Skidoo (1968)

A self conscious attempt to be "hip" and "wacky," the film is unfortunately wed to an unfunny mobster story and shot stiffly with no momentum. There are a few worthy bits of oddness however. Jackie Gleason's LSD trip and Carol Channing whole heartedly belting out the title song during an exceedingly dumb ending scene where a flotilla of hippies and a hot air balloon converge on Groucho Marx's yacht, where despite all the bullets being fired by Groucho's bodyguards, no one gets shot. Skidoo probably wouldn't be viewed at all if it weren't for the classic Hollywood stars involved. The trailer, hosted by Otto Preminger's LSD guru Tim Leary, is actually more funny and interesting as it blatantly panders to the youth market. You wonder if Leary actually liked the movie, just did it out of friendship for Preminger, or for a good pay off.

One reviewer noted that 'some people reported that Preminger experimented with acid while making this movie.' That's historically imprecise: it was Preminger himself who said, in a number of interviews, that he was ON acid while making this film (meaning he took it through-out the production. At first he said this rather proudly, apparently hoping it would sell the film to the 'youth' market, but by the early '70s he was using this as an excuse for the films evident failure, artistic and financial. (His career never fully recovered.) In fact, the film did damage to the careers of almost everyone involved - Gleason, Marx, Lawford, Burgess, Channing - all suffered from the fiasco.I had the unpleasant experience seeing this when it first came out - my Mother wanted to see 'a Jackie Gleason movie,' and was too stubborn to walk out after she had paid for the tickets. Even in my immaturity I could see this was a MESS. The characters were unlikeable, the images were flat, the story meandering about unbelievably, and the jokes - the only way you could tell it was a comedy is because the actors were laughing. I hope I never see it again.Yet I do admit one thing, which is why I write this review so many years later. For some reason the design of the film is unforgettable, as is the casual hipsters' party attitude that permeates the script and the acting. And that's NOT a good thing.So, unless you want acid-flashbacks without ever dropping any cubes, avoid this movie like the plague, or it will infect your mind with horrible memories of bad cinema.

One of a number of drug/counterculture/sub-hippie titles Hollywood made in the late 1960's,SKIDOO maybe the most infamous of this short-lived genre.That this style of movie soon departed was mainly because it involved mostly various middle-aged filmmakers and actors who simply didn't know how to handle such matters.I LOVE YOU,ALICE B.TOKLAS,made in the same year as SKIDOO (1968),and which starred Peter Sellers,was possibly the most watchable of these efforts,but even this film was by no means perfect and rather faded away after a promising opening few reels.SKIDOO,however, starts off as a rather mundane gangster melodrama,but gradually mutates into increasingly outlandish and bizarre expansions,which exude a certain spell,but mostly for completely opposite motives intended.Retired gangster Tony Banks (Jackie Gleason),seemingly now living in settled suburbia with his family (Carol Channing,Alexandra Hay) is coerced by his former superior,"God" (Groucho Marx), into bumping off an informer (Mickey Rooney).Sneaked into prison,Banks accidentally takes LSD and after experiencing a trip,refuses to go ahead with the killing.Along with his cellmate (Austin Pendleton),he manages an escape by improvised balloon after lacing soup with the drug which affects everybody within,including the guards.With the help of his daughter's hippie boyfriend (John Phillip Law) and his similarly inclined associates,God is overpowered on his luxury yacht and love and peace conquer all.Intended as a comedy with satirical asides ,SKIDOO fails totally in this purpose because of dreary and ponderous direction by Otto Preminger and a script lacking in the most modest of humour.I am of the opinion that Preminger was a somewhat better director than various detractors have made him out to be,but there is no doubt he could partake in some crashing aberrations,of which this is possibly the nadir.To be fair,some of the material abound could have been funny had the writing been much sharper and astute,and the direction slicker and better paced,but Preminger's handling is so heavy-handed and leaden as to resemble an elephant wading through glue.Comic timing then,is definitely not in the Preminger forte (he often handled drama with far more assurance).It is however,more the forte of such performers as Groucho Marx,Jackie Gleason,Mickey Rooney,Frank Gorshin and Fred Clark.However,the prison setting seems a very apposite metaphor as all the above and other members of the cast (which also include other eclectic names as Burgess Meredith,Peter Lawford,Slim Pickens and unbelievably, even George Raft!) are incarcerated by the unfunny,witless script.Gleason's familiar bombastic,blustering comic style could be funny when channelled correctly,but he comes across here as decidedly charmless and unappealing,and it's so very sad to see a legend such as an elderly,floundering Groucho Marx (in his last,and certainly worst film),with his dyed hair and moustache,trying desperately to bring his customary quicksilver wit to a role that simply doesn't provide him with such an opportunity.Groucho seems to be reading his lines via cue cards,and this reaches it's lowest point when he attempts to seduce Gleason's teenage daughter (Miss Hay),though even this is surpassed in sheer creepiness when the obviously middle-aged Miss Channing semi-strips in front of an unimpressed Frankie Avalon,and her skimpy costume worn in the final scene.Preminger seems to be reversing the principle of his earlier drug-related THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1955).That certainly condemned the use of narcotics(namely heroin);SKIDOO more or less endorses the ingestion of LSD (seemingly the equivalent of being pleasantly drunk,according to Preminger) as all characters here metamorphize into amiable,happy-go-lucky types,including the criminals;one convict,played by Michael Constantine,says taking more acid will probably stop his urge to "rape" anymore,perhaps the most foolishly misguided line uttered (among many).There are a few scenes though,which carry a certain amount of camp,way-out value.They don't amuse,but Gleason's experiences during his trip,with a miniaturised Pendleton,bulging eye-sockets,and Groucho's face imposed on a screw top are fascinatingly idiotic,as is the unforgettable trash can dance accompanied by a Harry Nilsson soundtrack.Nilsson's musical interjections are just about the only aspects of the slightest merit present during this film,but he composed better works before and after.Nilsson,along with Fred Clark,feature as stoned-out tower guards in this sequence,and this is the nearest we get to actual laughs in the film.It dosen't quite happen,though,and Nilsson's singing of the entire end credits is quirky but not at all subtle;even less subtle is Preminger's use of his war film IN HARM'S WAY (1965) in the opening scene,indicating his dislike of the editing of films on TV for the purpose of commercial breaks;this sadly sets the tone for the film to come.SKIDOO has never been released on VHS or DVD,and is rarely even shown on TV (though TCM recently broadcasted it,though only early in the morning and not peak time).The Preminger estate have apparently refused proper availability because of it's perceived poor quality.This is understandable;SKIDOO misfires spectacularly in what was intended,with only brief moments that suggest what could have been.RATING:2 and a half out of 10.

