Skidoo (1968)
Skidoo might be one of the most ridiculous movies you’ve never heard of, but a modern audience would get a kick out of how bonkers it is. Here’s the plot: Tony Banks, played by Jackie Gleason, is a former mob hit man whose daughter gets involved with a hippie. His former mob boss God – played by Groucho Marx in his last film appearance – wants Tony to perform one last hit.
Tony ends up taking LSD on accident and has a hallucinatory trip that brings him closer to his daughter. This psychedelic comedy feels like such a weird attempt by the old generation at trying to understand the counterculture and was an incredible flop. It misses its target in such a weird way that it is actually pretty delightful today. At the time it felt totally out-of-touch, but now it’s endearing in just how weird it feels. Critics snubbed it mostly because it was directed by the prestigious – but notoriously difficult – Otto Preminger who also had an enormous budget. And this is what he made? What was he smoking?