The Crazy World of Julius Vrooder

Troubled Vietnam vet Julius Vrooder (Timothy Bottoms) plays pranks on his VA hospital doctor Passki. Passki's girlfriend nurse Zanni (Barbara Hershey) is taken with Vrooder and follows him into the woods. First, she falls into his trap and then joins him in his bunker.

Playboy made movies? I guess that makes sense but they're not using their main assets in this. It's trying to be a character study. It's interesting that this came out a year before One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975). It's nowhere near as compelling. Vrooder is not in enough danger for this to be compelling. In essence, this movie struggles to find stakes. If the cops find him, he wouldn't be in that much trouble. He's perfectly content where he is and in the worst case scenario, he stays there. The romance is cute but it's done after the first fifteen minutes. Passki is a dud and the love triangle has no juice. These are interesting characters but they don't do much. It's nice enough but it's not quite enough.

I first saw this movie in 1976 while serving in the U.S. Navy. I have never forgotten the title or how much I enjoyed it. I literally fell in love with the character "Zanni" played by Barbara Hershey (at that time her screen name was Barbara Seagull). In my eyes, it has always been a great romantic comedy. In the past 20+ years since I have seen it, much has happened in my life which has often brought my thoughts back to that movie including working at a V.A. hospital. I have recommended many times that if people ever have the opportunity to see it, they would not be disappointed.

i just happened to catch this today (09/06) and found it mildly amusing, typical fare for the post Vietnam era..,not to mention it was produced by playboy productions aka Hugh hef. the best part is the conversation with the doc and the word association bit, other than that i knew i recognized Barbara seagull aka Barbara Hershey but couldn't think of her name (boy she was a hottie back then) anyway i digress,, so if your bored and have nothing better to do and remember the 60's and 70's fondly like i do (and had friends who had hair down to their butts both guys and girls and wore American flags as capes) you just might enjoy it rick f

You either loved it or hated it, I loved it. I have angered a number of friends with the car lighter bit. It was quite fun and I have been looking for a copy for years. The idea of having a Viet Nam style hooch on an on ramp to the freeway was wild. The experience of dealing with parents and siblings that didn't have a clue what you had just gone through hit close to home. I came back and went to visit my best friend, he took one look at me and asked "how many babies did you kill?" So the movie takes a sometimes dark look at what the experience was like, gives it a twist of warped humor. And besides, back then Barbara Hershey was real easy to look at!

Too many loose ends in this for me to enjoy, but at bottom - it was just boring. Who's going to believe a well-adjusted doctor is going to get involved with a guy with as many mental challenges as the lead actor? Then, all the contrived scenes such as his radio-cpnotrolled start of the tape machine... just couldn't pass the sniff test