Cheech & Chong Will Always Be Jointed at the Hip

 

On Saturday evening, I ventured to the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge to take in a screening of Cheech & Chong's Last Movie. 

Unlike the pair's previous film collaborations, Cheech & Chong's Last Movie is a biographical documentary with a narrative structure of a road movie as Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong drive thru the desert together for one last ride.

And what a ride it has been for Marin, 78, and Chong, who turns 87 next month. That these two met at all is a minor miracle. After all, Marin grew up as among the few Chicanos in Watts, a predominantly African American neighborhood in Los Angeles while Chong was raised by a Chinese father and a white, Irish Scots mother on the outskirts of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

But Marin, like many young American men during the 1960's, made their way to Canada to dodge the draft and evade combat in the Vietnam War. When Marin met Chong in Vancouver in 1969, Chong had already some moderate success as a musician with Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers which had been signed to Motown at the behest of Diana Ross (although other accounts suggest it was fellow Supremes Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson who alerted Berry Gordy, Jr.). However they were signed to Motown, Chong co-wrote Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers' best-known song "Does Your Mama Know About Me?"

However, Taylor would leave the band, become a solo artist and produce the first works of The Jackson Five. Chong turned his attention to his family-owned strip club in Vancouver where he developed a burlesque improv group. This is where Marin enters the picture and joins the act. As with most experiments, this was one short-lived, but it would be the foundation of their partnership as a comedy duo.

The pair would eventually move to Hollywood, struggle for a years before producer Lou Adler took a chance on them and the result was rock 'n roll comedy gold with hit albums and movies which would define the 1970's. 

Cheech & Chong's Last Movie changed my perception of the pair in one respect. In front of the camera, Cheech is the wild, dominant figure whereas Chong is passive to the point of not being aware he exists. But behind the camera, it was Chong who did much of the organizational work especially when he began directing their films much to Cheech's chagrin. It was the reason the two parted ways after their 1984 film The Corsican Brothers (which notably dropped their drug humor) and did not work together again for nearly 20 years. It still remains a source of tension between them to this day.

Yet whatever the tensions, Cheech & Chong will always be joined at the hip, or in this case, jointed at the hip.

A couple of random observations. First, Chong's wife of 50 years, Shelby, is an absolute smoke show at the age of 77. Second, I was delighted to hear the 1970's all-female band Birtha's "Free Spirit" played almost in its entirety.

Finally, on a personal note, I've never really enjoyed marijuana, but I do get a high from Cheech & Chong's humor. Cheech & Chong's Last Movie is a suitable final course.