ridiculous rating

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

From the title one might suppose that this is a horror movie that has something to do with snakes. It isn't. It is actually a very droll road movie about a search for the stashed proceeds of a crime committed some years earlier. In that sense, it may be compared with "It's a Mad, Mad World". However, while that earlier film represents an homage to the comedy style of the past, "Slither" is more of a preview of the comedy style of the future. In "Slither" the characters and more realistic, the comedy is less obvious, and the entire story seems to delight in going into directions that one would not necessarily expect. In fact, "Slither" seems like a prequel to the sort of movies made by the Coen Brothers such as "The Big Labowski", "Fargo" and "Oh Brother, Where art Thou?".James Can plays a small-time criminal who, along with another guy, has just been released from prison along. When his companion invites him home for a beer to celebrate their freedom he is suddenly shot through the window. The dying ex-con imparts to Caan instructions to recover the loot from his crime, setting in motion a chain of strange encounters and events, not the least of which involves a road trip in a car towing a house trailer. One can only presume that the title "Slither" was derived from the violent motions of the trailer during the course of the inevitable cross-country chase. On the occasion when the musical "Goodbye Mr. Chips" was presented in a command performance to Queen Elizabeth, Sally Kellerman reputedly said remarked that Her Majesty would probably have found "Slither" more entertaining. She was probably right.

This is a character driven comedy, drama, crime, mystery that defies definition. Back in the 70's some really fine films were made, and there were some really terrible ones too. But the movie studios were in the mood to make so many films that in the process some totally unique ones that just happened to be good were made. I don't know why this film never got the attention it deserved. When I first saw it in 1973 I have to admit I was under the influence of herbal substances. It was a favorite pastime back then to get a buzz on and see a movie. I thought it was very funny at the time. Seeing it for the second time last night I was delighted to find out that even without mood altering contraband it was every bit as funny as the first time. Now that's saying something.If you love really great character performances this one is full of em. Sally Kellerman appeared to be having the time of her life. It must have been a character actor's wet dream. It does not hurt to have a great script either. Slither had it in spades.This films will keep you guessing the entire time. I don't care how many films you have seen, you will not be able to predict the outcome of this one. But along the way be prepared for some incredibly dark humor that carries you along till the very end.I will make you a bet. There is a bit of an introductory plot outline that shows up before the opening credits. If you can stay with it till then, you will not be able to turn it off. I bet you a big black van that you will finish it."who are those guys anyway?" The fun of finding out is a real pleasure trip.

I just watched this again for the first time in many years. I had recalled what a twisted dark comedy this was, but I did not remember it in sufficient detail how it came to be that way.It has a wonderful, almost prototypical, '70s comedy cast but I don't think that the secret lies there. I really think that it comes from the writing and direction. There is an ambiguity and ellipticality to just about every sequence. As a viewer you are never sure quite what anything means and quite what was important in what you have just seen. But later, if you have been observant, little things start to come together in disturbing patterns.An example without getting spoilerish -- early on James Caan is thrown out of a ride that he has hitched because the driver has decided that he is a useless slacker (in reality the character hasn't had a chance to do anything useful as he's just been released from prison). The landscape is reminiscent of the stubble field of the airplane chase in 'North by Northwest'. However, there is an emergency phone with an attractive young woman (Sally Kellerman) in a stalled station wagon right there. She is on the phone asking for help, and seeing Caan asks him to help, which he does. Just then a cop pulls up (directed by the call?) asks if she needs assistance. She answers no. The cop tries to ascertain who owns and is driving the car. Upon finding out that it is her, and noting her increasingly erratic behavior, he tells her that Caan has to drive, as she's barefoot. Is the cop trying to hassle them, or is just trying to get them safely on their way and away from him when she is clearly not fully there? Shortly thereafter Caan asks her what she is up on, she answers that she had a glass of wine with a salami sandwich. It's pretty clear that alcohol is _not_ her intoxicant of choice. Later we see her popping unidentified pills several times.Watch for patterns and reappearances, some of them are quite subtle.I've got to give a shout out to my local video store which had a VHS copy (1990) on the shelf. This isn't available on DVD.

I usually either don't like, or hate, action comedies - though Slither isn't one entirely. But, as far as it IS an action one, it's the best one ever made, and (to me) about the most underrated comedy of ANY category. Most comedies or dramas about cops and robbers (or about criminals, period) promise to be about the CHARACTERS more than anything, but this one keeps that promise completely. I do have one complaint about the Sally Kellerman character, and that's that, in most of the film, she was a sort of WOULD-BE maniacal character, and that one scene of her actually holding up a diner spoils that in a way. But at least that scene gave James Caan the chance to do what he did best in the movie, which was acting horrifed or disgusted by everything that happened around him. Somehow, this doesn't wear thin anywhere in the movie, especially in his scenes with Kellerman. I usually don't like crude dialogue when it's there just for the sake of it, but the laundromat scene, where she grosses him out with her talk, is done just right, and that's why it's funny. I have what is probably a real minority opinion about the film version of MASH, and that's that it works EXCEPT for the "Burns and Houlihan" scenes, which (to me) were a real waste of both her and Duvall (including that hugely famous scene). All I can say is that anyone wanting to see Sally Kellerman in a FUNNY role should see Slither instead. The same is true of Peter Boyle and Louise Lasser, and all the character actors in smaller parts, all the way to the ones in the bingo hall scene. I don't know why most other comedies of this category can't at least APPROACH this one.