The year is 1983. Cop shows are all the rage, and American audiences are hooked on the weekly adventures of Detectives Jerome “Hooch” Hendrickson and David “Daddy-O” Mandlebaum, who never met a criminal they couldn’t gun down in cold blood within seconds with very little pretense. Twenty years later, a documentary crew explores the history of the fondly remembered, entirely fictional classic Hooch & Daddy-O, interviewing fans, cast, and crew as the original cast members prepare to shoot a made-for-TV reunion movie. “It was the quintessential American TV cop show of the ‘80s,” one fan dryly enthuses. “It has immaculate writing, excellent acting…and Daddy-O’s bottom was rather nice as well.”
Twenty years further down the road and Daddy-O’s rather nice bottom is hitting the silver screen one more time. This Saturday, the Hi-Pointe Theatre (1005 McCausland Ave.) is hosting a special 20th anniversary screening of the film. “This screening is the actual 20th anniversary of the mockumentary about the fictional 20th anniversary of the fictional series,” says Oscar Madrid, an actor in the film as well as one of its writers. “Wrap your brain around that.” The movie, directed by Donna Northcott, was made entirely in St. Louis featuring a slew of the finest, funniest actors from the St. Louis theater scene of the time, particularly the Magic Smoking Monkey Theatre.
The cast includes Chris Anich as the schlubby, mustachioed Hooch, co-writer Jim Ousley as bad boy Daddy-O with his poofy ‘80s rock star hair and pursed lips that can only be described as “resting Kajagoogoo face,” the aforementioned Oscar Madrid as goody-two-shoes cop Ace Delvecchio, and Amy Elz as Darcy Rose, the female sidekick whose character gets more and more sexed-up as the show progresses through its five seasons. And all the actors also play heightened versions of themselves in the numerous “talking head” scenes that are de rigueur for this kind of flick, even using their own real names as the names of their acting alter egos. “We’re so proud of the fact that we featured dozens of St. Louis actors from the local theatre scene,” says Madrid. “The project was intended to document the many funny and talented folks we know.”
While the talking head scenes do a fine job of skewering the self-importance of actors, the heart of this mockumentary is that it’s a loving send-up of 1980s cop shows—the broadly drawn characters, the casual sexism and racism, the constant consequence-free violence, the quippy one-liners—all captured in recreations of highlights from the fictional series’ original 1980s heyday that are mixed in among the talking head sequences of a typical mockumentary. “I really enjoyed filming the old TV show clips,” enthuses Ousley, “particularly the episode where our heroes fought a gang of ninjas in a skating rink. We were aware of how absurd the whole thing was, but that’s exactly what made it such a delight. We couldn’t believe we were actually making a movie with all of our friends.”
The movie was well-received upon release, finding much more success and attention than your typical no-budget flick, a testament to its quality. After a debut screening at the Tivoli (the arthouse theater that lit up the Delmar Loop for decades before shuttering during COVID and being converted into a church), Hooch & Daddy-O hit the road and became a hit with festival audiences and juries, winning Outstanding Original Story/Screenplay at the Dixie Film Festival in Atlanta, the Audience Award at the Faux Film Festival in Portland, and Best Comedy at the Planet Ant Film & Video Festival in Detroit, where an early-in-his-career Keegan-Michael Key was on the awarding jury. “The first screening at The Tivoli was very special,” Ousley recalls, “but travelling to small festivals around the country to screen the film and see complete strangers laugh and have a good time was priceless. We felt we succeeded in what we set out to do.” It also received a rare rave review from Film Threat, who summarized their thoughts by saying “All in all, Hooch and Daddy-O is an excellent, multi-purpose parody, simultaneously spearing cop shows, eighties television, and documentaries in general. This is more than worth the time to watch.”
Hooch & Daddy-O proved to be a launching pad for several members of the creative team. Editor Aaron Crozier has built a lengthy résumé of film and TV editing credits in the ensuing years. Anich, Madrid, and Ousley teamed up with Grant Essig to craft a comedy album under the name Boys With Scarves. Madrid scored a Best Short Script award at the 2020 Atlanta Film Festival for a new project called “Autocomplete.” Madrid and Ousley teamed up to enter the world of comic books, penning a number of short stories published by St. Louis comics collective Ink & Drink Comics. (Full disclosure: I’m an editor for Ink & Drink and have edited Madrid and Ousley’s comic book work.) Ousley has continued to branch out into comics, penning the two-volume Butcher Queen series with artist Ben Sawyer and teaming up with artist Tyler B. Ruff on The Atonement Bell, a St. Louis-set horror comic that was nominated for Best New Series at the 2023 Eisner Awards. (Full disclosure: I edited those, too. Even fuller disclosure: Ousley is also an occasional contributor to this very site.) Madrid and Ousley have also teamed up on a script called The Bloodfest Club that Madrid says is “alive and kicking in development.” You can watch the trailer here. “Fun fact,” Madrid notes, “The Bloodfest Club trailer budget was twice as much as the entire budget of Hooch & Daddy-O.”
The Hooch & Daddy-O 20th anniversary screening takes place Saturday, October 19, at 7:30pm at the Hi-Pointe Theatre (1005 McCausland Ave.). Tickets can be purchased here. “We had a new transfer done for the film,” Ousley reports, “and the Hi-Pointe was gracious enough to screen it for me to make sure everything looked good. I was so happy, not only at how wonderful it looked and sounded, but the fact that it still holds up so well. We had so many talented people in front of the camera and behind the camera, I was kind of overwhelmed seeing it again. I laughed and smiled, which is all you can ask for from something like this.”
Following the screening there will be a Q&A featuring director Donna Northcott, writer/actor Jim Ousley, writer/actor Oscar Madrid, editor Aaron Crozier, and a surprise cast and crew member or two. The crew is thrilled to get another opportunity to share this labor of love with the world. “I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends and to exposing the film to people who maybe have never had the chance to see it before,” Ousley concludes. “Our whole intention in making Hooch & Daddy-O was capturing all of our funny castmates from our time in Magic Smoking Monkey Theatre. It will never make a billion dollars like a Marvel movie, but it’ll be here forever if anyone wants some laughs.” | Jason Green
