Gas-s-s-s! (1971, Director: Roger Corman): The alternate title, “It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It” should give you a hint of what Corman and writer George Armitage (later to direct better stuff that he didn’t write, like Grosse Point Blank and Miami Blues) were trying to achieve. An extremely silly film which tries to make its political points with a big dumb sledgehammer, Gas-s-s-s! (sometimes called just Gas! and sometimes Gas-s-s-s without the exclamation point) is a mess on many levels, but ends up being somewhat enjoyable in spite of, or perhaps because of its utter zaniness.
An explosion at an American chemical weapons plant releases a gas that kills everyone over 25, leaving the young to rebuild the society. We follow a pair of hippies, Coel and Cilla, as they escape the crushing conservatism of Dallas and head west to New Mexico. Along the way, they meet up with two other couples (played by Ben Vereen, Cindy Williams, Bud Cort and Tally Coppola, whom you might know better as Talia Shire, or for you young ones, Jason Schwartzman’s mom). The six of them keep heading west seeking a place to settle. They run into some crazy characters along the way, including a fascist football team with its own marching band and cheerleaders, and a golf course taken over by a group of capitalist bikers. The “satire” is extremely broad and most of the time I felt like I was watching an episode of The Monkees. Except for the crazy dune buggy and golf cart chases, when it was more like The Banana Splits. And like those shows, I felt this was another crass attempt to cash in on the hippie craze. Except that by 1971, it was mostly played out.
The whole silly mess ends with a lightning bolt from God (who sounds like a Borscht-belt comedian), ending a battle between the football gang and the peaceful hippies who have taken over an Indian pueblo. But instead of striking them all dead (which would have been welcome by this point), all the characters who have died or disappeared throughout the film emerge from the explosion and the film ends in another psychedelic freakout party. Um, sure.
Part of the 8-film Roger Corman Collection, which can be had for about $4 per film. About right for this one, I think.
Buy The Roger Corman Collection from Amazon.ca
Buy The Roger Corman Collection from Amazon.com
(5/10)
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