OC And Stiggs (1987)
Key Video | Review by Dan Taylor

The literary exploits of Oliver Cromwell Ogilvey and Mark Stiggs – aka OC & Stiggs – are familiar to those who enjoyed National Lampoon during the early 1980s. A couple short pieces by Ted Mann and Tod Carroll laid the groundwork for the October 1982 installment featuring the issue-length masterpiece "The Utterly Monstrous, Mind-Roasting Summer of OC & Stiggs." In an era when gross-out teen comedies rolled into theaters on a weekly basis, the sex, destruction and booze-soaked tale seemed ready-made for the cinema.

Which makes the sight of Robert Altman's directing credit even stranger. At this point in his career, Altman had helmed several highly-regarded slices of American cinema (namely M*A*S*H and NASHVILLE). However, his experimental forays had resulted in flicks like BREWSTER McCLOUD, McCABE & MRS. MILLER, CALIFORNIA SPLIT, BUFFALO BILL & THE INDIANS, and HEALTH. His film version of POPEYE (1980) made some money, but an adaptation of COME BACK TO THE FIVE AND DIME, JIMMY DEAN, JIMMY DEAN received only a regional release. Apparently, the director viewed the film version of O.C. & STIGGS as a shot at a commercial hit while retaining the stamp of uniqueness for which his projects were known.

According to the Altman bio/career-retrospect Jumping Off the Cliff, the director initially expressed no interest in making OC & STIGGS, only to become involved because other major Hollywood directors wanted to helm the project. At times, this lack of interest shows in the final product.

Though the story the flick is based upon ("The Utterly Monstrous, etc.") sets up our two anti-heroes as totally depraved teenagers, almost astounding in their complete lack of morals, conscience, or conviction, the movie takes another direction... frankly, it had to. The audience for a film about two teens who literally destroy the lives of those around them is narrow indeed.

Screenwriters Ted Mann and Donald Cantrell (Tod Carroll didn't participate in the project, and it shows) give the boys a focus for their hatred – Randall Schwab, Sr. (played with bumbling-Schwabness by Paul Dooley). Not just the head of the awful Schwab family and progenitor of Randall the horror child (played by Jon Cryer), we find out that Schwab has cancelled the insurance policy for O.C.'s grandfather (Ray Walston) who must now go into a nursing home... an act which will also force the break-up of the team of O.C. & Stiggs. Obviously, this can't be tolerated without a fight.

The flick opens with O.C. & Stiggs perpetrating another act of destruction upon Schwab, though they complain that he was able to replace the fountain they blew up far too quickly. "That's the trouble with insurance," Stiggs remarks. "Destruction just isn't permanent anymore." Dooley plays Randall Sr. as a hate-filled jerk, replete with put-downs ("If there's two things I can't stand, it's drinkers, and the country of Africa") and racial slurs (he calls his Oriental son-in-law "Egg Fu Yung" and "Moo Goo Gai Pan").

Told in flashback, O.C. (Daniel H. Jenkins ) and Stiggs (Neill Barry) describe the events of, yes, you guessed it, "the utterly monstrous, mind-roasting summer [they] had." Not surprisingly, the events include elements from the NatLamp feature, though Schwab and dentist/crazed American patriot Leland Croft have been melded together and the producers toss in King Sunny Ade and His African Beats (as themselves) for a musical production number that takes the place of OC's Super Honking Blues Mass.

Filled with wild and wooly events, the mind-roasting summer includes: an attempt to make Schwab, Jr. blue and lose a tooth via solenoid and explosives; wrecking Lenore Schwab's wedding; the boys's purchase of a vulgarly inefficient car that combines a terrifyingly loud cosmic field of noise with the ugliness of poverty; a visit with Sponson (Dennis Hopper doing a comic version of his dramatic role in APOCALYPSE NOW, or do I have that reversed?); a trip to Mexico for the gay fiesta; an attempt by Mr. Stiggs to kill fish with his mind; the appearance of the great Wino Bob (Melvin van Peebles); and doubles and triples ("there's no singles here") of brown liquor with Pat Coletti (Martin Mull), the ultimate adult. There's even an appearance by a pre-SEX AND THE CITY Cynthia Nixon for those of you who enjoy those "Before They Were Stars" moments.

Though the flick succeeds on its own merits as a twisted teen comedy, it can't live up to the expectations held by those lucky enough to enjoy the original stories. Had another director – one more willing to follow those influences – helmed the project, OC & STIGGS might have been totally different. As it stands, OC & STIGGS (the movie) are no match for OC & Stiggs (the literary creations).