Customer Reviews

O.C. and Stiggs

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

All I want to say is that I can barely believe that no one has
commented on the atrocious transfer on the DVD. It looks like
a bad video on a TV screen glimpsed through a dirty window. It
is not even "barely watchable" - it is utterly unwatchable.

This may not be one of Altman's best, but surely it deserves
better treatment than this, if only for those of us who want
to be able to view this auteur's complete body of work. Whoever
produced this DVD ought to be ashamed of themselves.

I have bought both the US and UK disks in the hope that one
of them might be better than the other. No such luck - they
are both the same crappy junk. Money down the drain.

We've been had. And the thought of somebody actually making
money off selling this inferior product is distressing.

O.C. and Stiggs is a pure gem. The other reviews give you background, but what needs to be emphasized is that this film is filled with Robert Altman's special layered dialogue. O.C. and Stiggs can be watched a dozen times and still the viewer will notice some little tidbit of cleverness that wasn't obvious the first time. Do yourself a favor and buy this film so you can watch it again whenever the mood strikes you.

It's a little shocking to see that studios are still releasing non-anamorphic transfers of widescreen movies this late in the game. But I suppose with this movie, it was non-anamorphic or nothing at all, since this doesn't seem like a DVD that's likely to sell millions of copies. I assume that the transfer comes from an earlier laserdisc version or something.

At any rate, it's nice to be able to see Altman's full widescreen images, even in a poor transfer, but the truth is that this is probably his worst movie. He takes the unredeemable sociopathic dirtbags from the original National Lampoon stories and tries to transform them into the suburban 80s version of Hawkeye and Trapper John. The original O.C. & Stiggs didn't care whether Schwab had cancelled someone's insurance unfairly; they just hated him because he had a funny name.

The transformation of O.C. & Stiggs into "heroes" severely waters-down the original stories, whereas the weakness of the original material gives Altman virtually nothing to work with. We're left with a sorry mish-mash of aborted social commentary and truly awful attempts at "zany" humor (e.g. "boing" sound effects whenever someone gets stuck by a cactus, or the musical spoof of the "Pink Panther Theme" when the boys are sneaking into Schwab's back yard).

This gets one extra star because even the worst of Altman's work is worth a look to fans, but this is truly one of the most misbegotten movies that director ever made.

I jumped on the bandwagon late for this one with my first viewing being on late night TV sometime during an extended stint of unemployement in 2001. One line describing the film on digital cable had me immediately hooked: "2 Teenagers commit anarchy in Arizona". I gently nursed a half empty bottle of bourbon while enjoying this screen gem, then taped it right over the '89 NBA finals game between the Lakers and the Pistons without looking back.

Maybe the context of my viewing pleasure created my love for this SEEMINGLY god awful movie, maybe it was the quirky directing by Altman and the meaningless direction of the script. Some say this movie has no order, but that is exactly the premise of the "original" O.C. and Stiggs, from National Lampoon, which I have read.

Being a lush I was able to identify with Mrs. Schwab especially, her antics with her hidden alcohol behind the Senior Schwab's back created several humorous situations. Paul Dooley's dialogue as Randall Schwab Sr. is precisely delivered, and he created a movie character I will never forget. The 2 faceless actors that played the title characters could have been anyone; their careers didn't amount to anything. But their casual attitudes while wreaking havoc on God fearing Republicans embodied the original story perfectly and created an ambience that can only be relived on late night T.V.

Dennis Hopper's role is extremely cliche, humorous due to his Apocalypse Now role that it obviously parallels. His insanity permeates the atmosphere and creates more fuel for the anarchist fire.

Like it or not, although convoluted, this movie is true art. Hardcore Altman fans might not appreciate it because it is such a far throw from his other ventures, but it could only be done by him. If it EVER comes out on DVD (I have already petitioned for it in writing) I am buying 5 copies and giving it to everyone I know for Christmas.

