Taking Off (USA, 1971) 93 min color DIR: Milos Forman. SCR: Jean-Claude Carriere, Milos Forman, John Guare, John Klein. PROD: Alfred W. Crown. DOP: Miroslav Ondrícek. CAST: Lynn Carlin, Buck Henry, Georgia Engel, Tony Harvey, Audra Lindley, Paul Benedict, Vincent Schiavelli, Linnea Hancock. (Universal Pictures)
Czech director Milos Forman’s first American film is a screamingly funny satire about a straight-laced suburban couple, Lynn and Barry Tyne, whose daughter Jeannie (Linnea Hancock) runs away from home. In the search for their daughter, the Tynes become aware of a support group for parents of runaway kids… in which the members are uptight upperclass squares, just like them! This hysterical movie is the rare mainstream film which is totally on the side of the kids. The grownups are all portrayed as wishy-washy misfits. The centerpiece of this film is a sequence that will incite tears of laughter. The support group has a guest (perennial movie weirdo Vincent Schiavelli) at their convention, who teaches them that pot isn’t all that bad… and then instructs them on the proper way to smoke a joint! These humourless WASPs with pearls and tuxedos giggling like a bunch of stoners is an incredible sight. Now that our lead parents have slightly lost some of their inhibitions, they invite another couple (future TV stars Audra Lindley and Paul Benedict!) over to their house for some booze, more pot, and then… strip poker! Wouldn’t you know it, when mom and dad are down to their underwear, that’s when the daughter comes home. But the embarrassment escalates when the drunken parents encourage Jeannie to bring her boyfriend over for dinner. Once Dad learns how much more money this hippie musician makes than he does at his white-collar job, his reaction is priceless. Buttoned-down Buck Henry and liberated Lynn Carlin are simply perfect as the parents. The film is shot in white monochromes which expertly conveys the stifling, clinical environment from which these people need to escape. This Cannes Grand Prix winner is unfortunately not as well remembered as it should be, perhaps because it has had no domestic home video release due to (what else?) music rights, from the clips of singers (among them, Carly Simon and Kathy Bates!) intercut through the film, performing at the audition that Jeannie was supposed to attend. This is too bad, as this little masterpiece is one of the best films of and about its era.
Updated from a review originally published in Vol. #1, Issue #10 (“Summer in the 70s”).
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.