Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (B or 3/4 stars)
'Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice' (directed by Paul Mazursky) is a titillating "swinging sixties" husband-&-wife-swapping comedy that made big waves back in 1969 when it was released but, in today's terms ... is fairly tame. The story is straightforward. Couples Bob & Carol Sanders (Robert Culp, Natalie Wood) and Ted & Alice Henderson (Elliott Gould, Dyan Cannon) are the best of friends. After attending a weekend self-help self-discovery session in Los Angeles (Bob now plans to make a documentary film on the subject), Bob & Carol feel newly enlightened and, want Ted & Alice to feel similarly.
'Feel'; being the operative word as they would like people to now feel rather than use their brains. This foursome each examine their feelings and, their thoughts toward their individual friendship/relationships with each other concerning the hot topic of sex comes us; particularly when Bob admits to Carol that he had a loveless sexual dalliance which Carol later lets Ted & Alice know about. After pushing many sexual boundaries with others, this frisky foursome decide that they must simply cross one last boundary to truly test their new 'enlightened' state. Long-buried desires & sexual tensions boil over.
For the time, this movie was quite entertaining & perceptive; capturing the spirit of America when its' moral climate was not as it once were. Looking at it objectively many decades after its initial release; nothing really all that shocking happens. But nevertheless, Paul Mazursky makes delightfully witty & amusing commentary about sexual freedom, marital infidelity, psychological therapy, complacent hypocrisy of our lives, modern divorce, and there are a plethora of zany one-liners throughout.
The 4 main actors are in good form; especially the effortlessly humorous Elliott Gould & Dyan Cannon as the couple coming along for the proverbial psychological ride that Bob & Carol have in store for them. Cannon, in particular, is superb; I would have awarded her the Best Supporting Actress honor at the Academy Awards that year. So yeah, this film is more of a relic of a time of change in America. But viewed through the lens of time, I get why it created a stir. With steady direction, deftly satirical writing, nice photography & those great performances, 'B&C&T&A' makes for a solid entertainment.
'Feel'; being the operative word as they would like people to now feel rather than use their brains. This foursome each examine their feelings and, their thoughts toward their individual friendship/relationships with each other concerning the hot topic of sex comes us; particularly when Bob admits to Carol that he had a loveless sexual dalliance which Carol later lets Ted & Alice know about. After pushing many sexual boundaries with others, this frisky foursome decide that they must simply cross one last boundary to truly test their new 'enlightened' state. Long-buried desires & sexual tensions boil over.
For the time, this movie was quite entertaining & perceptive; capturing the spirit of America when its' moral climate was not as it once were. Looking at it objectively many decades after its initial release; nothing really all that shocking happens. But nevertheless, Paul Mazursky makes delightfully witty & amusing commentary about sexual freedom, marital infidelity, psychological therapy, complacent hypocrisy of our lives, modern divorce, and there are a plethora of zany one-liners throughout.
The 4 main actors are in good form; especially the effortlessly humorous Elliott Gould & Dyan Cannon as the couple coming along for the proverbial psychological ride that Bob & Carol have in store for them. Cannon, in particular, is superb; I would have awarded her the Best Supporting Actress honor at the Academy Awards that year. So yeah, this film is more of a relic of a time of change in America. But viewed through the lens of time, I get why it created a stir. With steady direction, deftly satirical writing, nice photography & those great performances, 'B&C&T&A' makes for a solid entertainment.