Skidoo (1968)

Infamous psychedelic all-star comedy about ex-gangster Tony Banks, who's called out of retirement by mob kingpin God to carry out a hit on fellow mobster "Blue Chips" Packard. When Banks ... 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	...	Tony Banks
Carol Channing	...	Flo
Frankie Avalon	...	Angie
Fred Clark	...	A Tower Guard
Michael Constantine	...	Leech
Frank Gorshin	...	The Man
John Phillip Law	...	Stash
Peter Lawford	...	The Senator
Burgess Meredith	...	The Warden
George Raft	...	The Skipper
Cesar Romero	...	Hechy
Mickey Rooney	...	'Blue Chips' Packard
Groucho Marx	...	'God'
Arnold Stang	...	Harry
Doro Merande	...	The Mayor

Storyline

Infamous psychedelic all-star comedy about ex-gangster Tony Banks, who's 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:

channel surfing | motor boat | sleeping with a blindfold | car wash | hippy | 

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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

Filming Locations:

San Francisco Bay, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Otto Preminger Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the film's TV-viewing opening, Otto Preminger's film In Harm's Way (1965) is featured. Preminger always complained about having his films cut to pieces on TV. Thus, Carol Channing's character says, "No, I never watch films on TV . . . they always cut them to pieces."

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Quotes

Leech: [referring to LSD] Hey, maybe if I took some of that stuff... I wouldn't have to rape anybody no more!

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the film, Harry Nilsson sings all the credits that appear onscreen, with occasional side notes (e.g. "a good friend", or "thanks").

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Connections

Featured in Inside the Marx Brothers (2003)

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Soundtracks

Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye
(uncredited)
Written by 'Joseph B. Geoghegan"
Sung by a hippie girl

User Reviews

Hippies and Gangsters don't mix

After watching Skidoo tonight all I can ask is what was Otto Preminger thinking when he did this film? Better yet what were all these talented people thinking when they signed on?

The plot has Jackie Gleason, once the mob's number one hit-man, but now retired and living with wife Carol Channing and daughter Alexandra Hay who has taken up with the hippie lifestyle and some hippies, much to the consternation of Gleason and Channing. Those two alone as parents might make anyone want to join a commune.

Cesar Romero and Frankie Avalon bring a message from God or at least that's what syndicate boss Groucho Marx. Groucho wants mob informer Mickey Rooney killed, but Mickey's in prison. Never mind the mob can do anything, bust Gleason into prison and bust him right out once the job is done. But Rooney won't let people near him, but since Gleason's an old friend he'll be vulnerable to him. Which is what Groucho is thinking.

Since Gleason balks, Groucho captures Alexandra Hay and brings her on his yacht from where he runs things. At that point with Marx having him by the short hairs, Gleason agrees to the contract.

The big idea is to get the entire prison tripping on LSD so no one will interfere. But of course things do go wrong as you'll see if you care to watch the film.

No matter how many big names were packed into Skidoo, nothing could get this picture off the ground. Otto Preminger packed the film with a whole lot of people he had used in previous films like Peter Lawford, Burgess Meredith, Slim Pickens, but all to no avail. The jokes fell flat as a punctured soufflé, the situations were just not funny, in fact even Groucho apparently wasn't in the mood to ad-lib any of his patented humor.

In fact Groucho playing a character called God WAS the funniest thing in the film. It has serious theological implications for those of us who thought George Burns or Morgan Freeman was God.

In its own way Skidoo was as big a disaster, even bigger than Plan Nine From Outer Space. And Preminger had a much bigger budget to work from.