‘Some of us are really gonna dig it, and that’s gonna be the real mother lovin’ gas…’
A young pop star persuades a senator running for office to stand on a platform of lowering the voting age to 14. This paves the way for a bloodless revolution that ends with the teenager as President of the United States. Once in office, he incites a global takeover and takes revenge on his mother.
Rather muddled Sixties satire which tries hard to swing but lacks either the necessary edge to its humour or a consistent point of view. Not that this probably bothered Samuel Z Arkoff and James Nicholson too much; as joint heads of American International Pictures (AIP) they were more concerned with flooding the market with as much product for teenagers as they possibly could. And grabbing as many box office receipts as possible.
For this project, they recruited a surprisingly interesting cast, including Hollywood veteran Shelley Winters, a young Richard Pryor and familiar faces Hal Holbrook and Ed Begley. lt might have worked too, but there are some serious problems with the finished article. To begin with, the lead role needed a charismatic presence, perhaps a popular singer who could have brought some of his own music to the party. Instead, we get Christopher Jones, and a series of tunes so unmemorable that his global stardom seems a complete mystery.
If that wasn’t enough director Barry Shear fails to contain Winters, who gives the sort of semi-hysterical, ‘fingers down a blackboard’ performance that she often favoured in her later years. Perhaps she felt that sheer volume could atone for the poor dialogue and lazy script. Although we do get to see her character smoke some dope as she desperately tries to prove that she is down with the kids. And watching veteran Hollywood ‘names’ trying to swing is one of the guilty pleasures of watching bad films from the 1960s.
Even the US President couldn’t get a decent tailor…
There’s also a suspicion that the movie doesn’t have a clue what point it’s trying to make. At one point, Jones orders excess grain shipped to the world’s hungry nations, which is all fine and good. However, he also rounds up all the old people, puts them in camps and has them force fed LSD. Some escape to Canada, whilst others hide in attics and basements. This echo of life under the Nazi regime in Europe during the war years can hardly have been coincidental, but it’s misjudged at best.
There are occasional highlights though; particularly the scenes of Congress carrying out constitutional reform whilst high on hallucinogens. This was all supposed to be subversive, of course, but it never hits its targets cleanly, and the impression is one of a ragbag of teen-pleasing elements all thrown together without much thought or attention.
And the experience of Winters at full throttle is a little wearing to say the least.
Mark David Welsh 