The Skydivers: Coleman Francis

In many cases, a director's first film is one of their worst. Their first film is where new directors learn the ropes of film-making first hand and start to develop their own sense of style. It is with their second film that they truly begin to excel as film-makers. Coleman Francis was not one of those directors. His first feature, The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961), saw Francis at the peak of his creativity, skill, and coherence as a film-maker. Two years later he made The Skydivers, a bizarre hodge-podge of different genres that only serves to baffle and bore its audience.  It's hard to really describe what goes on in The Skydivers. The narrative is so scatter-shot that it is almost impossible to grip from just one viewing. But what I could glean from the plot was that the film's action took place around a tiny California airfield where the husband and wife team Harry and Beth teach skydiving. One of Harry's old girlfriends shows up, Beth has an affair with a mechanic, and somebody at some point tries to kill...someone...by pouring acid into their chute before a jump.  All of this is interspersed with tedious dialogue scenes, a seemingly random rock 'n' roll concert that sorta materializes out of nothing, and a whole bevy of unusual characters. My favorite out-of-place character is a plump Scotsman in a kilt who dances like a maniac at the rock 'n' roll concert. The Skydivers demonstrates the decay of Francis' already incompetent "talents" from his first movie. And, incredibly, things would only get worse with Red Zone Cuba (1966), Francis' third and final motion picture.

2/10