Milos Forman's American debut benefits from a superb pedigree - the scriptwriters included John Guare and Jean-Claude Carriere, and the ensemble toplines Buck Henry, Lynn Carlin, Paul Benedict and other underrated character actors. The movie contains interesting cross-cutting between adult and adolescent narrative strands, a great classic rock soundtrack, and wry social observations. Yet it somehow never caught on with U.S. audiences. Taking Off emerged in the wake of Easy Rider; it was produced by Universal in a last-ditch bid to connect with the youth market, and it's certainly the best of the films with the same ilk. But it may have either arrived too late to connect with the then-waning counterculture, or perhaps Forman's outsider observations about the generation gap crisis in the States were just too offbeat to appeal to mass audiences. In any case, Taking Off has weathered the test of time more effectively than other pictures from the same period. Like Putney Swope and Alice B. Toklas, it's a curio from the flower power era, but a riotous and entertaining one nonetheless. Henry fares best; his performance draws on the same subtle behavioral comedy that has informed his finest scripted projects, and he has numerous classic scenes here, particularly an opening sequence that shows the character undergoing hypnosis to quit smoking, and a climax that involves marijuana and strip poker. Pop culture buffs may find Taking Off interesting given the presence of a young Kathy Bates (here billed as Bobo Bates), as well as on-camera performances by Carly Simon, and The Ike and Tina Turner Revue. For some unknown reason, this movie evaded video and on-demand release in the States for decades, but has achieved widespread distribution in Europe, where it is regarded as a classic.