The Skydivers

Very easily one of the most bungling and unskilled attempts at film making in history. Sound synch is solved by showing other people listening as one person speaks, or just doesn't synch at all. The plot is a real head-scratcher, leaving one wondering who this was supposed to be about, what was the point, who was the beatnik with a chicken under his arm? Everyone appears to be reading directly from cue cards, voices droning on and on, no emphasis or vocal-inflection for these people posing as actors. Skydiving scenes are just stock footage intercut with close-ups of the actors hanging in a soundstage. Coleman Francis has a knack for throwing something new at you, but in a good way. To think that he actually wasted paper on this is dumbfounding in itself. However, the entire film is so badly done, it's quite funny. Any version is funny and worth the watch just to see such a bad movie can actually be made, but I suggest the MST3K version, as it is absolutely priceless.

This film tells the turgid tale of a man named Harry who is cheating on his wife (who is played by an actress named Kevin), who is cheating on him with his ol' war buddy Joe. At one point Harry dies, I think. The film-makers were a bit ambivalent on this point.

Anyway, this is a total movie-going experience. For one thing, Tony Cardoza, in the role of Harry, cannot act. Well, make that "DOESN'T" act. He says every line in the same monotone voice. It doesn't matter if his Skydiving Center is being shut down or he suspects his wife & best friend are making out on ladder or it's his turn to pick a song at the jukebox: HE NEVER CHANGES HIS EXPRESSION! It's pretty entertaining.

Don't worry, the supporting cast more than makes up for Cardoza's lack of a screen presence. Apparently director Coleman Francis stuck in all his odd, lumpy friends in the background of this epic. There's the excited Scotsman in his kilt, a manly woman who beats up a scrawny, Iggy Pop-esque fellow while dancing, a noodly retarded photographer, a bland guy holding a guitar for no apparant reason, a beatnik holding a rooster, a gal who wears Roller Skates and an Ice skating outfit no matter where she is (including a bar), a perky gal in a polka-dot bikini dancing at the airfield (the camera focuses on her buttocks for 75% of the dance sequence), the confused millionaire, the weasly lawyer (wonderfully played by Harold Saunders from Francis' Red Zone Cuba), the confused old lady in a straw hat, the excited immigrant girl, and Steve, the creepy, stubbly Skydiver who falls to his death after yelling that skydiving is "FUN"!

Personally, I love all of Coleman Francis' unique films. Each chapter in his trilogy paints a portrait of a dark, plane-obsessed man who drank a lot.

And that's just fine with me.

Joke...Joke....Joke!!!!!

Coleman Franchise was a bad film maker. This is more -- then ever -- apparent in Red Zone Cuba. Wow this movie was slow and out-of-order.

But back to this movie....

It is called The Skydivers, and this is no clever name either. It is about skydivers and almost every scene is filled with, and here is the fun surprise, SKYDIVING!!!! What fun to see people skydiving repeatedly.

Though the idea of seeing skydivers is fun at first, Coleman Franchis quickly flips the idea into overkill! One scene was enough. But to have so many scenes of the same thing?

Like everyone else has said, the actors look like they're reading off of cue cards. And it shows BIG time. There are no real emotions shown by any of the actors, though the emotion shown for the guy who hits the ground(I think that the guy would have made more of an impression in the ground, not just land so neat and organized) is hilarious.

The story is about what the title suggests...SKYDIVERS. Nothing really interesting. We get something about a guy's ex-lover wanting to kill him for breaking up with her. But this is quickly pushed aside for as much skydiving as can be put in one movie.

The only way this movie is decent is when it is being slammed by Mike Nelson, Crow T. Robot, and Tom Servo. Please do not view this movie in it's normal platform, unless you want to see lots of People Skydiving.

You can find the MST3K version on Mystery Science Theater 3000 volume 1.

I was cruising IMDb and was checking out the Bottom 100 because I wanted to see if "Manos" was given a boost after the Entertainment Weekly story. What a pleasant surprise to see that "The Skydivers," the movie that I said was the worst I'd ever seen when I rubbernecked it twenty five years ago, has taken its rightful place at the top…I mean, the bottom.

For a while, I thought perhaps the WOAT tag should have gone to a woeful idea for a teen comedy called "Nice Girls Don't Explode," starring archetypal pretty-girl-trapped-by-a-nerd's-psyche Michelle Meyrink, but then I found my Beta cassette of "Skydivers" and came to my senses.

You've heard of "shoestring budgets" – this movie had a dental floss budget. Everything you need to know about the lack of cash Coleman Francis suffered is in an early scene in which a car – a junker with what looks like latex paint strokes across it – pulls up at the airport. As the car stops, the passenger door flies open. The driver gets out, there is dialogue I can't remember (but I'm sure it was as inane as the infamous coffee line), and the driver and another person get into the car. The driver gets in the driver's seat, the other person gets in the passenger's seat, closes the door, and sticks his arm out the open window to hold the door closed! Francis didn't have a friend who could lend him a car with properly operating doors?

Even the centerpiece of the movie – the skydiving footage – is ridiculously inept. And "Skydivers" has the most unconvincing love scene on celluloid – there's even less chemistry between those two than there was between Hayden Christiansen and Natalie Portman in "Revenge of the Sith." At least "Manos" made a lame attempt at titillation with the ladies wrestling in lingerie.

It's a shame I have to give "Skydivers" one star in order to vote (especially when there are apparent "Manos" anti-fans who are giving "Skydivers" 10 stars). When it comes to bad movies, "Skydivers" is back where it belongs: Number One with an ICBM.

Wow! Was this movie _action packed_ or what! You've got skydiving, mate swapping, skydiving, meaningful glances, skydiving, intrigue, skydiving, coffee (or broad hints thereof leading to an exciting scene where coffee actually is consumed), skydiving, sexual tension, skydiving, painful deaths, skydiving, curious onlookers, skydiving, a cool jazz guitarist playing his Rickenbacker archtop with Mel Bay-like aplomb, skydiving, butt shaking, and (of course) skydiving!

Among the cast of hundreds of thousands,the truly lovely Kevin Casey is a standout as Beth (she just gets prettier every day, doesn't she?).

After suffering through "Red Zone Cuba", I approached this Coleman Francis ouevre with some trepidation, but found myself genuinely entertained. Don't let my seemingly flippant tone fool you. I really did like this movie.