J. Canker Huxley

As other posters stated, this was a 60 minute show featuring interesting and odd people around the USA. Nearly all of the members of the cast (the late Skip Stephenson, Byron Allen, Fred Willard, and Mark Russell) were all comedians and disciples of Steve Allen's "found" comedy style. The basis was that real people and real life were more interesting and humorous than most contrived scripts.

What the other posters do not mention is that although many of the stories were, at the base, interesting, the show itself could be quite annoying. It was as if the network people didn't get what the show was about and reality needed to be "accented." Many of the segments were edited more in fashion of America's Funniest Home videos; complete with silly sound effects, Keystone Kops fast forwards, cheesy commentary, etc.

For instance, I remember one segment where a car enthusiast bought two Packards and fused the front ends together to make a "push me-pull me" car. Both ends had engines and the driver could operate the car out of either the front or back ends. Pretty fascinating, but out of the five minute segment, only 30 to 40 seconds was dedicated to the car's owner and how he build the car, while the remaining parts of the segments was filled with wacky music and gaping-jawed reactions of local yokels to the vehicle.

Other segments that went off the beaten path, and were not really comedy but of human interest, were criminally short. I remember one segment hosted by (I believe) John Barbour at reunion of American WWII POWs in the Pacific. They began to tell a compelling story of captivity and how, near starving, they bunched their clothing together and made an American Flag. Several broke down on camera with Barbour consoling them -- a very touching story not seen on TV in 1980. Unfortunately, this groundbreaking piece was only a few minutes, and what would have been a great "real people" story was stuck in between other pap.

The direction of this show was not the fault of the hosts or the writers; there are some great ideas in this show, but I remember it mostly being weighted down by corny gimmicks famous of the networks of that time. Later they brought in Peter Billingsly (L'il Ralphy from "A Christmas Story") as a "cute kid" gimmick).

I do not think today's audience would like the pace or editing of this show. It was made for a time when the "Big 3" networks owned the audiences and comedy, with a few exceptions, was painted with a broad brush

What does O.C. stand for? In the vastly superior National Lampoon articles that ran from 1980 to 1984, it stood for "Out of Control" the nickname of the character William "O.C." Ogilvy. In the lame Altman film it stood for "Oliver Cromwell" Ogilvie.

That is the whole problem with this movie. It should have been out of control fun, but it ends up as a lame reference to social significance. Altman tries to take a tried and true formula of a wacky teen sex comedy (a valid, wonderful and meaningful genre of American Cinema, just like film noir) and violates it by bringing in bad actors, crappy cinematography, and, worst of all, some sort of message of what this aged and senile director thinks is the problems of youth in Reagan era America.

At least the previous NL effort, "Vacation" they had a good director (NL alumni Harold Ramis) satisfactory actors, and the story was fairly close to the original John Hughes piece. None of the actors here, (save Jon Cryer) are interesting, funny or even remotely close to the few characters brought over from the NL articles (they added other lame characters for no reason, such as OC's grandfather, wasting the talents of Ray Walston). Not even the amazing sounds of King Sunny Ade can save this film (they are only in this film for a five minute cameo). What I cannot understand is that by 1984 when this film was made (it was so bad it was quietly released three years later), why did NL not give this film to a reliable director such as Harold Ramis, John Landis, Amy Heckerling, or John Hughes?

All I can say is to look over the thirty some reviews of this movie and see how the lines are drawn. Those who loved this movie have never read (or had it read to them) the articles of OC & Stiggs that graced the pages of National Lampoon. Those who abhor this movie are those who can read and have enjoyed and lived their lives according to the gospel of OC & Stiggs as written in the brilliant National Lampoon articles.

If you want the story of OC & Stiggs, read the original articles, they're on the net and should be required reading in all schools, churches and drinking establishments. If you want to see a funny teen sex comedy, rent classics "American Pie," "Porky's" or "Private Resort." If you want to see and here King Sunny Ade and his infectious ju-ju sound, rent "Konkombe" or buy "Roots of Rhythm," you will not be sorry. However, stay away from O.C. & Stiggs, at all costs.

One of Troma's first entries in the teen sex comedy genre, it is average at best. "The First Turn On!!" is about a bunch of idiot teen campers and a female counselor get stuck in a cave and "describe" their first sexual encounters.

This is a pretty subaverage fare for even Troma films. In the world of teenage sex romps it pales in comparison to recent films such as "American Pie" and "Road Trip."

There are some highlights in this film. This was a first film for Vincent D'Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket, Feeling Minnesota, Men in Black, Steal this Movie!) as a fat loser and a funny cameo by comedian and all-around nice guy Rondell Sheridan as a gang member.

The real gem of this movie is the sound track from the seminal new wave band "Shrapnel" featuring some of their best (and unreleased) stuff. Hearing the song "Sleep Over" and the goofy performances by Sheridan and D'Onofrio are worth giving this film a watch on cable or a $1.00 rental (but not much else).