Originally titled S.P.F.C. (Society for Parents of Fugitive Children), Forman's first American film follows two hapless parents as they search the Village for their runaway daughter. Told from their estranged point of view, this quirky film finds its greatest stash of humor in the utter inability of Larry (Buck Henry at his gawky best) and Lynn (Lynn Carlin) to grok youth culture. A blissful square from the 'burbs, Larry in particular has no inkling of his vanished offspring's countercultural cravings. Though this empathy gap is at the center of Taking Off, Forman builds the film around a series of riotous vignettes. A high point is an S.P.F.C. initiation in which a loopy Vincent Schiavelli (another Forman find) guides the dazed parents through their first tokes, admonishing them not to “bogart the joint.” Youth gets its space in frequently interspersed segments of a music audition, with as yet undiscovered Carly Simon and Kathy Bates included. But lame Larry gets the final word with a pitiable rendition of “Stranger in Paradise.”