CHEECH AND CHONG'S UP IN SMOKE (1978) (Blu-ray Review)

CHEECH AND CHONG'S UP IN SMOKE (1978) 

2-Disc Dual Format 40th Anniversary Edition 

Label: Paramount Pictures
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 85 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA Surround 5.1, English Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreem
Director: Lou Adler
Cast: Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Strother Martin, Tom Skerrit, Edia Adams, Stacy Keach 

Up In Smoke (1978) was the movie introduction to the characters of Cheech and Chong who already had a series of very successful comedy albums, the film opening with an introduction to our two main guys, with Chong being dressed down by his affluent father (Strother Martin, The Brotherhood of Satan) threatening to send his slacker son into military while the bearded stoner blends a tasty smoothie. He drives off in his Volkswagen Beetle convertible with a Rolls Royce grill literally tied to the front end, which breaks down a short time later on the side of the road, which is where he meets his Chicano soul-mate Cheech while hitchhiking, a Mexican American dude cruising the streets of L.A. looking for ladies in his low rider, the two strike up a fast-friendship over an enormous joint before being jailed when cops find them run aground on a street median amidst an a cloud of pot smoke. This is the beginnings of what would become known as the stoner-comedy, before this there was no such thing, and every stoner-comedy that came afterward owes a hug debt of gratitude to these joint-passing characters who really tapped into the zeitgeist of drug culture in the 70's with thi sone.

The loose narrative plays out as both a series of comedy of error vignettes and a weed-fueled road trip, all of which leads to a  a local battle of the bands at the Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, culminating in the performance of the "Earache My Eye", with Cheech parading around the stage in a pink tutu. Along the way we meet Pedro's cousin Strawberry (Tim Skerritt, Poltergeist III), a 'Nam vet with a huge birthmark on his neck and face, a notable Ajax snorting weirdo played by June Fairchild (Thunderbolt and Lightfoot) and of course Sgt. Stedenko (Stacy Keach, Road Games) the over-zealous narco-cop who leads an inept squad of zero-tolerance goons who give chase to stoner-duo who have unwittingly smuggled a van made of "fiberweed", a stoner-age polymer of cannabis, into the country after being deported to Tijuana. 

The movie is a product of it's time but I think stoner-comedies of the 70's have a certain timeless nostalgia, at least they do for me> Growing up in the 80's this film was sort of a right of passage, they same way Iron Maiden's 'Number of the Beast' LP was, your coolness was ranked by if you had seen one and/or heard the other, and dammit, I wanted be cool! The parade of anti-establishment stoner fun and bathroom humor still plays well, with two affable slackers that are totally high just trying to make their way, to where I don't really know, but I had fun on the way their.

Audio/Video: Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke (1978) arrives on Blu-ray from Paramount Pictures frame in 2.35:1 widescreen, the 1080p HD image looks pretty damn great, the colors and textures are significantly richer than on the previous special edition DVD. While this isn't advertised as a new 4K the image is most certainly a new HD scan, it's surprisingly vibrant and detailed. The opening scenes inside Cheech's plush-interior low rider are nicely detailed, the textures really come through in the close-ups, with the copious amount of weed smoke being nicely resolved. 

Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA Surround 5.1 track, the track is clear and resonant without being overly active in the surrounds, dialogue is clean and clear. The music selections sound great, from from War's "Lowrider" and Danny Kortchmar's "Lost Due to Incompetence", to live performances from punkers The Dils and the Berlin Bras "So Taco" during the battle of the bands, to original tunes from Cheech and Chong like the toked-up title track and the acid-rocker classic "Earache My Eye", it's all good, optional English Subtitles are provided. 

Onto the extras we a vintage audio Commentary from Cheech Marin and Director Lou Adler, plus a new 15-min retrospective doc 'How Pedro Met the Man: Up In Smoke at 40' with Director Lou Adler and stars Cheech Marin whom discuss how they came together, the early days of their stoner-comedy routine, making the film, and their own initial forays into smoking dope, in addition to the legacy of the film.

