Skidoo

A much-maligned classic, this psychedelic gem came late in the career of director Otto Preminger, possibly at a time during which he was hoping to find a new niche. Clearly, this wasn't it, as the films he went on to do became far slower and subdued. Too bad, really, as there's some great stuff herein. An excellent cast weaves its way through a confusing plot, as follows: Jackie Gleason has retired from the mob and lives happily enough with wife Carol Channing and turtle-faced lackey Arnold Stang, the latter of whom gets iced (and prematurely, I say – let Stang stay in the picture!) when George Romero and Frankie Avalon try to persuade Gleason to pull a hit for the mob leader (`God' – Groucho Marx living in luxury on a boat with skinny Donyale Luna). Gleason finally agrees, and disappears to prison, cellmates with a peace-speaking mad scientist-looking Austin Pendelton. Meanwhile, Channing, pretty teenage daughter Alexandra Hay and her hippie boyfriend John Philip Law (who goes by `Stash') all become close friends when mom lets his hippie commune live in their house. Channing and Fay go (separately) to seduce Avalon to find out to where Gleason has gone. In prison, Gleason accidentally lets on to his hit, potential squealer (and squeal he does) Mickey Rooney (at the time in his sixth decade of filmmaking!), and further blunders when he writes a letter home and licks one of Pendelton's LSD-soaked envelopes. After a mesmerizing yet stupid trip sequence, Gleason decides not to make the hit and goes into conference with Pendelton. It's right around here that things get very manic, with an acid party in jail on the day that warden Burgess Meredith stops by to eat with the prisoners. Gleason and company make their escape while everybody's tripping their ears off (including tower guard Harry Nilsson and switchboard operator Slim Pickens), and the cast assembles for a bizarre conclusion on Marx's boat. No easy whodunit, this. That Paramount would make a production with a cast and crew like this clearly indicates that the rule-less environment of 1968 sent the studios scrambling. Furthermore, the gimmick of presenting some of Hollywood's best known faces feigning acid trips acts as evidence that in the ensuing hubbub, producers showed heart in making vehement attempts to pander to a difficult target audience. Two serious low points may leave people with a rotten taste in their ears: Channing has a musical number near the end of the film that advocates a free-wheeling hippie lifestyle, and Nilsson sings each and every word of the credits, down to the copyright.

Finally saw this thing in Washington DC at a special showing. What a mind blower! Director Preminger and company really took risks here; a counterculter comedy with an all star middle aged to senior citizen cast! The story has gangster Jackie Gleason being hired by Groucho Marx to kill Mickey Rooney in prison where Gleason takes LSD and his wife Carol Channing does a strip tease and sings the theme song.. it's enough to make your head spin! It must be said that this film made motion picture history: It's the only movie ever made where the end credits are actually SUNG, by the films composer Nilsson! Can't wait for this to be on DVD!

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.

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!

This late-60s artifact has to be seen to be believed. It was, sadly, Groucho Marx's final film, but he's still pretty good in it. I think this was a little bit unfairly maligned when it came out - perhaps audiences weren't ready for the craziness. In a nutshell, Jackie Gleason plays Tony Banks, a retired hitman. Tony is married to Flo (Carol Channing), and they have a blonde-bombshell daughter Darlene (Alexandra Hay). Tony is paid a visit by two messengers, a former coworker named Hechy (Cesar Romero) and his son Angie (Frankie Avalon), who have a job for Tony on the behalf of their employer, a mob boss named God (Marx). Seems there's a squealer sitting in the state pen, by the name of Blue Chips Packard (Mickey Rooney), and God wants him dead before he can spill the beans. While this offer is being made to Tony - can he refuse? - Darlene is falling in with a hippie named Stash (John Phillip Law), which of course the traditional-minded Tony isn't down with. He does take the job (without telling his wife and his daughter), which involves his being embedded in the prison and then "kissing" (killing!) the dirty rotten squealer. Things don't go as planned, as you might expect. And this being 1968, the spectre of LSD appears over all of the proceedings. If you ever wondered what it would be like for Ralph Kramden to take acid, wonder no more. He accidentally ingests it (licking an envelope!) and is coached through his trip by The Professor, played by Austin Pendleton. Meanwhile, God sits in his offshore yacht, afraid to even go above deck. There's plenty of singing and dancing, and the entire hippie experience is on full display. Among the rest of the cast are Frank Gorshin, Burgess Meredith, George Raft, Peter Lawford, Michael Constantine, Richard Kiel, and Slim Pickens! So me, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, even though it's thought to be just abysmal. Skidoo is very dated, but it's a fun microcosm of life in '68.