Skidoo (1968)

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 6:04pm

Ok, so I got this partially for the bizzare cast (namely Carol Channing).

I enjoyed the movie for the most part, but I'm a little confused. What the hell happened at the end? Did I doze off and miss the part where Jackie Gleason decided not to kill Mickey Rooney? Why was Carol dressed like a revolutionary soldier and singing the title song? How did Austin Pendelton and Groucho Marx end up on a boat together? Other questions abound, those being the biggest.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 6:28pm

I've never made it beyond watching the trailer, and I think I have more questions than you do, Husk.

Someday, maybe I'll see this fine work of art.

Nah.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 6:49pm

B12B-
I heard about it from someone who described it as absolutely terrible...and honeslty, I've seen worse. There are some genuinely funny moments, and Preminger uses Carol very well.

It's 90 mins of meh with about 8 minutes of Carol Channing joy.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 6:53pm

In a film with dancing trash cans, sung-through final credits, *and* a naked football team, you want an ending???

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 6:59pm

I think I just had mine.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 7:04pm

SeanMartin-
Touche, my friend, touche.

I totally just bought the title song on iTunes...and will somehow work it into my nightclub act about Carol...

[morosco]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 7:05pm

thanks to this post i'll have the title song stuck in my head for the next few weeks

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 7:07pm

In all seriousness, the way the story has it: most of this film was improvised on the spot. There really was no script per se, just a really rough idea that they were gonna somehow get from Point A to Point B, without much of an idea of what exit they were taking from the interstate. This was meant, in some respects, to be a one-up on films like CASINO ROYALE, which, if you remember, also made little sense. It was kind of a thing for late 60s movies, I think. I mean, if you want the ultimate WTF movie musical of that period, hunt around for THE APPLE and watch for the flying white limo that brings God into the plot.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 7:10pm

^ I've tried to block the Apple from memory. As someone who loves the bad movie musicals, I still wanted my 3 hours back.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 7:14pm

This movie was a hot stinkin' mess and that scene with Carol Channing trying to seduce Frankie Avalon was just disturbing.

[best12bars]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 7:15pm

^ Even reading about it was disturbing.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 7:49pm

Except she isn't trying to seduce him. She wants information about her husband's whereabouts, Avalon is expecting a lady friend, so to sabatoge him she gets down to her bra and hotpants and reclines on his zebra stripped bed.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 9:03pm

Okay, I tried to block *that* from memory. Fair trade, I guess. LOL

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 10:06pm

^ Well, she mostly keeps the chest area hidden and she has a terrific pair of gams.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 10:54pm

It's still a hot stinkin' mess anyway you slice it.

[twinbelters]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 1:15pm

Where is the dvd available?

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 1:22pm

There's no doubt that SKIDOO is one of the very worst movies ever made, from start to finish, top to bottom. But it is great fun to watch.

That seduction scene between Carol Channing and Frankie Avalon is possibly the least sexual thing you'll ever see, like seeing your grandmother all horned up. Avalon seems frankly appalled, he probably never had an easier time staying in character. The capper comes when Channing unzips her dress -- it is indescribable, one of those things that just has to be seen -- the zipper on the dress goes all the way around her body, like in a spiral, and the dress basically unzips itself from around her, if you can imagine such a thing.

Wow. Just wow. And the absurdity never stops. Just as the film finally ends, Otto Preminger's voice comes on the soundtrack, saying "Wait! Beeefore you Skidoo, we'd like to entrrodooce our cassst and crrrew!" wherupon Harry Nilsson sings the entire credits, including the copyright information and the disclaimer about the events of the film being fictional.

There's just nothing else like this movie.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 8/3/11 at 2:12pm

DVD is available from Amazon. It was licensed by Olive Films from Paramount Pictures. They have been releasing some of Paramount's back catalogue including Preminger's "Hurry Sundown", "Such Good Friends" as well as "Summer and Smoke" starring Geraldine Page, Laurence Harvey and Pamela Tiffin.