There's also a selection of deleted scenes with optional commentary from Marin and Adler, these include extended and deleted bits, such as Chong in old age make-up playing a character named "Leslie" and some bit with Harry Dean Stanton as a jailer, and more of June Fairchild as The Ajax Lady! Also carried over is the vintage making of retrospective from the previous DVD with the same trio of guys (only younger) covering much of the same stuff. There's a cut and paste animated music video for "Earache My Eye" and a montage of all the times they same "man" in the movie, plus a selection of radio spots and a trailer for the film.

The two-disc set comes housed in an eco-case with a one-sided sleeve of artwork featuring a new design. I do wish they had carried over the original one sheet movie poster as a reversible option, that would have been real cool man. This release also includes a slipcover (o-card) with the same artwork. This release is a dual-format combo that includes a DVD with the same film and extras, plus a digital copy of the film.  

Special Features: 
- Audio Commentary By Cheech Marin and Director Lou Adler
- How Pedro Met the Man: Up In Smoke at 40 (15 min) HD
- Roach Clips With Optional Commentary from Director Lou Adler and Cieech Marin  (11 min) HD
- Lighting It Up: A Look Back at Up In Smoke (11 min) 
- “Earache My Eye” Featuring Alice Bowie: Animated Music Video (6 min) 
- Cheech and Chong’s “The Man Song” (3 min) 
- Vintage Radio Spots: Up In Smoke #1 Featuring Horrendo Revolver (2 min), Up In Smoke #2 Featuring Saydi Saydat )1 min)
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min)

Cheech and Chong's Up In Smoke (1978) is a product of it's time but so am I, but regardless I think if you love irreverent comedies of any era this is gonna be a blast, particularly of you like stoner-comedies. The Blu-ray from Paramount looks remarkably crisp in HD and the vintage and new extras are sure to please fans. This release is the special Deluxe Collector’s Edition pairing the Blu-ray with the original soundtrack on CD and Vinyl LP in deluxe packaging from Rhino, which features a newly recorded “2018 version” of the title song “Up In Smoke”, so if you're a vinyl or soundtrack collector you might wanna snatch that up - limited to 5000 copies. 

CHEECH AND CHONG'S NEXT MOVIE (1980) (Blu-ray Review)

CHEECH AND CHONG'S NEXT MOVIE (1980)

Label: Shout! Factory/Shout Select 
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 95 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles 
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1) 
Director: Tommy Chong
Cast: Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Cassandra Peterson, Edie McClurg, Phil Hartman, John Paragon, Paul Reubens 

The Cheech and Chong movies were my introduction to the joys of r-rated stoner comedy and irreverent humor, I clearly remember marathoning the first three films on VHS when I was just a kid, it was on a sleepover at the Woodard's house, friends of the family, whose kids were around my age even if we were not close. It was a memorable night, one that culminated with one of my first deep adolescent make-out session, a weird and wonderful night with occasional breaks in the fumbling make-out session as the pretty young lady would make me cookies in her Easy Bake oven, we were that young! Needless to stay that night has stuck with me for decades, for various reasons, but I walked away from it with a love for the movies of Cheech and Chong and a series of awkward post make-out middle school encounters with the young lady, it turned out that it would be a one-night only romance, and apparently one that weirded us both out, as we spoke very little for the next seven years of school, right up till our graduation, and sadly she died not long after that in a car accident.

Anyway, 'nuff about my doomed adolescent romance, the sequel to Up In Smoke (1978) opens with our stoner-duo, low-rider dude Cheech and and his more laid back stoner friend Chong, illegally siphoning gas for their "borrowed" car, getting high while debating the merits of their current employment situations before blowing themselves up in a ball of fire, something having to do with gas fumes and lighting a joint I guess. From there the movie plays out as a series of humorous vignettes/sketches about the lovable losers as they set about creating their own brand of acid-rock and going to the unemployment office for a government handouts, a fun scene that culminates with Chong doing the nasty with a foxy girlfriend Donna (Evelyn Guerrero, The Toolbox Murders) on the floor of her office and an encounter with the "Man of 10,000 Sound Effects" Michael Winslow (from the Police Academy films), in his first on-screen role if my memory serves. 

