Skidoo (1968)

Ex-gangster Tony Banks is called out of retirement by mob kingpin God to carry out a hit on fellow mobster "Blue Chips" Packard. When Banks demurs, God kidnaps his daughter Darlene on his ... See full summary »

Director:

Otto Preminger

Writer:

Doran William Cannon

Stars:

Jackie Gleason, Carol Channing, Frankie Avalon

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jackie Gleason	...	Tough Tony Banks
Carol Channing	...	Flo Banks
Frankie Avalon	...	Angie
Fred Clark	...	Tower Guard
Michael Constantine	...	Leech
Frank Gorshin	...	The Man
John Phillip Law	...	Stash
Peter Lawford	...	The Senator
Burgess Meredith	...	The Warden
George Raft	...	Capt. Garbaldo
Cesar Romero	...	Hechy
Mickey Rooney	...	George 'Blue Chips' Packard
Groucho Marx	...	God
Arnold Stang	...	Harry
Doro Merande	...	The Mayor

Storyline

Ex-gangster Tony Banks is called out of retirement by mob kingpin God to carry out a hit on fellow mobster "Blue Chips" Packard. When Banks demurs, God kidnaps his daughter Darlene on his luxury yacht.

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Plot Keywords:

mobster | yacht | absurd humor | man with glasses | hot air balloon | 

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Taglines:

It takes two to skidoo.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some nudity and drug content

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 December 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

Skidoo se Faz a Dois

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Otto Preminger Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Otto Preminger became so fascinated with his son Erik Lee Preminger's description of life as a dropout in New York's Greenwich Village that when a mere writing sample from Doran William Cannon passed his desk, Preminger wanted to shoot the writing sample as opposed to the actual script, because the sample explored the hippie existence and LSD-tripping.

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Quotes

Flo Banks: [singing] Skidoo! Skidoo! Between a one and three, there is a two!

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Crazy Credits

Harry Nilsson *sings* the credits.

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Connections

Referenced in The Devil's Rejects (2005)

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Soundtracks

"I Will Take You There"
Written and Performed by Harry Nilsson

User Reviews

Most wack movie in the history of studio filmmaking

Picture if you will a gathering of celebrities at a Dean Martin Roast at the Sands in Vegas in 1974. Only tonight, instead of skewering Angie Dickinson or Dan Rowan, they've decided to do a scene-by-scene reenactment of UN CHIEN ANDALOU. George Gobel is the guy dragging the piano, Totie Fields is the chick with her eyeball slit open, and Nipsey Russell has a whole bunch of ants crawling on his palm. Evel Knievel does a walk-through.

Okay, got it? It's still not as demented as Otto Preminger's 1968 disasterpiece, the effort of a band of thoroughly washed-up Hollywood old-timers to get with the hip LSD-and-love-beads craze. Jackie Gleason is a mafioso thrown in the clink, given a hit of acid by his genius-hippie cellmate (introducing Austin Pendleton?!), leading to a Slavko Vorkapich-style hallucinogen montage that features a pea-sized Mickey Rooney dancing with bags of loot, metamorphosizing numerals, and, if memory serves, Gleason growing a new face.

Then, if you aren't yawning yet, there's the little thing of Carol Channing doing a striptease for Frankie Avalon. Or how about Groucho Marx as God, talking through a speakerphone from his houseboat? Or a musical finale, shot through more psychedelic filters than the graveyard in EASY RIDER, in which garbage cans turn into flying saucers that lift the cast into the sky? Note to Preminger biographers: whatever Der Otto was smoking--I'll take two, please.