Skidoo (1968)

User Rating:

4.7/10   

Director:

Otto Preminger

Writer (WGA):

Doran William Cannon (written by)

Release Date:

19 December 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

It takes two to skidoo.

Plot:

Ex-gangster Tony Banks is called out of retirement by mob kingpin God to carry out a hit on fellow mobster "Blue Chips" Packard...

Plot Keywords:

Mobster | Yacht | Hippie | Escape | Prison

Cast

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	...	Captain Garbaldo
Cesar Romero	...	Hechy
Mickey Rooney	...	George 'Blue Chips' Packard
Groucho Marx	...	God
Arnold Stang	...	Harry
Doro Merande	...	The Mayor

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Sweden:11 | USA:M

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Otto Preminger Films

Trivia:

Towards the end, when George Raft marries Frankie Avalon and Luna, Raft's wedding-service manual is clearly seen as "The Death of God".

Quotes:

God: [unbuttons her jacket] Right now, I'd rather be doing what he's doing than what I'm doing.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Flashing on the Sixties: A Tribal Document (1990) (V)

Soundtrack:

Skidoo

Whatever it takes

It took me years to find a copy of this, and I can tell you in all sincerity that it's worth whatever it takes to see it, not once, but as often as you can. If it shows up at a local film festival, make sure you see every showing. If it's shown once, make sure you cajole, bribe, or threaten every friend you've got to come along. Because otherwise you're going to spend the next year in a walking trance, stopping perfect strangers and trying to describe this...THING... you saw, where Groucho Marx and Frankie Avalon and John Philip Law...no, you've GOT to LISTEN to me!

Read all the other comments, read anything you can find on this monstrosity, and you'll still be only half-prepared for what you're going to see. The only two other films I can think of that so exceeded even their own outrageous hype were Blood Freak and Godmonster of Indian Flats. But, hey, those were low-budget obscurities. Skidoo was a HUGE production - and, unfortunately, I can't imagine this is EVER going to be released on DVD, VHS, CD, cassette, or eight-track, because I can't imagine the Preminger estate wanting any trace of Skidoo to surface ever again.

Carol Channing in bra and tights. Groucho Marx on a wood screw. Dancing garbage cans. Sure, sure, sure. You've heard the stories. But, lordie, there's sooooo much more....