The movie has very little plot other than the L.A. weed-heads looking to score weed and poontang, the pair are sort of separated for a large portion of the movie as Cheech kicks Chong out of their rundown house so he can score with Donna, sending Chong to pick-up his far out cousin Red (Marin in a dual role) while Cheech stays at home cleaning-up, ironing clothes, drinking tequila and eventually falling asleep, having a series of surreal doped-up dreams, including some strange Aztec necrophilia! Meanwhile Chong and yahoo Red embark on a series of wild L.A. adventures, beginning with Red being kicked-out of his hotel, with the obnoxious desk clerk (Paul Reubens, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure) holding his belongings for ransom until Red can pay for his room. When Chong learns that one of his duffel bags contains 20 pounds of primo homegrown weed the two plot to get it back, and once they do they embark on another series of scattershot L.A. adventures, heading to a brothel before being kicked out, hanging with one of the whores named Candy (Betty Kennedy) at a music shop where they jam out, then hooking up with a hip richie-rich woman named Gloria (Cheech's wife Rikki Marin, Nice Dreams), who takes the trio home to her parents sprawling mansion. Gloria's mother is played by the always shrill and funny Edie McClurg (Ferris Bueller's Day Off), and her father (Sy Kramer) just happens to be one of Candy's best clients at the whorehouse, with a penchant for tying her up, the horrifying encounter making him squirm in his seat over dinner.

Eventually all five end up in the families Rolls Royce smoking and giant-sized joint and headed for a comedy club where they once again encounter an angry Pee-wee Herman, ruining his set by taking it over, and causing him to be thrown out by a huge female bouncer (Faith Minton, The Wanderers). The episodic mess of a film ends with Red and Chong on the run from the law in a Ferrari, headed to his fabled field of week, ending with an alien abduction, yup, you heard me right, it goes there, but it doesn't end there. The aliens are super cool and give the pair a bag of "space coke", which Chong takes back to Cheech, literally sending the pair through the roof. 

The movie starts off strong, like the predecessor the narrative is loose, Cheech and Chong are hilarious, but the introduction of Red is when it begins to lose some steam in my opinion, he's just not that interesting of a character to watch, it feels padded, and I would have rather has our leads together on this adventure, it a bad idea and the movie suffers for it. I still like it but it's a step down from Up In Smoke, but still funny, just more flawed and padded. 

Audio/Video: The 70's stoner comedy classic arrives on Blu-ray from Shout! Factory as part of their Shout Select line, I don't think this is a new transfer from Shout!, but probably an HD master straight from Universal. The image is fairly crisp and pleasing, while there's not a lot of depth the grain is nicely managed and there's some decent fine detail. The English DTS-HD MA 2.0 audio exports the stoner jams, dialogue and Mark Davis (The Night Before) score nicely, also featuring songs great tunes from The Pretenders, Jimmy Reed, The Champs and Ray Charles among others, it has a great soundtrack, plus some Cheech and Chong originals like "Mexican American" and "Beaner". Optional English subtitles are included. 

For those curious, this version does not contain any of the legendary TV version footage, known as the "diamond" cut, containing additional scenes not included on the theatrical release, which if memory serves included an animated intro and scenes of them boarding the alien ship at the end. However, this is the original theatrical release with the original music score and dialogue intact, which had been altered on some previous home video releases. While I know fans were clamoring for the TV edit of this to be included I do commend Shout for rectifying the altered dialogue and music and staying true to the original theatrical version. 

Onto the extras we have the theatrical trailer, five minutes of radio spots and a brand new 19-min interview with Cheech Marin who speaks about the making of the movie, the influence of the L.A. characters they observed on the streets, the difference between making comedy albums and the movies, working with the Groundlings crew, how in real life that he and Chong were both very disciplined, health conscious and reserved. It's a good listen, would have loved a commentary or some input from writer/director/actor Tommy Chong, but what we do get is good. The release comes housed in a standard blue keepcase, with a sleeve of reversible artwork, both significant improvements over the awful 2003 DVD artwork from Universal.   

Special Features: 
- NEW Interview With Cheech Marin (19 min) HD 
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min) 
- Radio Spots (5 min) 


The movie is totally disjointed, directed by Tommy Chong himself, the movie doesn't have a lot of visual flair or style, but the comedy is strong and it always makes me laugh, a lot. Marin and Chong were pioneers of irreverent stoner comedy, both on LP and on film, and while the movie narrative is disjointed as Hell it still works for me on the whole, this is a fun, crude stoner jam. 3/5