Getting Wasted (1980)

User Rating:

4.0/10   

Director:

Paul Frizler

Writers:

John Flaherty (writer)
Paul Frizler (writer)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Cadets at a military academy get involved with the 60's drug culture. |

Plot Keywords:

Drugs | Cadet | Military Academy | Counter Culture | 1960s

Cast

Brian Kerwin	...	Brad Carson
Cooper Huckabee	...	Dwayne Hollister
George O'Hanlon	...	Eric Vaughn
Ken Michelman	...	Al
Stephen Furst	...	Marshall
Dennis Howard	...	Gary Evans
Stefan Arngrim	...	Charlie
Wendy Rastattar	...	Paula
Ronnie Claire Edwards	...	Mrs. Carson
Jeanne Lange	...	Miss Lindsey
Tracey Walter	...	Space
Fredric Cook	...	Commandant
Herb Voland	...	Principal McLaughlin
Ivan Bonar	...	Dr. Carson
Peter Alsop	...	Andy

Also Known As:

Soft Explosion (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:R

Trivia:

'Dick Hayne''s last movie.

Entertaining "Anti-establishment" comedy

I saw this one for the first and last time on late-night TV in 1987. This remark might be asking for it, but this movie was my answer to Animal House (which I never got too attached to). As far as I can remember it, a group of teenagers at a military academy ignore the faculty and the "gung ho" students, and make friends with a group of "hippies" (though they're more understated than the usual movie kind, which is why I use quotation marks). The one part I didn't like was a bizarre scene about a cat and a microwave (a famous urban legend, I think). Instead of being a dark comedy scene, it was a completely serious scene (as I remember), but EITHER WAY, it seemed pointless. (Although with an idea like that, serious is at least more ORIGINAL than comical, in spite of what people seem to think.) The main seriousness of the story had the characters dreading the idea of reaching draft age, especially with the other characters' influence. Another thing I do remember is that the "period" songs were worked into the movie in a pretty clever way, unlike countless period movies, which really POUR them on. (Like "Mellow Yellow" by Donovan during the banana smoking scene, which had some point to it.) The one character that really stays with me was one nicknamed "Choo-Choo", because his hobby was trying to sabotage the local train tracks. It was a kind of therapy, because he'd been a cadet himself, and he'd been tied to the tracks as a prank. I just saw in these listings that David Caruso was in it. I've never seen an entire "N.Y.P.D." or "C.S.I.", but hearing that is a whole other thing.