Some things I liked some I did not.

Excellent, a Must See

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

This movie earns a 'two' vote only due to its utter strangeness. This is like 'The Oscar' on mescaline. Throw in five million familiar faces, forget a script, and let a young Harry Nilsson do the music score.It's hard to imagine that the same talented director who made the excellent 'Anatomy of a Murder' was behind this strange acid-trip mixture of hippies, gangsters and prisons. But this film was directed by Otto Preminger.Oddest casting: Carol Channing as Jackie Gleason's wife. A look at Ms. Channing and you may question whether there are but two sexes on this planet. We are indeed treated to the vision of Ms. Channing in see-through bra and brief panties. It is almost an acid trip in itself.But that's really only the beginning. The casting features a very lovely Alexandra Hay, who I believe was a Playboy centerfold (I could be wrong, or dreaming). Luna is gorgeous as Groucho Marx's (who plays 'God', years before George Burns) mistress. I love her in that green thing she's almost wearing.Let's throw in seasoned character actors like Slim Pickens, Fred Clark and Mickey Rooney, too. If that isn't enough, somehow Frankie Avalon appears in the mix. This movie's thorough stupidity made me nostalgic for those brain dead beach flicks!The list goes on. The world's best 'Password' player, Peter Lawford. From the 'Batman' TV show, we throw in Frank Gorshin and Cesar Romero. Thankfully, the unfunny Arnold Stang is bumped off early in the movie.And who do we have as star? None other than comic genius Jackie Gleason. This may be the saddest part of the affair. Gleason was excellent in 'Requiem for a Heavyweight'. This should have been a spring board for Jackie to do serious acting, but his filmography is filled with duds. This has to be the most embarrassing attempt at comedy by a real master. Reginald van Gleason on acid is just not funny. Most of the people behind the scenes must have been stoned while making this.Someone referred to this film as a 'psychedelic gem'. I do agree people need to sit down and watch this film. Drink it in, as they say. This was Hollywood on its last legs. Most of these personalities needed jobs, and they settled for this garbage. Surely someone had to have smelled this movie. Take the money and run.I'm a big fan of Nilsson, and it is amusing to see his take as the 'tower guard' who is tripping on acid. The best part of the movie is the final credits, which are jocularly all sung by Harry. His song 'Skidoo', however, is a real 'stinkeroo', and in yet another odd turn, the title song is sung by Carol Channing in George Washington drag. Read that sentence again.Aside from Harry's song about garbage cans, and the spectacle of neon strobe lit garbage cans with people inside them dancing, I found no other highlights in this piece of cinema.Oh, I forgot, George Raft plays 'The Skipper'.Now if anyone thinks this movie is 'good' in any way...you are deluding yourself. As strange Hollywood cinema, 'Skidoo' is worse than 'The Oscar' and possibly just as strange as Ed Wood's 'Plan 9 From Outer Space'.But there's a big difference between an artless, wannabe director with a very limited budget and a respected Hollywood director with a roster of some talented personalities and millions to spend. Frankly, I prefer the quaint ineptness of Ed Wood to the nonsensical treacle that Preminger has created here.Having said nothing much good about this film, I do agree. You sit down. You watch this movie. I dare you to make it all the way through. I did, with a couple of cigarette breaks. This may be one of the worst Hollywood productions of all time.

One reviewer noted that 'some people reported that Preminger experimented with acid while making this movie.' That's historically imprecise: it was Preminger himself who said, in a number of interviews, that he was ON acid while making this film (meaning he took it through-out the production. At first he said this rather proudly, apparently hoping it would sell the film to the 'youth' market, but by the early '70s he was using this as an excuse for the films evident failure, artistic and financial. (His career never fully recovered.) In fact, the film did damage to the careers of almost everyone involved - Gleason, Marx, Lawford, Burgess, Channing - all suffered from the fiasco.I had the unpleasant experience seeing this when it first came out - my Mother wanted to see 'a Jackie Gleason movie,' and was too stubborn to walk out after she had paid for the tickets. Even in my immaturity I could see this was a MESS. The characters were unlikeable, the images were flat, the story meandering about unbelievably, and the jokes - the only way you could tell it was a comedy is because the actors were laughing. I hope I never see it again.Yet I do admit one thing, which is why I write this review so many years later. For some reason the design of the film is unforgettable, as is the casual hipsters' party attitude that permeates the script and the acting. And that's NOT a good thing.So, unless you want acid-flashbacks without ever dropping any cubes, avoid this movie like the plague, or it will infect your mind with horrible memories of bad cinema.

I'm 43 and I had fun seeing all these old A-list actors in this severely screwed-up film. I'm not sure I could say the same for my cousins in their 20s however. There are some great sets and costumes, as well as music. The film is far from a cult classic and it is pretty amateurish at parts, especially some terribly done slapstick split-screen at the start, but the general plot is interesting and twisted, the combination of actors is bizarre, and the weird plot that takes Jackie Gleason through a prison acid-trip on his way to confront an old mafia boss is often amusing. Not long after, the entire prison starts tripping, including Burgess Meredith, Peter Lawford, Slim Pickens, and Jack Lord? You really get the sense that these guys were partying as much as anyone. I cant believe a studio released money for this, although the quality of the film and the lighting at times make it clear the budget was low or a fine director like Premminger was not matched by his director of photography. It's shot like a TV show, but I'm probably seeing a 4x duped print. I bet the originals are long gone.Its a historical artifact if nothing else, and there are some truly innovative psychedelic film sequences. The film starts terribly in establishing its preposterous plot, but seems to smooth out more over time towards the end. There's a certain loose sexuality coming through from the time period 1968, and I think this movie was trying to be Candy if nothing else. It's definitely a B-movie, but with the surprising A-listers from Jackie Gleason to Frankie Avalon and Burgess Meredith, and the historic aspect, I think its as good as lots of time-wasting indie movies. At least its not gratuitously morose. Its gratuitously asinine. I'd totally own it on DVD.

Skidoo (1968) ** (out of 4) Extremely bizarre comedy has gangster battling hippies in the lovin' 60's. A retired gangster (Jackie Gleason) is asked by the top gangster, God (Groucho Marx) to break into prison and kill a rat (Mickey Rooney). On the outside Gleason's daughter has started dating a hippie and its up to them to try and save her dad. This was a notorious flop when originally released but it has gained a cult following over the years and in the end the film really isn't all that bad. I think the biggest problem is that Preminger simply wasn't the right guy to direct the material. He's got some great comic actors yet he gets very little from them. Most of the comedy comes from politically incorrect stuff or things that weren't meant to be funny but they come off that way. The highlight of the film is when Gleason is in prison and accidentally takes some LSD and has a wild trip afterwards. Marx also smokes some pot, which is somewhat funny but Rooney comes off rather lame. The supporting cast includes Carol Channing, Frankie Avalon, Peter Lawford, Burgess Meredith, George Raft and Cesar Romero. The film eventually runs out of steam in the final act, which again deals with an LSD trip but the jokes plays itself out way before the end.