It’s an interesting pitch: Robert Altman, director of ‘The Long Goodbye’, ‘Nashville’ and ‘M*A*S*H’, does a 1980s teen movie.

And, true to form, ‘O.C. And Stiggs’ ended up as a fascinating, completely unpredictable viewing experience. It’s the ‘1941’ of teenage films.

But it was also one of the great filmmaker’s biggest flops, not helped by the fact that it inexplicably received an ‘R’ rating.

Remarkably, it was the only movie Altman made for a major studio between ‘Popeye’ in 1980 and ‘The Player’ in 1992.

Based on a series of National Lampoon magazine stories and financed by MGM, it was shot in summer 1983 (predating the first John Hughes-directed movie by almost a year) but didn’t creep out until 1987.

Presumably MGM were looking for something like ‘Porky’s’ or ‘Fast Times At Ridgemont High’, but what they got was pure Altman. In fact the film feels very much part of the 1970s rather than 1980s.

He only devotes one short paragraph to the film in the book ‘Altman On Altman’: ‘I agreed to do it because I hated teenage movies so much. I thought I’d do it as a satire of teenage movies.’

Set in Phoenix, Arizona, it concerns a couple of unhappy, smart-ass teens nicely played by Daniel Jenkins and Neill Barry who declare war on the family of finance magnate Randall Schwab for cancelling the old-age insurance of OC’s grandfather.

Inexplicably, both kids are also obsessed by the music of Nigerian bandleader/multi-instrumentalist King Sunny Ade, so we get an excellent soundtrack, a nice bit of concert footage in the style of ‘Nashville’, and a cameo from the man himself.

But mainly the movie is a pretty cutting satire of a suburban America mainly populated by Vietnam vets, self-obsessed parents, clueless teenagers and winos. And, being an Altman film, there’s also a myriad of interesting, funny details which most of the contemporary critics completely missed.

Dennis Hopper – during his full-on booze blow-out era – reprises his ‘Apocalypse Now’ role, complete with his own theme song parodying Doors’ ‘The End’ (later there’s even a silly ‘Ride Of The Valkyries’ spoof).

Other interesting cameos include Jon ‘Pretty In Pink’ Cryer making his film debut, ‘Saturday Night Live’ veteran Jane Curtin, Alan Autry reprising his role from Walter Hill’s ‘Southern Comfort’ while a teenage Cynthia ‘Sex And The City’ Dixon gets a song and dance routine. Melvin Van Peebles and Martin Mull show up too.

According to Cryer, the film was mainly improvised, with Altman encouraging long takes and free movement from the actors. It’s a joy to look at, with those beautiful, wide-angle shots a la ‘3 Women’ and ‘Nashville’, and lively, colourful production design.

A YouTube comment claims that it’s the worst movie of all time. No way. It’s not even the worst Altman movie – surely that must be ‘The Room’.

Still, obviously ‘O.C. And Stiggs’ is not the first Altman film to watch if you’re not already aware of his stuff. But if you love ‘The Player’, ‘Short Cuts’, ‘Nashville’ or ‘The Long Goodbye’, it’s well worth a look.

It’s currently available to watch for free on YouTube in very high quality.