Friday Night at the Drive-In Double Feature • Up In Smoke and The Hitch-Hiker

Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke
1978/ 90 minutes   
Paramount
R

Cast • Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Tom Skerrit, Strother Martin, Edie Adams, Stacy Keach, Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith, Christopher Joy
Writer • Cheech and Chong
Director • Lou Adler

SEX (A LITTLE), DRUGS (KILOS), AND ROCK AND ROLL ("EVERYTHING FROM EL CHICANO TO SANTANA") provide the impetus  for Pedro (Cheech) and his friend (Chong, who's billed as The Man and never addressed by name by anyone) to drive around in various vehicles in this drive-in chestnut.

When The Man's VW breaks down, he hitches a ride with low-rider Pedro. Their common interest in music and marijuana establishes an immediate bond but gets them in dutch with the police just as fast. After accidental LSD trips that land them in the pokey, it's time to — yep — find some more weed, sending the boys back on the road. Oh yeah, they're sorting getting a band together, too.  MORE AFTER THE JUMP

Scoring dope ain't easy ("that's 'cause everybody's  smokin' it these days — makes it hard on the rest of us") and a last-resort visit to Pedro's cousin Strawberry (Tom Skerritt) scares up a Viet Nam flashback, as well as every freak in the neighborhood. Enter Sgt. Stedenko (Stacy Keach) and his narc squad, whose busts are continually foiled by our heroes.

The two end up in Mexico, where they unwittingly drive a van made entirely of weed back to L.A. just in time to take part in The Battle of the Bands. But Stedendko sniffs them out, just itching to get the chance to say, "Up against the wall, asshole."

Erudite VE readers may be asking, "Isn't Up In Smoke that stupid, juvenile '70s movie about two dopers looking for more dope?" Well, does Howdy Doody got wooden balls? Of course he does! And although this movie has all the polish and depth of dog doo on the sidewalk, it's full of great bits, little touches, and funny performances.

Record producer Lou Adler's foray into film direction gets a lot of heat from critics, some of it a bit exaggerated. Sloppy? — yeah. Uneven — there are a few bad spots, most notably the courtroom scene where the song "Framed" plays over the action. And although sometimes the editing rhythm can be awful, sometimes it's great (like when Cheech tries to pick up two young girls in the beginning). But the simple story construction works to Cheech and Chong's advantage. It's basically a series of vignettes connected by travelling: Pedro picking up The Man, getting busted, looking for dope, getting deported, and driving the marijuana van back to L.A. while Sgt. Stedenko tries to crack "The Connection."

The supporting cast of human cartoons is first-rate. Edie Adams and Strother Martin as the Stoners are only in the film for about three minutes (and Adler obviously gave Strother a set-up and no script), but nobody uses the phrase "son-of-a-bitch" with more authority than Strother Martin. The best performance is by Tom Skerritt as Pedro's cousin Strawberry, a shell-shocked Viet Nam vet with something on his neck. (Listen closely and you'll hear The Man talk about Agent Orange, which has been found to be responsible for skin ailments.) The visit to Strawberry's house is, I think, the funniest sequence in the film — make sure you listen to what the mynah bird says before the feathers fly. Stacy Keach is also great as Sgt. Stedenko, the polyester bedecked and flat-topped flatfoot in charge of a dumb-as-rocks narc squad. But few critics mention Curtis (Christopher Joy), the go-to man who can get you anything — pot, genu-wine diamonds, even the band's uniforms — and is always quick with a reply. When The Man complains that the band uniforms look like bus boy uniforms (they are), Curtis says, "No baby, y'all clean as skeeters' peters!" • DAVE YOUNT

The Hitch-Hiker
1953/ 71 minutes   
Alpha Video
Not Rated

Cast • Edmond O'Brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman, Jose Torvay
Writer • Robert L. Joseph, Ida Lupino
Director • Ida Lupino

PSYCHOPATHIC HITCH-HIKER William Talman ruins the vacations of fishing buddies Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy by taking them hostage and dragging them through the Mexican desert, with the federales in hot pursuit. Obscure, gritty noir, with ripe Freudian overtones (Talman is a snivelling creep without his gun), terrific performances by O'Brien and Talman, and stark direction by actress Ida Lupino. The film's mad-dog killer may be based on real-life hitch-hiking murder William Cook, who waylaid several motorists in 1951; he even sports Cook's creepy trademark — a right eye which never closes, even when he sleeps.  PAUL GAITA

Comments

[download movies]

Quite interesting experience !! It looks like you have enjoyed lot in Mexico. I like your information very much. In fact , I want to say your way of expressing your experience. Thanks Man !!

[flatty45]

in the beginning with strothers marten (tommy chongs dad in the movie)he calls chong "Antony" and their last names are "Stoner" so his name is "Tony Stoner"

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