Jackie Gleason goes on an acid trip, Carol Channing does a strip tease, and Groucho Marx comes on to a teenager in "Skidoo", a movie that amazes by playing even worse than that reads.It's director Otto Preminger's attempt at a subversive comedy, celebrating the hippie lifestyle as a positive contrast to middle-class American morality. While Gleason's Tough Tony Banks is sent to prison by his former mob boss "God" (Groucho) to ice a stoolie, his wife Flo (Channing) welcomes some 40 hippies to their California mansion, it being a year before the Manson Family showed why this might not be a good idea. When Gleason decides to buck "God's" plan and not do the murder, Flo and the hippies must save the day."Who's your tailor, Sitting Bull?" Tony says when meeting head hippie Stash (John Phillip Law), establishing early on this is going to be another of those grouchy character roles for The Great One. That and the culture clash will be presented in the simple "Billy Jack" style of old squares objecting to the way kids wear their hair.I'm not a fan of Jackie Gleason's film work; his largeness in manner and rough tone tended to make him hard to laugh with on the big screen. Not surprisingly, his best known cinematic turns were in dramatic or serio-comic roles. Here, he is equipped with a Norton like sidekick who gets murdered 15 minutes in, as nothing says laughter like Arnold Stang dead in a car wash. Gleason isn't as obnoxious here as he was in "Don't Drink The Water" the following year, keeping his trademark mugging to a minimum. At least until he licks the wrong envelope and takes that LSD trip.Channing on the other hand mugs up a storm, really throwing herself into her role as she grooves out to a rock song and leads the hippies to save Tony dressed as George Washington but looking more like Captain Crunch. Every line is delivered with that trademark whine and Botox grin long emulated by female impersonators everywhere."Skidoo" doesn't really work the hippie angle and the mob angle so much as plop them next to each other, suggesting that all a gang of hardened criminals needs is a few merry vibes to be won over. As a comedy, the film's idea of laughs is a prison break where all the guards are dosed with acid, making them see naked football players and flop drunkenly to the floor. Or else Groucho as "God", living on a yacht in self-imposed quarantine, like Howard Hughes in fear of germs, trying to get Stash's help in a drug-distribution deal and being flummoxed when the kid tells him business bores him.About the only thing "Skidoo" has working for it, other than an inanely cheerful mood that lends it camp appeal, are some fine musical moments from Harry Nilsson, including singing the entire end credits right up to the copyright: "MCMLXVIII". His tuneful whimsy cuts through otherwise unendurable scenes; though even his title track can't be saved when performed by Channing in her cutsey "peekaboo" manner."You are going on a trip," Tony is told after taking LSD. "If you fight it, it can be a bad trip. If you ride with the waves, it will be a good trip." Fight it or not, there's no question what kind of trip "Skidoo" is.