Review of Skidoo (1968) by Scott R — 19 Jan 2014

I saw this movie for the first only recently on AMC, and I was horrified. If this was supposed to be a comedy, it missed the mark by 180°... To see Jackie Gleason, Groucho Marx, Mickey Rooney, Carol Channing, Caesar Romero, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshen, Frankie Avalon and many others attempting to bluff their way through a totally misinformed 1960s "acid movie" wasn't funny to me at all.

On the contrary, I found "Skidoo" a sad, heartbreaking and inappropriate use of talent. Strangely, only Mickey Rooney seemed to FIT this stupid flick, because Mickey Rooney is like the chameleon of the ages, he brings enthusiasm and vitality to any role he plays.

..So, I could almost BELIEVE Mickey Rooney as an LSD hallucination. But Otto Preminger "chose poorly" with Jackie Gleason as the star... Granted, in his acting career, Gleason turned out to be a really intense dramatic talent, but you can TELL that Jackie Gleason DID NOT LIKE playing in this movie.

I mean, seriously, I think the casting call for "Skidoo" brought in all the Hollywood has-beens who needed a couple of bucks. That may be mean to say; but, damn, can you believe that Burgess Meredith, Caesar Romero and Frank Gorshen all appeared in "Skidoo".

.. These guys also played the three TOP arch-villains in the BatMan television series, The Penguin, The Joker and The Riddler. I was doing double-takes all through the film to see WHO ELSE Otto Preminger was trying to squeeze in.

.. Strangely, Preminger DID NOT tap Jonathan Winters or Carey Grant, who WERE heavy LSD users in real life. Saddest of all was the animatronic appearance of Grouch Marx in this dreadful flick... I mean, in "Skidoo," Groucho looks totally dependent on cue-cards, as though he's never even seen (nor remembers) the script.

That's the saddest bit, and the less said about it the better.