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
