I love the web. I haven't bought anything from a real, live shop for ages!
I love the web. I haven't bought anything from a real, live shop for ages!
Member since:11.08.2000
Reviews:11
A lot of people won’t have heard of this film. Chances are most of you have stumbled into this review after some search engine finds the key words in the title, but that’s good isn’t it? Because of this, a brief introduction to the stars may be in order.
Cheech and Chong started off doing sketch shows on American Television in the 70’s and went on to record comedy albums starring their most memorable characters. Their brand of comedy attained a cult following, much like todays Fast Show, only it focused on darker subjects that the media didn’t want to touch in those days, Cannabis being the main item on their comic agenda.
Up in Smoke sees Richard “Cheech” Marin playing Pedro, an illegal alien hiding in the south of America, having snuck over the border with what appears to be most of the Mexican citizens. Pedro is a cool dude. He has a band, his own house and a flash lowrider sports car with carpeted dash board and a steering wheel made of chains. His number plate, MUFF DVR, might indicate to you the style of comedy you’re in for with this film. One day, driving down the highway at 2 mph, Pedro spots in his rear view mirror what appears to be a buxom hitchhiker and immediately spins round and goes to pick her up, only to find that he’s being duped by Thomas Chong’s hippy character, know only as Man.
Man convinces Pedro to take him along for the ride, beginning a partnership that sees them get involved in all manner of riotous incidents, but mainly trying to score a lid of weed. Things are going fine for the pair until they are deported after being discovered by immigration and have to find a way back into America. Pedro’s uncle gives him the number of a warehouse he deals with, telling him that they need a driver to pilot a vehicle across the border into America but forgetting to mention that the entire vehicle is made of Marijuana!
Stacey Keach co-stars as a bumbling police sergeant who is on the trail of the suspect vehicle and Tom Skerritt (Viper in Top Gun) plays Pedro’s crazy, Vietnam Vet cousin Strawberry (Just don’t look at his face!).
The pair manage to get the van over the border, inadvertently using a troupe of nuns as a foil at the checkpoint, and drive on to meet up with Pedro’s friends at a Battle of the Bands show. The final scenes are hilarious, as the van sets on fire and all around are yelling for cheeseburgers and other assorted munchies, as the dynamic duo are belting out a punk-mod stomper on stage!The overall feel of the film is one of light-hearted, pot-headed mischief and may not appeal to the more straight-headed film viewer, however, to smokers and drinkers who like to watch a slightly cheesy comedy, this is the holy grail! The scenes where there are several people on screen all talking at once seem to be a ploy by the director to increase the feeling of claustrophobia and paranoia, probably stemming from the effect they wanted to create for the target audience in the year of release. There are some brilliant, timeless jokes in there, especially the one with the lady mistaking a plate of spilled oven cleaner for some other substance. It seems to float her boat! The film has a cracking re-mastered soundtrack on the DVD version (USA) and the picture is crystal for a film so long in the basement of the production company.
The movie has just been released on VHS after many years of being deleted from stock in this country. I would recommend to anyone who knows the cast and is a fan of their movies to get the DVD imported from the USA, as it features another 20 minutes of very funny deleted scenes, some of which feature characters from the Cheech and Chong stage show of the 70’s. In summary, this film isn’t to everybody’s taste – but if you can dig it, do so!
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(+) Because of the new series the box set isn't complete, which means it will be cheaper! (-) It isnt the complete box set so you'll have to buy the new dvds seperatly or wait for the new set!
Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Production Year: 2003 - Comedy - Director: John Crowley - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Colin Farrell, Shirley Henderson, Cillian Murphy, Colm Meaney, Rory Keenan, Laurence Kinlan
There's nothing straight about this movie. But here's the dope anyway: Cheech and Chong ... more
make their film debut in this riotous rock'n'roll comedy, bringing with them the same madness, lifestyles and sketches that sold over 10 million records in the earl...
There's nothing straight about this movie. But here's the dope anyway: Cheech and Chong ... more
make their film debut in this riotous rock 'n' roll comedy bringing with them the same madness lifestyles and sketches that sold over 10 million records in the ea...
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![Cheech&Chong Up In Smoke [DVD] [1978]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78528894.jpg "Cheech&Chong Up In Smoke [DVD] [1978]")
Mar 20th, 2002
very helpful by (100%):
