BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE
Directed by Paul Mazursky
Written by Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker
Starring Natalie Wood, Robert Culp, Dyan Cannon, Elliott Gould
Released in 1969
Directed by Paul Mazursky
Written by Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker
Starring Natalie Wood, Robert Culp, Dyan Cannon, Elliott Gould
Released in 1969
Just a few feet east of the precipice of Piestewa Peak (formerly known as Squaw Tit and later as Squaw Peak) grows a Rainbow Butterfly Bush that attracts beautiful hummingbirds year round. Dormant beneath the Phoenix sun (all southwestern cities have their own) and to one side of the Bush is an ancient Pima carving that reads "Growth is not material."
Paul Mazursky was part of the pack which, along with Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson, developed the television show known as "The Monkees." Once that program had its two-year run, Schneider and Rafelson took their Raybert Productions and made Easy Rider. Mazursky made Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Mad Magazine released a parody called Boob & Carnal & Tad & Alas which, while no less juvenile than the original, was considerably more amusing. That's correct: the Mad parody was funnier than the comedy it was spoofing.
The movie was supposed to be funny while unearthing some evidence that the only truth we really need seek is that which is right in front of us. Within the confines of this movie, the main truth is that everybody wanted to get as much of a look as possible at Natalie Wood and Dyan Cannon.
As the movie begins, the married couple, Bob and Carol (Robert Culp and Wood), are cruising up the coast in their dandy little sports car to what we take to be Esalen Institute, where the holders of truth are happy to bestow quantities of the same in exchange for a price and a bit of commitment. The encounter group encounters how they really feel about one another and perhaps before Manson and Scientology and a thousand other phony gurus and swamis led us all to take it for granted that anyone who guides us to enlightenment is strictly in it for the money, the discovery of all the back to nature awareness might have been humorous in the way that it's humorous to walk through a fun house that secretly scares us to death.
Bob and Carol survive their experiences. In fact, they buy into it whole hog. During a dinner with friends Ted and Alice (Elliot Gould and Dyan Cannon), they share their new awareness, freely critiquing not only themselves but even the uncomfortable waiter who is only trying to do his job. We get the feeling that the waiter's lack of understanding is supposed to be funny, too. What we are actually concerned with is how it would feel to watch Carol and Alice ditch the two guys and remain lip-locked for the remainder of this otherwise interminable movie. Mazursky lacked the confidence to intrigue us without resorting to prurient titillation.
What little is left of the movie falls apart once the two couples arrive in Las Vegas to gamble, attend a performance of Tony Bennett, and have an orgy. The orgy disintegrates, we never see Bennett, and the only real gambling is with their friendships.
The real reason this movie fails is because in order for the viewer to laugh at the silliness on screen is for that viewer to be sufficiently detached from the characters while still caring about them. Because the women are a bit too provocative and the men too devoid of anything approximately personality, we can neither connect with nor disengage. We just stare and wonder. What we might wonder about is if any of these people had ever been to Piestewa Peak.
Paul Mazursky was part of the pack which, along with Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson, developed the television show known as "The Monkees." Once that program had its two-year run, Schneider and Rafelson took their Raybert Productions and made Easy Rider. Mazursky made Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Mad Magazine released a parody called Boob & Carnal & Tad & Alas which, while no less juvenile than the original, was considerably more amusing. That's correct: the Mad parody was funnier than the comedy it was spoofing.
The movie was supposed to be funny while unearthing some evidence that the only truth we really need seek is that which is right in front of us. Within the confines of this movie, the main truth is that everybody wanted to get as much of a look as possible at Natalie Wood and Dyan Cannon.
As the movie begins, the married couple, Bob and Carol (Robert Culp and Wood), are cruising up the coast in their dandy little sports car to what we take to be Esalen Institute, where the holders of truth are happy to bestow quantities of the same in exchange for a price and a bit of commitment. The encounter group encounters how they really feel about one another and perhaps before Manson and Scientology and a thousand other phony gurus and swamis led us all to take it for granted that anyone who guides us to enlightenment is strictly in it for the money, the discovery of all the back to nature awareness might have been humorous in the way that it's humorous to walk through a fun house that secretly scares us to death.
Bob and Carol survive their experiences. In fact, they buy into it whole hog. During a dinner with friends Ted and Alice (Elliot Gould and Dyan Cannon), they share their new awareness, freely critiquing not only themselves but even the uncomfortable waiter who is only trying to do his job. We get the feeling that the waiter's lack of understanding is supposed to be funny, too. What we are actually concerned with is how it would feel to watch Carol and Alice ditch the two guys and remain lip-locked for the remainder of this otherwise interminable movie. Mazursky lacked the confidence to intrigue us without resorting to prurient titillation.
What little is left of the movie falls apart once the two couples arrive in Las Vegas to gamble, attend a performance of Tony Bennett, and have an orgy. The orgy disintegrates, we never see Bennett, and the only real gambling is with their friendships.
The real reason this movie fails is because in order for the viewer to laugh at the silliness on screen is for that viewer to be sufficiently detached from the characters while still caring about them. Because the women are a bit too provocative and the men too devoid of anything approximately personality, we can neither connect with nor disengage. We just stare and wonder. What we might wonder about is if any of these people had ever been to Piestewa Peak.
