Up in Smoke is a comedy film released in 1978. The stars include Cheech Marin as Pedro De Pacas, Tommy Chong as Anthony ‘Man’ Stoner, Tom Skerritt as Strawberry, and Stacy Keach as Sgt. Stedenko. It is produced by Lou Adler (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) and Lou Lombardo (The Black Bird). The director is Lou Adler.
The story follows two aimless hippies who meet when one of them, Pedro, picks up the other, Man. Man and Pedro start to smoke a huge joint of marijuana and end up parked on the median. The cops find and arrest them, but the two hippies are released on a technicality. The next day they go on the hunt for some more pot and arrive at Pedro’s cousin Strawberry’s house. Strawberry leaves Man there while he and Pedro go to “some people” to get some. Along the way, Pedro spots some cops outside the house as Strawberry goes into one of his Vietnam episodes and leaps off the cycle, leaving Pedro alone in the passenger car to steer. He crashes into a phone booth where he calls Man to warn him about the cops, but Man can’t hear him so he goes outside. Finally, Pedro returns with the rest of his band all dressed as movers and get Man out of there. After buying some cheap marijuana, Man and Pedro are arrested and deported to Mexico. Pedro arranges a ride back to the U.S. with his upholstery-smuggling uncle, but they arrive at the wrong address and, unknowingly, take a van made entirely of hardened marijuana back to the border. Meanwhile, Sergeant Stedenko and his team are hot on the trails of the hippies to stop the pot from entering the states. The team locates the hippies just after they cross the border but it loses them due to its own stupidity. Pedro and Man pick up two women who convince them to enter a Battle of the Bands where the winner gets a record contract. Stedenko tracks the hippies to the “Rock Fight” as Pedro and his band get ready to play.
One feature of the film that is remarkable is Stacy Keach’s portrayal of the inept Sgt. Stedenko. He is the leader of a four-man team set to make one of the biggest drug busts in U.S. history, $9 billion worth of marijuana which Man and Pedro are smuggling in the form of a van. Stedenko is an egotistical cop looking to become famous for making the bust, but is continually running into obstacles due to his incompetent team. He runs into both Man and Pedro separately in the restroom, not aware that they are the two hippies he’s looking for. Each time, they accidentally urinate on his leg. Also, we see the stupidity of his team when Stedenko orders one of the members, Harry, to shoot out the tires but doesn’t tell him whose to shoot. Harry shoots out the tires on Stedenko’s car, causing the team to lose the marijuana van. The sergeant meant to shoot out the ones on the van, not on his car. He goes on a rant about Harry being a “stupid, stupid man!”
Up in Smoke may have been intended to revive a lifestyle that was on the decline, the life of a hippie. Throughout the movie, we see the side of a hippie that appears only through the eyes of other hippies, the seemingly carefree lifestyle of constantly being stoned. There are many examples of pot being portrayed as something good. One particular scene that comes to mind is when Pedro’s band is playing in the “Rock Fight”. At first, the crowd is hostile towards them and Man is sick to his stomach. But when the marijuana smoke enters the arena from the boys’ van outside, the crowd loosens up and the sick hippie is revived. The people love Pedro’s band as a result of the smoke.
To wrap, Up in Smoke is not much in terms of a plotline but if you like watching unintelligent cops try to catch two equally unintelligent hippies, then you will have the time of your life.