'CANDY - (1968)......WHY NOBODY MENTIONED THIS IN BUCK HENRY'S OBITUARY.......

Candy (1968)    We thought of posting on this one as BQ's perfect way to recollect the brilliant work of supreme comedian-satirist-screenwriter Buck Henry, who passed a few days ago at age 89.........

                   Everyone recalled his superb scripts for "The Graduate", "Catch 22", "Heaven Can Wait" and his many now classic appearances on the early seasons of 'Saturday Night Live'.........

                    But few of these obits mentioned his magnum opus of the late 60's, the screenplay for this mad, mad, mad, mad adaptation of Terry Southern's pornography satire (itself a riff on Voltaire's "Candide")..........

                     Cause this movie is a prime example of BQ's favorite films to unearth........a bloated, gloriously insane international co-production, populated by the oddest collection of stars.......the kind of film that could only have been made in the one of the world's most turbulent decades........and during the world's most topsy-turvy era of filmmaking.......

                     It's batshit crazy right out of the gate, starting off with some bizarre '2001'-like visual effects that announce the arrival of our title character, Candy.......an impossibly sweet beautiful blonde teen (Ewa Aulin), floating down to earth like a Star Child already outfitted for high school.......

                    So much for the spacey stuff......once back at school, Candy, whose dubbed voice sounds like a lousy Marilyn Monroe impersonator on open-mike night, dodges her unsavory dad (John Astin, as if he never left "The Addams Family"), who also happens to be her civics teacher.......(you see where this movie's going, right?)

                     Astin's character represents a long list of institutions and authority figures that Buck Henry mercilessly lampoons..........educators, literary icons, military blowhards, ego-fueled medicos an  and phony religion hucksters.... all them get put on the grill for Henry's skewering

                      Not to mention, everyone's secret obsession with humping a hot babe.........

                      The loony plot (which we lack the stamina to describe) sends Aulin's Candy on a long, long odyssey through all the above mentioned targets.........who not only display themselves as self-serving idiots and fakers, but as horny assholes whose real goal in life is to rip Candy's clothes off and have their way with her........

                       Which they do.........frequently.

                       This includes Richard Burton as a gasbag poet equipped with his own dramatic wind that blows through his hair alone......Ringo Starr enjoying his stumble into fame, as a Mexican gardener.......Walter Matthau as a psycho Army paratroop commando who sounds left over from 'Dr. Strangelove'.......James Coburn as a gore-drenched  celebrity surgeon who performs to a packed operating theater like a matador.......and finally, in  what amounts the movie's showstopper, Marlon Brando as a babbling Indian Guru who travels in his own cross-country 18 wheeler.......

                       We'll now create a whole new genre to properly describe "Candy".......unlike 'Barbarella' or the '67 'Casino Royale', which fall under 'Movies Fun To Think About But Unwatchable'.......this one fall under 'Movies Fun To Think About And Just As Much Fun To Watch At Least Once......(if only to see it to disbelieve your eyes)

                       Adding to the overall craziness.......as we mentioned, the film's one of those misbegotten French-Italian co-productions, filmed mostly in Rome and directed by some French non-entity who clearly couldn't direct his own way to the bathroom.........

                         But if you pay attention and listen carefully, you can hear, in Buck Henry's rapid fire, gag-filled dialogue for his gallery of lunatics, a master satirist at work.......roasting all the people who've made the world a chaotic place to exist in......

                         Rest in peace, Buck Henry......... no other year but the riotous 1968 could have given you the chance to craft such a odd, odd film........and the epitome of your comedic art.  At the end of the film, Candy appears to return to outer space......but she lives in our hearts forever fondly....
3 stars (***)