Slither (1973)......stands as prime example as to why movie buffs wax nostalgic over the 1970's......
Nobody running the studios had the slightest idea what audiences wanted anymore.......and the oddest projects imaginable were greenlighted, and their directors given unheard of leeway in bringing them to the screen.....
Exhibit A: this movie.
Is it a comedy? Possibly. It always seems on the verge of breaking out into actual farce.....but never does. Is it a thriller? Possibly. It throws in chases, guns, crooks, stolen money.......but never seems particularly interested in any of those things. They're just there.
Does it have a point? An ending? An overall reason for its existence? You tell me.
How are we supposed to process what's going on in it? Solve its mystery? Chuckle at the craziness? Worry over the fates of its aggressively quirky characters? You tell me.
What I'm trying to say here......welcome to the epitome of quintessential 1970's filmmaking. The kind of movie I can guarantee you'll never, ever, ever see come out of any of today's studios or even the most off-the-rails independent film director.
Our cast......recently released convicts Dick Kanipsia (James Caan) and Harry Moss (Richard B. Shull). Harry tells Dick about hidden, stolen cash he shares with his partner, cornball would-be comic and big band leader Barry Fenaka (Peter Boyle.) The thieves' loot was being held for them by a mysterious someone named Vincent Palmer.
Harry's promptly riddled with bullets from unknown assailants, but Dick survives the attack and seeks out Barry. Along the way he encounters manic pixie madwoman Kitty Kopitsky (Sally Kellerman), drugged out of her mind and given to random, sudden bouts of armed robbery.
Escaping Kitty, Dick finds Barry and his loyal loving wife Mary (Louise Lasser). Dragging along the couple's RV, they hit the highway in search of the elusive Vincent Palmer......and pursued by an ominous black van that comes accompanied by its own horror movie music whenever it appears.
And to Dick's further exasperation, the lunatic Kitty resurfaces to join this already bizarre band in hunting down the boodle.
"Slither" mostly functions as a showcase for James Caan, who spends the entire film reacting to the parade of oddballs he's forced to content with. Every single individual he comes across is either openly hostile, goofy, eccentric ,suspicious and/or plain dangerous.......with all of them so self-absorbed that they're unaware of how hostile ,goofy, eccentric, suspicious and dangerous they are.
At any moment, the movie threatens to erupt into an all-out screwball comedy. . But don't hold your breath waiting for the punchlines. Or any deliberately funny dialogue
By the time "Slither" decides to come to a stop (and I do mean "stop", since there's no real conclusion to any of it), you may stare in wonderment.......wondering what it all meant and why in hell you spent any time staying with it.
To that I can only reply......welcome to the cinema of the 1970's, where lots of little movies could revel in their defiant oddness and never identify their genres, their purpose, their storylines......or how they ever got made in the first place.
And that's why I'm still giving 'Slither' a warm hug and 3 stars (***). Caan, Kellerman, Boyle and Lasser brilliantly underplay this one-of-a-kind material that you'll never see anywhere in today's films,...(except maybe in the overly calculated work of the Coen brothers and Wes Anderson)
Don't expect much.....this movie's not designed to bowl you over.......it just spins a long semi-funny yarn with no clear ending.....but might amuse and entertain you all the same.
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