Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
Directed by: Paul
Mazursky.
Written by: Paul
Mazursky & Larry Tucker.
Starring: Natalie Wood (Carol),
Robert Culp (Bob), Elliott Gould (Ted), Dyan Cannon (Alice).
There are
films that are very much of their time and place – and Paul Mazursky’s Bob
& Carol & Ted & Alice is one of those films. This was the 5th
highest grossing movie of that year – which is remarkable when you consider
that nothing that isn’t part of a franchise can come close to that anymore. It
is about two middle aged couples at the end of the swinging ‘60s, who may feel
like they missed the sexual revolution that the previous decade brought on for
the younger people. The film was known then – and remains now – as the wife
swapping movie, which is odd considering that in the end (spoiler alert) the
couples don’t actually swap wives, and even more odd considering the idea isn’t
even verbalized until the last 15 minutes or so. There are a lot of things
about the movie that mark it as a film from the late 1960s – but I will say,
that the film is surprisingly kind of modern, even 50 years later, in its view
of infidelity and sexual freedom. You couldn’t imagine a mainstream film today
tackling this issue – and not many indies would either. It is a film that is
all talk – and much of that talk sounds like it was from 50 years ago – but it
is well acted and written Mazursky and his cast. It does feel its age – and not
always easily – and the characters are all, in one way or another insufferable,
in ways I’m not quite sure is intentional. But the next time you hear about
naval gazing, bored, entitled Millennials, you may want to think about this
film, and realized that Millennials grandparents
were essentially the same.
The film
begins with Bob and Carol (Robert Culp and Natalie Wood) at one of those New
Age, hippie retreats – meant to get you in touch with your feelings, and
positive ways to express those feelings. To live in honesty. They seem to be
resistant at first, but over the course of the weekend (condensed to about 5
minutes) they are won over by the methods. When they return to their lives, Bob
goes off to shoot his new documentary – and when he returns, admits that he
slept with his young assistant. Carol, to the surprise of Bob – and perhaps
even herself, doesn’t much care. It isn’t that she doesn’t love Bob – but that
she understood why he did it. Eventually, she too, will have a lover – and Bob
catches them when he comes home early. He cares a little more than she did –
but they talk it out, and he finds he’s okay with it too. They share all of
this with their best friends Ted and Alice (Elliot Gould and Dyan Cannon) – who
are shocked – shocked! – by this, but for different reasons. She is shocked
that he cheated in the first place – he’s shocked that he was dumb enough to
confess. They predict that it will all end disastrously – but, of course, are
also intrigued in ways they don’t even admit to each other.
Most of
the movie then is all talk – and very reliant on its actors to pull off. There
is a reason why Gould and Cannon were nominated were Oscars for their
performances, and Culp and Wood were not – and not just because they were in
the Supporting categories instead of the leads. It’s because we see them
process the changes in their friends – and what it means for them, and for
their own marriage. They talk it through with each other. Cannon in particular
is quite good, as this whole thing forces her to confront some issues she
didn’t really want to think about – in conversations with Gould, or her
therapist. This isn’t to say that Culp and Wood aren’t good – they are – but
I’m not convinced their roles are as complex. Also, they are at times nearly
insufferable with their navel gazing conversations. Gould and Cannon feel
honest – like they are genuinely trying to figure out what to do next. Culp and
Wood are trying to convince themselves they are okay with this – whether they
are or not.
Some see
the ending of the movie – where they don’t actually go through with the wife
swap, or the orgy, as a cop out. I don’t. I think it makes sense for both of
these couples, given where they are, to flirt with the idea – and then back
off. Gould and Cannon aren’t there yet – they may never get there. And Culp and
Wood may be okay with an open marriage – but it’s something else entirely when
its your best friends. The very end of the movie is one of those weird things
you could only see in the 1960s – and I cannot imagine worked well then, and
sure doesn’t now – no matter how strange it is (it feels like Mazursky had no
idea how to actually end this thing, and so here this weirdness).
Bob &
Carol & Ted &Alice is not a great film. There’s a reason why, even if
you know the film, it hasn’t stuck around in the public consciousness as much
as say Mike Nichols The Graduate (1967) has. And there’s a reason why I don’t
think it ranks all that highly on Mazursky’s filmography – which includes some
much better films like Harry and Tonto (1974) – which won Art Carney an Oscar
or An Unmarried Woman (1978), which was a much more mature film about middle
aged sexuality and marriage. But it’s an interesting film – as a time capsule
for its time and place, and to remember a time when a film like this could be
in the top five in Box Office in America for the year. There is a superhero or
live action animated lion to be seen here.
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