Being fairly uncool and self involved in the early 80s, I hadn't read any of the National Lampoon magazines at the time, so I was completely unaware of the antics (or existence) of Oliver Cromwell 'O.C.' Ogilvie and Mark Stiggs, or the fact that a movie, titled O.C. and Stiggs, based off this material, had been released in 1987. After reading some helpful reviews of the film, I searched the internet to see if I could locate any of the original materials, and sure enough, the National Lampoon website has a detailed listing of all the stories, which I'd recommend checking out. Based off of stories written by Tod Carroll and Ted Mann (both writers for National Lampoon), and directed by Robert Altman (MASH, Nashville, Popeye), the film features Daniel Jenkins (Glory) and Neill Barry (Amityville 3-D) as the title characters, Oliver Cromwell 'O.C.' Ogilvie and Mark Stiggs, respectively. Also appearing is a lengthy list of notables including Paul Dooley (Strange Brew), Jane Curtin ("3rd Rock from the Sun"), Martin Mull (My Bodyguard), Dennis Hopper (My Science Project), Ray Walston (Fast Times at Ridgemont High), Louis Nye (Harper Valley P.T.A.), Melvin Van Peebles (Jaws: The Revenge), Cynthia Nixon (Amadeus), Jon Cryer (Pretty in Pink), and Tina Louise, probably best known as Ginger, the movie star, from mid 60s television series "Gilligan's Island".

The film, set primarily in Scottsdale, Arizona, features two teenage miscreants named O.C. and Stiggs who have an affinity for lobster, floozies, and pranks (not necessarily in that order). The story, such that as it is, highlights their subversive activities against superficialities inherent within the realm of suburbia, their focus centering on a well to do family named the Scwabs, particularly the patriarch of the family named Randall Schwab (Dooley), their mortal enemy, who owns an insurance business, has contempt for all races but his own, and is just a real a-hole of the highest order. The movie relates activities taking place over one summer including the boys making ridiculously lengthy long distance phone calls to Africa (on Schwab's dime, of course), crashing Schwab's daughter's wedding to an Asian man named Tang, a pilgrimage to Mexico tubing down the Rio Grande (on tubes stolen from the tires of Schwab's cars) to see their performing idol King Sunny Ade, hijacking a local theater production, hosting a bogus charity event (complete with street people) at Schwab's `incredibly stucco sterile monstrosity' of a house while he's away, and so on...along the way we meet all kinds of unique individuals like Wino Bob (Van Peebles), who happens to reside in a bush and buys the boys alcohol, Sponson (Hopper), a shell shocked Vietnam Vet who maintains a heavily fortified outpost just outside the city, Grandpa 'Gramps' Ogilvie, a former police detective who spends his days relating the more gruesome aspects of his career at the most inopportune times when he's not eating eggs, huevos rancheros style, along with Schwab's family including his perpetually drunk wife Elinore (Curtin), and his spineless, idiot son Randall Jr. (Cryer)...all of which culminates into a 4th of July spectacular the likes of which few have ever seen...

If your familiar with Robert Altman's films, then you understand the story isn't so much the heart of the movie, but rather the characters, or, at least this seems to be the case in the small number of his films I've seen, the most memorable being MASH (1970). When it works, it works beautifully, but when it doesn't, it fails spectacularly, as is the case here...I think the main problem, besides Altman being the just the wrong choice for director for this type of material, is the fact it seemed like there were three distinctly different conceptualizations working in terms of what was expected from this movie, which, incidentally, wasn't released until a full three years after it was actually finished (apparently the studio disliked it so much they decided not to release it right away). I think the studio was looking for a run of the mill teenage comedy, which were prevalent at the time, the writers obviously would have wanted something much closer to the intent of their original work, and Altman, who despised the teenage comedy genre, took it upon himself to present a satire of the very genre he was hired to emulate. Subsequently, the writers, the studio, and the director seemed not to like the finished product very much (along with audiences and critics), and the movie ended up bombing abysmally. After watching the film, I'd agree with many that the movie is a spectacular failure, but an entertaining one when viewed in the right perspective, one involving a good amount of alcohol. Many of the characters and events within the original material seem to appear in some form or other (the script seems to borrow liberally from one, particular tale rather than the entirety), but the very offbeat, subversive, and darkly funny spirit appears not to have transferred over very well from the original material, in my opinion. It's hard to describe unless you've actually had a chance to read the original stories, which I'd recommend, but the main characters of O.C. and Stiggs just came off as, well, mean spirited, smarmy a-holes who were almost as bad as those they were against. One significant change was the inclusion on King Sunny Ade and His African Beats...apparently, the script had originally called for Clifton Chenier, but he was unavailable due to previous engagements, and Altman was partial to the stylings of King Sunny Ade, so there you go. I did like the supporting, oddball characters, especially the ones played by Ray Walston, Martin Mull, Louis Nye, and I think my favorite scene involved the boys, while in Mexico with their brain dead friend Barney, running into the drama teacher and their guidance councilor, the pair, both male, apparently involved in a discrete, south of the border getaway. All in all this is a very loose, unfocused, and seemingly poor adaptation that has its moments, but anyone looking for the a true, onscreen representation of that which appeared within the pages of National Lampoon will most likely be disappoint, perhaps even angry.

