WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

tavm I first read about this movie when I looked at the "Harvey Lampoon" annual worst movie lists in a movie source book and it mentioned Buck Henry's losing in a strip poker game. I later found out it was directed by Milos Forman a few years before winning the Oscar for One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest which increased my curiosity factor. What I found fascinating about this movie was that despite being initially about a teenage girl (Linnea Heacock) running away and her father (Henry) looking for her, it goes on other tangents like to a musical audition that the teen girl goes to which features some good performances like that of an about-to-emerge Carly Simon or another singer named Bobo Bates who would later win an Oscer as Kathy Bates. Or when Henry goes to a café, looks at pictures of other missing teens, finds a picture of one already there and contacts the number of that teen's mother (Audra Lindley) who we find out is a member of the Society for the Parents of Lost Children. That leads to another scene of her, Buck, and their spouses (Paul Benedict and Lynn Carlin, respectively) going to some ball where they take some marijuana from Vincent Schiavelli which leads to that strip poker game. Other notable appearances are those of Georgia Engel, Allen Garfield, and the Ike and Tina Turner Revue at a concert appearance. The movie goes from the quietly dramatic to the absurdly comical in natural progression and doesn't have a clear-cut ending but it's such a nonlinear treat, one doesn't care by then. Unfortunately, since Taking Off has never been on Beta, VHS, or DVD, it wasn't until it just emerged on YouTube that I finally got to see this...

timtimclem I first saw this in 1989. It was old then, but nearly 20 years later its just as fresh and witty. Superb sound editing, great comic set pieces (the how to smoke a joint scene or the black salute), poignant (finding the smokes in the Jeannie's room with "Even the white horses" playing), the music performances (Ode to a Screw) and such acute observation of American Society. Nothing is missed: the comic potential of the fact that there is a "Society for the Parents of Lost Children(SPLC)", the realization that it is the parents who are lost; the lucrative potential of the counter culture and the "establishment's" realization of this (best seen in the hilarious speech by Jeanies boyfriend toward the end). Much of the comedy is drawn from the characters' little crises in their lives and their attempts to solve them, but it is always a warm and affectionate comedy. Forman likes these people, he likes America, he's willing them on, every slightly misguided step of the way.

jt1999 Milos Forman's first American release is part social satire, part farcical look at two morose, middle-class parents (Buck Henry, Lynn Carlin, both outstanding)who begin to enjoy life only after their teenage daughter (sad-eyed LinneaHeacock) runs away. At once funny and touching, Forman and veteran Bunuelcollaborator Jean-Claude Carriere ("Belle du Jour," "Diary of a Chambermaid") concoct a simple story of unexpected depth, a wry comedy that unfoldsgradually, gently lampooning marriage and family life while painting a sensitive portrait of the confused, disenfranchised youth scene of the 1960s. Formanregular Vincent Schiavelli makes his debut here as a bell-bottomed marijuana"expert," who carefully instructs a banquet hall full of clueless parents in the fine art of getting high. A young Kathy Bates and a spirited Carly Simon appearbriefly singing at a theatrical audition, while Georgia Engel and Audra Lindley turn in subtle, nuanced performances several years before their televisiondebuts on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and "Three's Company," respectively. A beautifully observed, underrated gem.

Jon Noel Shelton I remember seeing this on tv years ago. The scene that stands out in my memory is the one where, at a seminar, Paul Benedict (Mr. Bentley from Tv's The Jefferson's) schools a group of middle aged parents on the proper way to smoke marijuana. They do this so that they may better understand their children. A scene that really belongs in a late 60's/early 70's time capsule. It is a halarious classic scene that alone makes the film worth seeing. Hopefully this title will be out on video soon.