MovieChat Forums > Taking Off (1971) Discussion > A still hidden Gem seeing the light of d...

A still hidden Gem seeing the light of day

posted 17 years ago by UniFilmCritic
4 replies | jump to latest

The only time I ever saw Taking Off was on the famous Z Channel in Santa Monica in the late 70's or early 80's. To me, it seems to be a little bi polar, with some scenes and themes like the now 'famous' Broadway Auditions having an indi kind of cool and real feel, while others, like following the parents exploits had more of a soundstage/sit com plastic stiffness. By the time I saw it, 'Nest' had already made Foreman a star Director and it's interesting that his first American picture, 'Taking Off,' has never had US home video distribution. It's got 'cult film,' written all over it and would seem to be a solid small entry into the current DVD market. Since I've read here that Sundance Channel has shown it, we can only hope that wider distribution isn't too far away.

[–] dreamonforever1 17 years ago

i saw it on the sundance channel. had never heard of it before. and, i was surprised, because of the director (the same one who directed "one flew over the cuckoo's nest" 4 years later, "hair," "ragtime," "amadeus," "valmont" and "the people vs larry flynt"!).
i'd say it's a must-see, with the way he handles the subject matter(s) it touches on. somebody who reviewed it here mentioned that it should be put into a time-capsule. definitely, a great look at how people of one demographic were effected by the cultural changes of the late 1960s.
my favourite scenes are the audition sequences (pinpoint editing, too) and the segment of the seminar for "parents of fugitive children" where they are being educated in how to understand their child by learning how to smoke marijuana.
the film has several different moods (some scenes even have diff. moods), and that's one of its strongpoints, i think.

gregory 050807

[–] ena_simons 14 years ago

It's really too bad how hard to find this movie is... I've seen it ages ago and loved it since the first viewing. It's unfortunate that a great movie like this one is almost impossible to find.
Talk about underrated!

Too weird to live, to rare to die!

[–] Garethjj 12 years ago

Just caught some of this on TNT. It's perfect! Hilarious!!! The best "french-farce" type comedy out of America I've seen. Subtle in some ways. But in others, in your face. Laughed continuously!!! Get it!

[–] Squeeth2 11 years ago

I used to gatecrash the film studies department on monday afternoons, in the dark days of the early 1980s and this was one of the films I watched before they barred me. Thirty years later and it's better than ever.

Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.