Up in Smoke (1978)

Director:

Lou Adler

Writers:

Tommy Chong (writer)
Cheech Marin (writer)

Release Date:

15 September 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Music

Tagline:

It will make you feel VERY funny!

Plot:

Two stoners unknowingly smuggle a van - made entirely of marijuana - from Mexico to L.A., with incompetent Sgt. Stedenko on their trail.

Plot Keywords:

Van | Mexico | Marijuana | Hitch Hiker | Smuggling

Cast

Cheech Marin	...	Pedro De Pacas
Tommy Chong	...	Anthony 'Man' Stoner
Strother Martin	...	Arnold Stoner
Edie Adams	...	Mrs. Tempest Stoner
Harold Fong	...	Chauffeur
Richard Novo	...	Richard
Jane Moder	...	Jail Bait
Pam Bille	...	Jail Bait
Arthur Roberts	...	Arresting Officer
Marian Beeler	...	Judge Gladys Dykes
Donald Hotton	...	Bailiff
John Ian Jacobs	...	Prosecuting Attorney
Christopher Joy	...	Curtis
Ray Vitte	...	James (Bass Player)
Michael Caldwell	...	Duane (Guitar)

Also Known As:

Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke
Cheech and Chong: Up in Smoke

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1978) | Finland:K-18 (2001) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) (re-rating) | New Zealand:R16 | Sweden:15 | Australia:R | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A | France:-16 | Ireland:18 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:18 | Spain:18 | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:18

Filming Locations:

Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

An early lineup for the legendary LA punk band The Germs had auditioned for a part in the "Battle of the Bands" sequence for this film, along with a few other bands of the time. However, Darby Crash and the rest of The Germs instigated a food fight at the Roxy during their audition gig (in front of a live audience) and they were told that they would not be in the film. The other bands which auditioned were given time in the movie. The song The Germs played at the audition, "Sex Boy" (with sounds of the resulting riot) can be heard on the CD "Germs(MIA)".

Goofs:

Continuity: At the beginning, when Cheech picks up Chong, the driver’s side window appears and disappears between cuts.

Quotes:

Pedro: Hey how am I driving, man?
Man Stoner: [looks around] : I think we're parked.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Superman II (1980)

Soundtrack:

Lost Due To Incompetence

The Show

The counterculture was long dead and ripe for retrospective satire. Into the opportunity stepped two pro comics who after trying other things, built these characters. When comics work up a world for years and then brings it to a movie, it bodes well. Mike Myers would follow almost precisely this formula later with "Wayne's World."

The jokes are still pretty funny, many of them. Not the stuff with the flumoxxed cops or the folks who inadvertently get stoned (and get the munchies). But the bits of comic timing associated with the guys as if they were on stage.

Two bits to watch out for. One is two incidental women. The first has a scene only a minute long. A girl comes in, mistakes scouring powder for coke, snuffs it up and has the most comic facial expressions I have even seen on film. This is one of those priceless moments in film. I hope IMDb at some point figures out some means to vote on particular scenes. This girl would in life become an addict and a bag lady.

The second girl has a bigger role: Zane Buzby is one of the hippie stoner cheesecake babes that join the trip. She's got a less flashy role, but in ad libs created most of the situations in which she appears. She would go on to become one of TeeVee's most attuned comedy directors.

So you can see this as two stage personalities that are good, with these two women, who are also as good, surrounded by some disposable situations and jokes.

But there is another something interesting. The end of this comic show is a comic show within, the guys as a rock band in possibly the best Cheech and Chong sequence of all their movies. Everything from about 20 minutes into the film to this is a journey to this show, I suspect that "The Muppet Movie" of the following year was influenced by this.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.