Review of Skidoo (1968) by Harry E — 17 Jun 2009

Oh, my. You need to see this one to believe it. It starts off as just a really mediocre gangster comedy in which Jackie Gleason gets into prison to bump off a snitch, but things go completely bonkers when he accidentally takes LSD.

His hallucinations include Mickey Rooney dancing and Groucho Marx's head on a rotating screw. The rest of the people in the prison - including Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin ('I'm seeing an angel! I am an angel!'), Slim Pickens, Jaws from the James Bond movies, and Peter Lawford - follow Gleason's example and wind up inadvertently tripping balls themselves; dancing garbage cans, naked football players, and general mayhem ensue.

Throw in a bunch of hippies, Carol Channing (in an old-timey general's uniform and a platinum-blond wig) singing the title song, and Groucho (in his final role, donning that greasepaint mustache once again) as the mob boss who ultimately sails off into bliss (the sails on the boat read 'Peace' and 'Love') smoking pot with Austin Pendleton while they wear hippie robes, and you've got this astonishingly odd mess of a movie.

Harry Nilsson sings the end credits (and I mean that quite literally). I don't know how the hell Otto Preminger made this movie; I guess it had something to do with him dropping acid during production.

(Groucho took LSD as well.) It's really something else to watch all these well-known figures trying to be hip and groovy. Wow. Those were the days.