Cheech and Chong had been performing in nightclubs and releasing albums for years by the time their first feature movie Up in Smoke came out. But the question was how would audiences respond to a movie about stoners who are just looking to get high and maybe get laid. Remember this was still 1978 when the movie out and possession of marijuana was enough to get people outrageous jail and prison sentences in some states. Today, July 13, Richard “Cheech” Marin turns 77 and even though he’s got over 150 acting credits on TV and the movies as well as appearing on stage in a Sam Shephard play, he’ll be most remember for his time as part of the comedy duo.
The plot, if there is one, is basically a rehash of their famous bits such as Pedro and Man, with a subplot featuring Sgt. Stadanko (a hilarious turn by the usually very serious Stacy Keach) hoping to bust stoners with his Keystone Kops officers. Pedro de Pascas (Marin) is one day out driving in his low rider when he spots what he thinks is a woman hitchhiking. It’s actually Anthony Stoner, otherwise called Man (Tommy Chong) dressed up as a woman. Man is from a wealthy family but stranded after his VW bug broke down.
The two click and they share a huge joint that contains cannabis and dog feces because Man’s Labrador dog ate most of his stash and he didn’t get it back for three days. They’re arrested but somehow are released through no explanation and when Pedro discovers Man is a drummer with his own set, Pedro has him to join his band. But in the mean time, they go looking for weed seeking out Pedro’s mentality unstable cousin, Strawberry (a hilarious turn by Tom Skerritt). Strawberry is a Vietnam veteran who suffers from paranoia and flashbacks. He also has a huge birthmark on the side of his face he doesn’t like people looking at.
Eventually, they do find some cannabis but they are accidentally arrested by immigration officers (the Migra) and deported to Tijuana. Pedro contacts a relative he has there who arranges for him to deliver a van back to L.A. But Pedro writes down the wrong address and goes to a factory where the scientists have converted cannabis into building materials to make upholstery and appliances to smuggle. It doesn’t make a lot of sense but this a comedy so just relax.
Stadanko and his officers including the incredibly inept Harry (Mills Watson) are hoping to bust them at the U.S./Mexico border. But there’s a slip-up that allows the van made entirely out of cannabis to pass. Pedro and Man pick up two hitchhiking women, Debbie (Wally Ann Wharton) and Jade East (Zane Buzby) who inform them of a Battle of the Bands happening later that day at the Roxy. Cheech convinces Man they should join and they arrange for their other band members to meet them there.
To say the plot is thin is an understatement. Marin has noted that most of the scripts were written on a handful pieces of paper with a lot of improvisation. Chong joked that director Lou Adler’s style consisting of him asking them, “You ready?” Since the comedy duo had been performing for years, they knew how to play off each other. Adler, who had been a music and recorder producer for years, had worked with Robert Altman on the 1970 movie Brewster McLoud. Inspired by Altman, he filmed in the same improvisational nature vibe.
A popular scene in which Jade, who is a very ditzy character, rambles on about a woman she knew who would have outrageously loud orgasms, was inspired by a story they heard from a cast or crew member at lunch. She starts recounting this story in the back of the van while Man is napping and Cheech is sitting out on the bumper thinking Man and Jade are having sex inside. He’s not the only one thinking this as the other bands are observing it as well as a Man wakes up with a bad cramp in his leg kicking the side of the van.
It’s all just a collection of episodic scenes thrown together. The subplot about the van and Stadanko’s incompetence along with the Battle of the Bands just seem to be added so there is a narrative. As I said, Keach, who had been performing Shakespeare on stage for years, comes off in a hilarious role. There’s also Strother Martin and Edie Adams in a scene as Man’s long-suffering parents with Martin as Arnold Stoner delivering a profanity-laced criticism of Man that only he could deliver. The parents were supposed to appear in a later scene but it was cut along with a cameo by Harry Dean Stanton as a police officer.
Released in the summer of 1978 through subtle marketing that included comics left on park benches, the movie had a very, very limited release. Paramount Pictures released in in only one major city at a time. It opened only in nine theaters in Texas. This was still when studios and distributors weren’t as concerned about wide releases. There was no home video market, so most movies could stay in theaters for months or years if they were very successful. And Up in Smoke, produced on only a $2 million budget, made over $100 million worldwide. It basically invented the stoner comedy genre.
A sequel was planned to focus on the further adventures of Pedro and Man but Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie released also during the summer in 1980 had the two playing fictional version of themselves with basically the same personas as Pedro and Man and introducing Cheech’s somewhat girlfriend, Donna (Evelyn Guerro). The movie got better reviews but earned a lot less at $41 million. Chong was credited as director but Marin later said they both functioned as directors on most of their movies.
But success would become the beginning of the end for a while of the duo. Marin would recount in the 2017 autobiography Cheech Is Not My Real Name…But Don’t Call Me Chong that a power struggle erupted between the two. And by their fourth movie Things Are Tough All Over, they were moving away from drug-based humor. This movie which is basically a road comedy ended up only making $21 million worldwide.
They would then go on to appear alongside Monty Pythons Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Eric Idle in Yellowbeard which also featured Mel Brooks’ regulars Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn and Kenneth Mars. However, the movie was a dud getting bad reviews and a low box office. Both Cleese and Idle admitted that they only did the movie because of their close connection to Chapman, who co-wrote the movie and was in the titular role.
By the time Cheech and Chong made The Corsican Brothers in 1984, there was tension. Marin said that Chong was becoming very controlling and was going to keep him out of the writing process and Chong’s brother-in-law was going to be writing scripts. Marin also said he had been getting offers for other roles, yet Chong only wanted him to work on their movies. Marin described Chong as a megalomaniac, which he later admitted himself. With the home video market taking off, Chong reluctantly returned to the 53-minute video Get Out of My Room, which Marin had directed. It would contain the music video for “Born in East L.A.” which Marin would later turn into a movie in 1987 which he also directed.
When the script for the black comedy After Hours called for a “Cheech and Chong type,” Martin Scorsese contacted them and they appeared in the roles of Neil (Marin) and Pepe (Chong.) But it would be the last time they’d appear in a movie for years. After this, they went their separate ways as Marin focused on other roles and projects. Marin appeared in a surprise cameo in Chong’s 1990 movie Far Out Man, but the two still weren’t talking much. Chong would later say he got a cold reception from Marin at a birthday party sometime after when Marin married his second wife, Patti Held.
But Chong would later appear alongisde Cheech in a guest role on the TV show Nash Bridges. Rumors have differed that the hyenas in The Lion King were intended to be Cheech and Chong. Marin voiced Banzai and made a fortune while Chong wasn’t interested so the role went to Whoopi Goldberg. After Chong went to prison for selling drug paraphernalia in 2003, the two began to rekindle their relationship. Chong joked that every time Marin visited him, the guards would do a major strip search because they though Marin had slipped him something. They went back to touring when Chong was released and released the concert film Hey Watch This! in 2010 and Cheech and Chong’s Animated Movie in 2013.
Still 45 years later, the movie is still just as good now as it’s ever been. In part, I think it was that Cheech and Chong were bringing their A-game as they knew they might only have one shot at a movie. It’s a crazy movie that asks respected actors like Adams, Keach, Martin and Skerritt to play buffoonish characters. Jack Nicholson, who’s a friend of Adler’s, allowed the production to use his VW bug convertible. Adler screened an early print for Nicholson who was recovering from a dislocated shoulder. Rumor has it Nicholson had to stop the movie because he was laughing so hard it was hurting him.
If you can make Jack Nicholson laugh till it hurts, then you got something special.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 