No film in the 1960's was more misbegotten or out of touch than 1968's Skidoo. The film was Otto Preminger's attempt to show that big budget mainstream Hollywood films could still reach the youth audience, which was increasingly turning its back on them. It was also a way for Otto to connect with his college aged son, who had been kept a secret from him until right before that time.
Otto ended up proving the opposite of what he intended- Skidoo was an out of touch mess. He stocked the film with actors who were better suited for a retirement home than a hip movie for the youth of the day. Did he possibly believe that a film starring the likes of Jackie Gleason, Carol Channing, Burgess Meredith, Groucho Marx and Frank Gorshin would pull in the young people?
The picture that best illustrates this movie's cluelessness is from the scene where Carol Channing performs a strip tease for Frankie Avalon in order to find out where her husband had run off. Viewers could be forgiven for believing they had fallen asleep and had somehow started having a bizarre dream. It is difficult to imagine who Otto thought this scene would appeal to. It's one of the tackiest and clueless scenes from a film that was extremely tacky and clueless.
