Nice Dreams

How Cheech & Chong Changed the Movies

<p>AMPAS-produced mini-doc traces the legacy of the stoner comedy duo’s debut film, <i>Up in Smoke.</i></p>

“Making your first movie is like having sex for the first time,” says Cheech Marin, half of the famed stoner comedy team Cheech and Chong. “It may not be the best you’ll ever do, but man, it is sure the first.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences—yes, the Oscars people—have posted a short documentary charting the course Marin and his partner Tommy Chong took leading to their debut film, 1978’s Up in Smoke.

In interviews with Cheech and Chong, as well as filmmaker fans like Harold & Kumar creators Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, we get the full picture of how a small comedy about, as Marin describes it, “two guys trying to find a joint so they can start a band,” became a cultural touchstone.

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Alex Chancey

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