Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. 1969 Columbia Pictures.
Starring: Natalie Wood, Robert Culp, Elliott Gould, Dyan Cannon
Director: Paul Mazursky
Buy Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice at Amazon.
A documentary filmmaker, Bob Sanders (Culp) and his wife Carol (Wood) attend a weekend retreat involving group therapy and self-discovery. Bob is there mainly because he wants to make a documentary about the process. What happens is, they have an epiphany, helped along by Bob's confession of an extra-marital affair, and Carol's appreciation of his honesty. Feeling enlightened and free, Bob and Carol come home, wanting to embrace free love and complete honesty. Their best friends Ted and Alice Henderson (Gould & Cannon) are both curious and repulsed by their friends' new feelings, and naturally, Bob and Carol want their friends to think and feel the same way they do now.
Ted and Alice do get caught up in this, and both couples are convinced that mutual love and honesty depends upon them trading partners.
This film was pretty shocking and bold for 1969, and it still holds up well today forty years later. Recommended movie.
Showing posts with label paul mazursky. Show all posts
Showing posts with label paul mazursky. Show all posts
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Down and Out in Beverly Hills
Down and Out in Beverly Hills. 1986 Touchstone Pictures.
Starring: Nick Nolte, Bette Midler, Richard Dreyfuss, Little Richard, Tracy Nelson
Director: Paul Mazursky
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or as part of a two-fer with Ruthless People.
The first R-rated movie ever released by Disney, through their subsidary Touchstone Pictures, and it was based on Jean Renoir's 1932 film Boudu Saved from Drowning.
Dave and Barbara Whiteman (Dreyfuss & Midler) are a very rich, but not happy Beverly Hills couple. Their children are dealing with sexuality confusion and eating disorders, and Dave is also sleeping with the house maid since Barbara is only interested in yoga and aerobics. Even the family dog Matisse seems to be suffering from depression. During Thanksgiving, they meet Jerry Baskin (Nolte), a hard on his luck bum who decides to end it all by drowning himself in the Whitemans' pool after losing his beloved dog, which was all he had left. He is saved, and taken in by the family.
After making himself at home, Jerry starts influencing the entire family, sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worst. This begins to anger Dave, who feels that Jerry is taking advantage of his kindness.
Not bad, but not as funny as I remember it from my childhood. I think I should also give Renoir's 1932 film a viewing pretty soon, just to compare the two.
Starring: Nick Nolte, Bette Midler, Richard Dreyfuss, Little Richard, Tracy Nelson
Director: Paul Mazursky
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or as part of a two-fer with Ruthless People.
The first R-rated movie ever released by Disney, through their subsidary Touchstone Pictures, and it was based on Jean Renoir's 1932 film Boudu Saved from Drowning.
Dave and Barbara Whiteman (Dreyfuss & Midler) are a very rich, but not happy Beverly Hills couple. Their children are dealing with sexuality confusion and eating disorders, and Dave is also sleeping with the house maid since Barbara is only interested in yoga and aerobics. Even the family dog Matisse seems to be suffering from depression. During Thanksgiving, they meet Jerry Baskin (Nolte), a hard on his luck bum who decides to end it all by drowning himself in the Whitemans' pool after losing his beloved dog, which was all he had left. He is saved, and taken in by the family.
After making himself at home, Jerry starts influencing the entire family, sometimes for the better, and sometimes for the worst. This begins to anger Dave, who feels that Jerry is taking advantage of his kindness.
Not bad, but not as funny as I remember it from my childhood. I think I should also give Renoir's 1932 film a viewing pretty soon, just to compare the two.
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