Up in Smoke (1978)

 

Up in Smoke

This was a lot better than I dared to expect.

Anthony “Man” Stoner (Tommy Chong) leaves his wealthy, but not very understanding, parents in his old Volkswagen with a Rolls Royce grill tied to the front. The car breaks down and Man is stranded.  Pedro de Pacas (Cheech Marin) wakes up confused, steps in his children’s breakfast and pees in the laundry basket. He gets his act together and takes his pimped-up car for a spin in high spirits. Pedro takes up a hitchhiker he thinks is a woman but turns out to be Man. Man has a joint the size of a salami and they are immediately best friend.

What happens next involves starting a band, hunting for dope with a Vietnam veteran and driving a car made from “fiberweed” (hardened marijuana) across the border from Mexico believing they are smuggling upholstering. Throughout they are chased by an anti-drug squad led by Sgt. Stedenko (Stacy Keach), but Pedro and Man hardly register this, partly from being high and partly because of the incompetence of the drug unit. When they pick up two girls on the way, they give them the idea to enter a Battle of Bands competition at the Roxy Theatre. What happens there just have to be seen.

A summary of this movie will never do it justice as it is one of those movies where it is the way it is acted out rather than the nominal story that matters. Cheech and Chong were a known comedy duo, and this movie is largely a vehicle for their stunts. These circle around drugs, especially marijuana and are of a very anarchistic nature. At first, I was a bit apprehensive, fearing another substance abuse movie, but it very quickly won me over. This is a hilariously funny movie.

It is a trashy sort of humor, very low at times, but never mean. They do some really stupid things, usually while heavily intoxicated, but they are rather innocent and even sweet. The peak of this is of course the concert at the end of the movie. It is a total disaster at first. Man is freaking out from stage fear and the girls gave him the wrong dope to fix it, so he tumbles around on the stage. Pedro enters wearing a pink ballet skirt and a Mickey Mouse hat and together with the smoke from the burning marijuana car venting into the venue, they get it turned around and into an unforgettable show. I will see if I can find a picture of Pedro in his outfit for this post.

“Up in Smoke” is credited as the first “Buddy stoner film” and is as such the mother of all those genre movies that followed. Movies like “Harold and Kumar”, “Knocked Up” or “Grandma’s boy”. In fact, Wikipedia lists more than a hundred buddy stoner movies including a lot of well-known titles. This is what “Animal House” was for the college movie, and here is the wild thing, “Up in Smoke” is still one of the best of them.

I am pleasantly surprised that the editors of the List have shown enough range to include a movie like “Up in Smoke”. Sure, founding a genre is a big thing, but the List is thin on comedies and especially of the trashy sort. This is a brilliant entry and a good warmup for New Year’s Eve. Highly recommended even for non-smokers like me.