Up in Smoke

Two stoners unknowingly smuggle a van -- made entirely of marijuana -- from Mexico to Los Angeles, with incompetent Sgt. Stedenko on their trail.

Although Cheech and Chong made several films together, they will probably always be best remembered for this one, their first. There are so many moments that have since become a part of pop culture. The use of War's "Low Rider", the smoking of the Labrador... when watching it for the first time you might feel like you have seen it before.

Those into drug culture may appreciate the film more, but being a stoner is certainly not required to laugh at the antics of these two luckless losers.

First of the Cheech and Chong movies is probably the best overall, with the duo involved in a plot to drive a van constructed entirely of pot across the Mexican border into the US and featuring Cheech singing "Earache my Eye". Lots of laughs (especially for the "inspired" viewers), but definitely not for everyone. The whole movie revolves around drug use, so not a movie for young children, obviously. However, if you don't mind this, you'll probably laugh your you-know-what off.

Of all the Cheech & Chong movies made, I think this one, their first, was their best. There's no real story line you have to follow. The point of this movie was to make you laugh. No messages or extra drama. It's the kind of movie to just sit back and laugh at. I do realize that this movie is definitely not for everyone. Some parents might not want to let their children see it and some people may not want to watch it themselves. The movie features a lot of drugs and some drug use (In case you're not familiar with Cheech & Chong movies). However, if you're not offended by that, and you've never seen this movie before, you should check it out for a good laugh!

The counterculture was long dead and ripe for retrospective satire. Into the opportunity stepped two pro comics who after trying other things, built these characters. When comics work up a world for years and then brings it to a movie, it bodes well. Mike Myers would follow almost precisely this formula later with "Wayne's World."

The jokes are still pretty funny, many of them. Not the stuff with the flumoxxed cops or the folks who inadvertently get stoned (and get the munchies). But the bits of comic timing associated with the guys as if they were on stage.

Two bits to watch out for. One is two incidental women. The first has a scene only a minute long. A girl comes in, mistakes scouring powder for coke, snuffs it up and has the most comic facial expressions I have even seen on film. This is one of those priceless moments in film. I hope IMDb at some point figures out some means to vote on particular scenes. This girl would in life become an addict and a bag lady.

The second girl has a bigger role: Zane Buzby is one of the hippie stoner cheesecake babes that join the trip. She's got a less flashy role, but in ad libs created most of the situations in which she appears. She would go on to become one of TeeVee's most attuned comedy directors.

So you can see this as two stage personalities that are good, with these two women, who are also as good, surrounded by some disposable situations and jokes.

But there is another something interesting. The end of this comic show is a comic show within, the guys as a rock band in possibly the best Cheech and Chong sequence of all their movies. Everything from about 20 minutes into the film to this is a journey to this show, I suspect that "The Muppet Movie" of the following year was influenced by this.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

This 1979 Paramount release introduced the controversial radio comedians Richard "Cheech" Marin and Thomas Chong to the screen for the first of six major film teamings and cameos together in several other films. This first teaming is the best teaming. The duo portray stoners who travel together on a road trip down to Tijuana on a mission to pick up a fresh new drug supply. However, they're being pursued by frantic cops all the way. A cult spoof classic and a film that began a new kind of wacky film comedy.