisma to make those daring statements and to be heard, Christopher Jones is one of them.
So now that you've once again asked yourself the question: "What ever happened to Christopher Jones?" ...
Take a deep breath before you venture down this road. The true rebels of our generation never wavered from the things they believed in, but most of them never lived long enough to see their dreams alive in the eyes of their children. The following pages are bits and pieces of the puzzle of his life. The story is not so beautiful and charismatic as the Christopher Jones we would like to remember, but it is a real life story of a genuine rebel.
