Skidoo

After watching Skidoo tonight all I can ask is what was Otto Preminger thinking when he did this film? Better yet what were all these talented people thinking when they signed on?

The plot has Jackie Gleason, once the mob's number one hit-man, but now retired and living with wife Carol Channing and daughter Alexandra Hay who has taken up with the hippie lifestyle and some hippies, much to the consternation of Gleason and Channing. Those two alone as parents might make anyone want to join a commune.

Cesar Romero and Frankie Avalon bring a message from God or at least that's what syndicate boss Groucho Marx. Groucho wants mob informer Mickey Rooney killed, but Mickey's in prison. Never mind the mob can do anything, bust Gleason into prison and bust him right out once the job is done. But Rooney won't let people near him, but since Gleason's an old friend he'll be vulnerable to him. Which is what Groucho is thinking.

Since Gleason balks, Groucho captures Alexandra Hay and brings her on his yacht from where he runs things. At that point with Marx having him by the short hairs, Gleason agrees to the contract.

The big idea is to get the entire prison tripping on LSD so no one will interfere. But of course things do go wrong as you'll see if you care to watch the film.

No matter how many big names were packed into Skidoo, nothing could get this picture off the ground. Otto Preminger packed the film with a whole lot of people he had used in previous films like Peter Lawford, Burgess Meredith, Slim Pickens, but all to no avail. The jokes fell flat as a punctured soufflé, the situations were just not funny, in fact even Groucho apparently wasn't in the mood to ad-lib any of his patented humor.

In fact Groucho playing a character called God WAS the funniest thing in the film. It has serious theological implications for those of us who thought George Burns or Morgan Freeman was God.

In its own way Skidoo was as big a disaster, even bigger than Plan Nine From Outer Space. And Preminger had a much bigger budget to work from.

In a way this could also be titled "The Day the Mob Dropped Out." Anyway, a good roster of late-60s Hollywood appears at least briefly in this LSD-laced caper gone wrong. Retired hitman Tony Banks (Gleason) is approached by old pal Hechy (Romero) to do one last job--on his one-time best friend "Blue Chips" Packard (Rooney), who's turning state's evidence. Tony refuses, but is "pressured" into going along, and gets sent to a remote prison, where Packard is being held.

In the meantime Tony's wife Flo (Channing) seeks help from Hechy's protegé Angie (Avalon) in contacting crime-kingpin "God" (Marx, in his final film appearance), to persuade him to let Tony out of it. Angie refuses to take Flo to see "God"--but doesn't mind taking their teenaged daughter Darlene (Hay) and her hippie boyfriend Stash (Law) out to "God's" yacht. Flo follows them with a gang of Stash's friends.

Tony, after an accidental acid experience via his cellmate the Professor (Pendleton)'s stationery, plots with him to escape by tripping out all the guards and inmates. This done, they fly out of the compound in a makeshift balloon, which the hallucinating tower guards (Clark and singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson, who also composed the soundtrack) mistake for a flower. The balloon heads seaward, drifting toward "God's" hideaway. Channing sings the title song during the big finish.

Some good laughs and insights, and social commentary of the day, not to mention tons of cameos. Raises a few points about LSD's former psychiatric uses, and leaves you wondering if it wasn't all just a bad trip. --A late-70s issue of "High Times" claims Groucho 'dropped' as a way of preparing for his role, and had a pleasant experience. Nilsson said later in an interview he had never used LSD at the time of filming, and merely played drunk.

Ex-gangster Tony Banks (Gleason) is contacted to do one more hit by mob leader god (Marx), or Banks' wife (Channing) and daughter (Alexandra Hay) will be hurt. Thus the film is a series of skits tied to that idea.

The few highlights: a series of commercial and television parodies that open the film, followed by Gleason and Channing's dueling remote controls. Frank Gorshin's explanation of how one is supposed to talk in prison. Channing ruining one of gangster Avalon's planned dates, and the malfunctioning of Avalon's remote.

Channing is in there trying to make her scenes work and actually getting her laughs. Gorshin is funny in his one-joke role. Slim Summerville is amusing in a bit part. Peter Lawford underplays his role as a corrupt politician, and gets laughs. The rest of the cast sinks with the script.

"Skidoo" is the only film I've seen where the entire end credits are sung. If my ear is correct, that's Preminger's voice introducing the end credits. Ironically because it is trying so hard to be unique it seems like so many 60s films - It is a weird time capsule.

This is actually about a 4.5 out of 10 - not quite mediocre.

It's very hard to describe SKIDOO. It starts as a spoof of gangster movies. Jackie Gleason plays a hoodlum who is forced into prison so he can bump off a possible informant (Mickey Rooney) In prison, Gleason accidently helps himself to a dose of cell mate's (Austin Pendleton) acid laced stationary, and has an LSD trip hi-lighted with cruddy special effects, dancing co-stars, etc. In the meantime, Gleason's adoring wife (Carol Channing) allows their hippie daughter to bring over about a hundred of her hippie friends. Throw in a tired looking, unfunny Groucho Marx as "God", an actually funny Frankie Avalon, a trip-out scene where Hollywood old-timers like Peter Lawford, Burgess Meredith, Fred Clark, and Slim Pickens get embarassingly stoned. Channing is down right frightening when she leads the finale musical number. It's also impossible to fathom Otto Preminger behind this hoo-hah!

This film is unbelievable... Big stars, a big Hollywood director... and what they came up with is the movie equivalent of a car wreck!

You don't want to look, but you find yourself unable not to.

Don't get me wrong, I've seen this film a dozen times and it still blows my mind how this ever got put on film. You won't believe your eyes or ears!

And Groucho Marx and half of the cast never looked more worse for wear.

By far, this is one of my favorite "bad" films. Watch it... and then blame the dog!