Monthly Archives: June 2020

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
Directed by Paul Mazursky
Written by Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker
1969/US
IMDb page
Repeat viewing

Ted Henderson: First, we’ll have an orgy. Then we’ll go see Tony Bennett.

This sex comedy for the late 60’s could have been made at no other time.  It hasn’t aged well but is interesting as a time capsule of a time when the hippie ethic – at least the free love and drugs part – crossed over into the liberal middle-class.

Bob (Robert Culp) is a laid back documentary film maker.  His best friend Ted (Elliott Gould) is an uptight lawyer  Their beautiful wives Carol (Natalie Wood) and Alice (Dyan Cannon) are the kind that spend much of their time shopping, playing tennis, and having lunch.

Carol and Bob spend a weekend at a spa where they undergo New Age couples therapy.  When they come back they are expressing themselves like mad and start experimenting with extra-marital liaisons which they freely tell Ted & Alice about.  Their friends are both shocked and Alice is particularly disturbed by this revelation.

The foursome decide to spend a weekend in Las Vegas.  Alice decides to see if Bob and Carol will put their money where their mouths are.

I saw this on original release and remembered lots of it.  What seemed at the time to be pretty groovy comes across now as phony, which may even be what Mazursky intended.  My favorite part is the song.  Wonder why it wasn’t nominated.

Gould and Cannon steal the picture out from under the stars and were rewarded by Best Supporting Oscar nominations.  The film was also nominated for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Material Not Previously Published or Produced and Best Cinematography.

Clip – “What the World Needs Now Is Love” – written by Bert Bacharach & Hal David, sung by Jackie DeShannon

The Honeymoon Killers
Directed by Leonard Kastle and Donald Volkman
Written by Leonard Kastle
1969/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Instant

Mother: [shouting at Martha from the window of the rest home she’s been dumped at] Goddamn you, goddamn you! I hope you end up like this! I hope someone does this to YOU!

i loved this darkly comic take on the classic ‘lovers-on-the-lam’ trope of film noir.

This is the “true story” of Raymond Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco) and Martha Beck (Shirley Stoler), who are suspected to have killed more than 20 women in 1947 and 1949 when they were known as the “Lonely Hearts Killers”.  Raymond is a con-artist who makes his living ripping off wealthy widows he meets through newspaper ads.  Martha is an embittered, overweight nurse who advertises in the lonely-hearts column.  Somehow, they make the perfect couple.

Martha is perfectly willing to put up with Tony’s serial weddings so long as she can go along for the ride as his sister.

The director says that this was his response to Bonnie and Clyde (1967) but it reminds me more of noir films of the early 50’s.   All of it seemed fairly tongue in cheek and there is very little graphic violence.  I liked it.

The Learning Tree
Directed by Gordon Parks
Written by Gordon Parks from his novel
1969/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime

“The guy who takes a chance, who walks the line between the known and unknown, who is unafraid of failure, will succeed.”
― Gordon Parks

The first major feature by an African-American director is a passionate story of his struggles as a black teenager in the rural American South.

Newt (Kyle Johnson) is an African-American high school student with dreams of going to university.  His mother, Sarah, works for the local judge.  They live in a small town t which has at least nominally integrated its schools but that continues to suffer from blatant individual and institutionalized racism.  Newt hangs out with of a group of friends his age.  One of these, Maurice, is the extremely angry son of a brutal alcoholic and has for some reason has sworn eternal hatred for Newt.

Newt falls for the beautiful, sweet new girl in town.  Their happiness is soon marred by the unwanted attentions of the son of the judge.  If Newt didn’t have bad luck he would have no luck at all and things continue to go sour throughout.  The third act is taken up with a courtroom drama at which Newt must testify.

Parks does a good job with his cast of unknown actors and Burnett Guffey’s color cinematography is splendid.  It’s a bit of a misery sandwich but the misery is earned, I think.  Recommended to those interested in the subject matter.