Gas! -Or- It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It. (1970)

Purely Joyful Movie!

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Impossible to say how Roger Corman's attempt at a loose kaleidoscopic comedy-satire in the Richard Lester vein would have turned out had not American International Pictures re-edited it against his wishes. He left the studio after 15 years with them after this.The script is decidedly weak, a common Corman failing, full of potentially intriguing, half-formed ideas that are never realised. Meanwhile the cast of unknowns never get any real chance to build up their characters into anything sympathetic or likable. It's as if the director isn't really interested in them.It's an adequately stylish, and zippy enough production. But like much of Corman's later stuff for AIP, it also has an air of opportunism about it, riding the post-Easy Rider youth-counterculture boom while having only an outsider's empathy with it (Corman was 44 when he made this).Still, if nothing else he does get a chance to say an ironic farewell to Edgar Allan Poe (the author of Corman's earlier celebrated cult film series), who here appears in period dress riding a Harley Davidson with a stuffed raven on his shoulder!

Goofy, satirical, gleefully anarchic Roger Corman film has some good ideas in its "Logan's Run" type tale of a deadly biological weapon eliminating everybody on Earth - or at least in the United States - over the age of 25. The admittedly very thin story sees irreverent character Coel (Bob Corff) make the acquaintance of young scientist Cilla (Elaine Giftos), and the way they meet assorted other characters while on a journey to find some kind of hippie Utopia that they've heard about. Some of the other people they run into are music-obsessed Marissa (Cindy Williams), her boyfriend Carlos (Ben Vereen), Hooper (Bud Cort), and Coralee (Talia Shire).The review in the annual Leonard Maltin paperback guide to movies indicates that this film was "re-edited against Cormans' wishes", which makes one think that a more coherent and well thought out narrative might have been the original plan. The finished film is a wild and crazy smörgåsbord of chaotic scenes, and not enough story to really tie it all together. The actors DO get a chance to create some memorable characters. Corff is very engaging and funny in the lead, and gets strong support from his sexy leading lady Giftos. References are made to other Corman films; for one thing, Edgar Allan Poe (Bruce Karcher), Lenore, and a raven pop up on occasion to pass commentary on the action. Screenwriter George Armitage (who appears on screen as Billy the Kid) takes the opportunity to make some clever and funny jokes and make political statements, but for a while the movie is just a little too loud and loose. It actually gets better as it progresses.Both in terms of the movies that he directed and the SCORES of movies that he's produced, Corman certainly has achieved an amazing cinematic legacy, but even so there are efforts like "Gas!" that may not be well remembered today. It's very much of its time, but it's still entertaining and worth a look for Corman devotees.Six out of 10.

This gloriously gaga dippy hippie early 70's end-of-the-world counterculture cinematic artifact deals with a man-made airborne germ warfare virus which accelerates the aging process, thus killing off everybody who's twenty-five and older. Only young kids are left to inherit the world and maintain some semblance of civilization. Naturally, in the hands of these crazy, carefree, amoral, unsupervised, and totally uninhibited youths all-out anything-goes anarchy, hedonism, and pandemonium soon become widespread: California degenerates into a fascist Nixonian police state, football-inspired brutality reigns supreme in Texas, greasy bikers enforce conservative moral rectitude on the golf links (!), and horse-riding, pistol-packing psycho cowboy bandit car thieves terrorize the dusty back-roads of America.Directed with customary gusto by legendary exploitation movie maestro Roger Corman, adopted from a bold, biting script written by the great, ever-underrated George Armitage (who later wrote and directed the terrific "Miami Blues"), further enhanced by Ron Dexter's garishly excessive, heavy on the bright lurid colors and flashy psychedelic visuals cinematography and a groovy, fuzz-tone and saxophone blastin' lowdown blue-eyed soul rock'n'roll score by Country Joe and the Fish, this breezy, irreverent, playfully mordant black comedy riot satirizes both the establishment and the counterculture alike, biker pictures, brooding Gothic horror films (Edgar Allen Poe appears as a grimly philosophical Greek chorus astride a black chopper with Eleanor as his motorcycle mama!), and apocalyptic sci-fi cinema in general. Robert Corff and Elaine Giftos are quite affable as the increasingly confused leads, while Ben Vereen as an angry black militant, Cindy Williams as a chirpy, pregnant ditz, Talia Shire as a daffy, rock music-loving flower child, Bud Cort as a smarmy longhair, and Armitage as the deranged Billy the Kid contribute deliciously grotesque supporting performances. A wonderfully kooky and cockeyed one-of-a-kind delight.

This is just one of many hippie oriented films that came out from the mid-1960's until the early 70's and while it's clearly not one of the better efforts in this genre it's still an interesting attempt made by a director whom I have always found fascinating. Story (!) is about the effects of a deadly gas that is mistakingly let loose and everyone dies who's over the age of 25 and a young man named Coel (Bob Corff) who's being chased by the cops meets Cilla (Elaine Giftos) who's a pretty scientist on the run also.*****SPOILER ALERT***** Together they head out of Texas to New Mexico where they are trying to find a pueblo with the hope of a better life and along on their strange journey they meet a modern day revolutionary named Carlos (Ben Vereen) and his music store owner girlfriend Marissa (Cindy Williams) who's pregnant. They also come across another couple named Hooper (Bud Cort) and Coralee (Talia Shire) and the 6 of them head off together but they have problems when they run into fascist football players who practice tackling girls to rape them and bikers who ride golf carts and try to protect their golf course. Once they get to the pueblo the football players threaten their existence again and it takes an interference from God to set everyone right.This was to be the last film that Roger Corman made with AIP due to the fact that the studio made some editing choices of their own that infuriated Corman and led him to start his own company. With that, Corman had already been making these hippie flicks like "The Trip" and "Psyche-Out" and he knew there was an audience out there but this was one of the rare films that Corman directed that wasn't successful. This film plays out like it was partially improvised with scenes that are just strung together in a dreamlike fashion as if Fellini had a hand in it. Like all of the other films in this genre the story is supposed to be symbolic with loads of small jokes aimed primarily at the mainstream establishment and society in general. For me, the main reason this is watchable is not only watching young stars before they hit it big but just to watch Elaine Giftos. I have always been a fan of hers and while she never had a big film career she was very popular on television appearing often on "The Partridge Family" and "Love, American Style" and her natural girl next door looks served her well (and me!) as I have always thought of her as beautiful. Films like this have always appealed to me because I feel they capture a time and attitude that has passed from our society although at 80 minutes this film does wear out it's welcome. This isn't the exploitive camp that made films like "Candy" so much fun nor does it possess the relevance of "Easy Rider" but along with the lovely Giftos and other recognizable actors this still has enough going for it to warrant a viewing.