The widescreen (2.35:1), non-anamorphic picture comes through well, as does the Dolby Digital 2.0 audio. There is one interesting special feature included in a featurette titled `Altman on O.C. and Stiggs' (7:59) where the director offers explanations, but certainly no apologies. Also included are previews for the films Christmas with the Kranks (2004), National Lampoon Presents Dorm Daze (2003), National Lampoon's Going the Distance (2004), and New Best Friend (2002).

Cookieman108

I can't say anything about the video transfer to this DVD, but the film itself is incredibly funny and not for the faint of heart. I saw it screened for $1 on Weird Wednesday at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, TX, which is a weekly screening of undervalued and barely understandable films, and it still stands out in my mind to this day as one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Completely worth watching all the way through at least once!

One of the more underappreciated cult films of the past couple decades, "O.C. & Stiggs" is an adaptation of a series of National Lampoon stories centered around two high school kids and their attempts to make life hell for their insurance salesman neighbor, Randall Schwab.

I first saw this flick shortly after it was released in the mid-80s and I've probably watched it 100 times since. The lengths that Oliver Cromwell Ogilvie ("'O.C.' to my friends, of which I have one - Stiggs") and Mark Stiggs go to make life miserable for Randall Schwab and his family make this film absolutely hilarious. From purchasing the loudest, most obnoxious car possible ("The Jilamonster") to distributing Schwab Insurance t-shirts to the local derelict population to ultimately kidnapping Schwab with the help of psycho Viet Nam vet "Sponson" (played by Dennis Hopper!), the hijinx never seem to cease. And we are all the better for it.

And then there is the great King Sunny Ade. His music provides the great soundtrack and features such classics as "Penkele" and "Moti Mo".

Appearances by the aforementioned Hopper, Melvin Van Peeples, Tina Louise, Martin Mull, John Cryer and a cameo by Bob Ueker merely punctuate the excellence of this Robert Altman-directed, twisted comedy.

It took seemingly forever for O.C. and Stiggs to hit DVD and the wait was well worth it.

An "utterly monstrous, mind-roasting" film.

Nashville, Come back to the five and dime, The Player, MASH How could the man behind those be behind this?

A vapid, obnoxious, exploitative teen movie without any of the charms of the genre.

Poorly transferred too. I watched it through to the end in disbelief and wasted 90 odd minutes of my life.

Avoid like the plague!!!

I love this movie!
It is hilarious. It's completely insane and that's why I love it!
The entire movie is lunatic! From start to finish.
O.C. and Stiggs are two high school kids in the Phoenix, AZ area. they do some lunatic stuff with some lunatic characters through out this film. The two young guys playing O.C. and Stiggs aren't anyone you'll recognize but the rest of the cast is. For the most part.
Jane Curtain plays an alcoholic mother, John Cryer ("Two and A Half Men") plays a young dorky teenager, Paul Dooley plays an insurance company owner named "Schwab" who O.C. and Stiggs are constantly trying to harass, Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City) plays a yound teenaged girl, Ray Walston (My Favorite Martian) plays O.C.'s grandfather, a retired cop that only knows stories about his cop days, Tina Louise (Gilligan's Island's Ginger) plays O.C. and Stiggs buddy's mother, Louis Nye (Steve Allen's troupe) plays a gay teacher and Dennis Hopper plays a Vietnam vet who has gone over the edge. You'll also get to see and hear "King Sunny Ade and His African Beats" playing "Juju" music. It's outstanding!
It's great fun directed by Robert Altman (M.A.S.H.).
Rent it or buy it. If you like lunacy, and I do, you'll love this film!

Mostly unknown Altman that is a whole lot of fun, featuring a great Dennis Hopper working off of his Apocalypse Now character.