Howard Zieff's wonderfully absurd directorial debut casts James Caan as a recent parolee pursuing some stolen loot and running into one kook after another. From a script by W.D. Richter, the film is a series of vignettes, one more ridiculous than the last. It's all played at such a high level of insanity, it's impossible to dislike it. Caan is exceptional, befuddled beyond belief by the likes of Sally Kellerman, Peter Boyle, Allen Garfield and Louise Lasser. Each one of them is bizarrely idiosyncratic: Kellerman is hopped up on goof-balls and runs roughshod over Caan with each interaction; Boyle is so positive and upbeat about everything it's easy to forget what a sleaze he's playing; Lasser, as Boyle's insanely supportive wife, is hysterical. One of the great 70s road movies, now residing in the "where-is-it-now?" file. The cinematography is by the great László Kovács. Alex Rocco, Richard B. Shull are in it too. In her 147th film, 74 year-old Virginia Sale plays a very wry bingo caller.
Review of Slither
