Skidoo

One of the strangest attempts by an established—but independent-minded—director to embrace youth culture, Otto Preminger's 1968 Skidoo stars Jackie Gleason as former mob hit man Tough Tony, who is ordered to whack an informer (Mickey Rooney) in protective custody in prison. Don't expect The Sopranos here: this is more like Keystone Mobsters, as career criminals and fun-loving hippies collide in a world of slapstick psychedelia, the latter courtesy of a mass LSD trip in a maximum-security facility. Groucho Marx is on hand as a wiseguy mob boss named God, who has a germ phobia; while Carol Channing, as Tony's wife Flo, bridges the cultural gap with a go-go dance and a striptease. A cartoonish mélange of goofy goodfellas and flower-power stereotypes featuring long hair, love beads, and body paint, Skidoo is not exactly a good film but it does offer a truly strange time capsule of late ‘60s Hollywood trying to bring a hip-counterculture attitude to comedy. Plus, the film does entertain—not least because of its misguided portrait of the era—and has become a minor cult item, thanks to both an incredible cast (that also includes Frankie Avalon, John Phillip Law, Peter Lawford, Burgess Meredith, George Raft, and Cesar Romero) and original songs by Harry Nilsson. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)[Blu-ray Review—Dec. 16, 2014—Olive, 97 min., R, $29.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1968's Skidoo features a nice transfer and a DTS-HD mono soundtrack, but no extras. Bottom line: Preminger's oddball comedy sparkles on Blu-ray.]