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A burnt-out architect (the peerlessly unhinged John Cassavetes) tries to get away from it all on a seemingly idyllic Greek isle in this extremely loose-limbed adaptation of Shakespeare's play. This pleasantly rambling, exquisitely lit portrayal of the middle-aged-crazies is rather broad even by writer-director Paul Mazursky's estimable standards, but Cassavetes's wholly unpredictable performance keeps the considerable preciousness from ever getting too thick. (He's aided by a uniformly wonderful cast, including Gena Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Molly Ringwald, and especially Raul Julia as a wacked-out lech of a goatherd.) Not recommended for people trying to get out of reading the source material (for that, try the sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet), but patient viewers will find plenty of rewards amid the schmaltz. --Andrew Wright ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Great Mazursky-Cassavettes hybrid
As it did for another viewer, this movie really got inside my head. I think part of the appeal is the vicarious pleasure in seeing the Cassavettes character quitting his job, which he hates. I don't think the nervous energy Cassavettes of the Cassavettes character was just an act -- see Paul Mazursky's recent book . I'd like to add to the list of wonderful scenes another reviewer started: 1) the 'Dozing Scene' with the shot of sky through the trees, the hammock by the sea, and the little goat springing along then suddenly going to sleep; and 2) the 'Leaping Goats' scene. The intertwining of the two story timelines worked really well, great Greek scenery, and glimpses of early 80's New York City too, including the now lost World Trade Center. Gena Rowlands and Susan Sarandon were both fine in their roles as well. Raul Julia's Calibanos was more Latin American than Greek but I enjoyed his character anyway. Molly Ringwald's first film role--I thought she was cute. The second half of the film, after everyone joins up on the Greek island is a bit of let down, though, and the sacrifice scene didn't really make much sense to me.

Enjoyable, occassionally serious romp based on Shakespeare
Maybe it's just a sentimental attachment, but I've always loved this movie since I saw it over and over again, when my household first got cable TV. Great actors old (John Cassavettes and Gena Rowlands) and new (Molly Ringwald, Raul Julia, Susan Sarandon, all in early roles) abound in this modern retelling of Shakespeare's Tempest. Nominally a comedy, Tempest focuses on serious topics: infidelity, a young woman's coming of age, parent-child relationships, family conflict. Beautiful settings and realistic dialog. Happy endings in spite of the rocky conflicts each character goes through. Every time I watch it, I learn something new.

VERY REFRESHING MOVIE.
This is a very refreshing movie which does not happen too often. When I watched it I had a feeling that every actor (and they all were great) was free tp act on his or her own and the director just gave the general directions. One could see every actor, every talent at its best. Little things, little touches made it work. Good movie, great production, excellent actors and the perfect music. It is very reccomended.

Life's Barometer!?:
This film certainly hit a cord in my life .As I too was strugeling with some of the same issues in 1983. I was Battered with family problems,a sinking tenure in my own business,and 38 yrs of life in the cold & dreary north east{Baltimore Md.}. Although painful...., our leaving some life long freinds...,I sold everything!And I decieded to relocate our young family {Myself-wife & 12 yr old son }to the sunny so.west coast of Florida. "I trully believe that this verion of the movie "The Tempest" played a large part in my decision!" This movie is aluring. The chemistry of actors, the endearing music,harp & clarinet on those lazy days on the island ,and that beautiful feeling of an Oasis somewhere, for all to just get away to in a paradice right here on earth. "I recomend it, sure!" It is simply an emotionally stirring film .Why not create a curriculum for our collages that they also view this version of "The Tempest"? To be offered as a tool in weighing both the " positives & negitives" in their quest through ...,life. Mario Saint Michael Sciuto- Naples Fla. A side note: For us ,"It was a very good decision!" Thanks Tempest:

A great movie on many fronts.
This movie has it all. Romance. Comedy. Drama. Magic. Beauty. Coming of age. Man against man. Man against himself. Vengance and forgiveness. Excellent character development--their passions and their flaws are skillfully portrayed. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

This hilarious Hollywood retelling of the classic Jean Renoir French farce Boudu Saved from Drowning emerges as a wry commentary on society's excess and has distinguished itself as an instant classic. Paul Mazursky (Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice) directs and Nick Nolte (Cape Fear, The Prince of Tides) stars as a vagrant who decides to kill himself by jumping into the swimming pool of rich wire-hanger magnate Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws, The Goodbye Girl). Dreyfuss takes the bum into his dysfunctional home and soon Nolte and his murky past are causing everyone, from Dreyfuss's wife (Bette Midler) to his maid and mistress (Elizabeth Peña) to reexamine their own lives. Featuring a neurotic dog, an anorexic daughter, a sexually confused son, and Little Richard as a neighbor, this riotous household and its strange yet sympathetic inhabitants are the ingredients for one of the freshest, funniest comedies in years. --Robert Lane ... Read more

Reviews (15)

A Fine Piece
Dubbed as the comeback for the three starring actors, this movie is rather laidback and allows the stars to easily do their best and make the movie work. Nick Nolte easily plays the bum who is taken in and cleaned up by the rich family and who is a charmer. Richard Dreyfuss plays the rich man who takes Nolte in and he does a good job with many funny scenes. Bette kinda steals the show as the rich, stuck up wife who is rather standoffish as she seems as if she's better than others in her own mind. The supporting cast which includes Little Richard, a dog, and others help to make the movie work well as they support everyone else with a nice chemistry throughout. THe movie also works because it is both funny and touching at the same time. Good Job!!

Good comedy which should have been great
Based upon "Boudu Saved From Drowning", this flick also reflects other works such as Moliere's "Tartuffe", maybe even a bit of "The Rainmaker". As such, it's got a solid basis upon which to build a movie.
What is presented is a mildly amusing soft-hearted satire of contemporary life among the rich who spend more time self-analyzing than most people working. Richard Dreyfuss is fine as the suddenly successful manufacturer and Bette Midler is perfect as the suddenly rich spouse trying to put too many pieces together at the same time. Nick Nolte is the "down and out" (?) visitor who is saved from drowning in their swimming pool. He immediately becomes all things to all the neurotics involved. It's an obvious plotline which follows.
In a scene seemingly derived from Mazursky's earlier "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!", the madness culminates in a big party. Next door neighbor Little Richard, as the decidedly flambouyant Orvis Goodnight, gets down on piano and rocks out on the uptemo "Great Gosh A'Mighty" [a successful single for LR in '86, by the way]. It's a fun scene, but it's shot too much like a video and the music is not up front. Richard does a nice job in an earlier scene which does not involve music. He appears suddenly in Dreyfuss' backyard, raving about the kind of emergency help available for whites as opposed to blacks. The racial overtones seem dated here, as they do in scenes with Nolte and the domestic help.
The movie has an under-developed air about it, like Mazursky's "The Pickle" and the above mentioned "...Alice B. Toklas". The viewer wants to be challenged into deciding if the suicide attempt was a put-on by Nolte so as to hang with rick folks for a while. You might want to fire up the treadmill or vacuum while this tape rolls.

A Must See Comedy
It has been some time since I saw this flick, but it is a must see for anyone who has not seen it.

One of the best comedies ever made
Despondent over the loss of his dog, Jerry the bum is rescued from an attempted suicide in the swimming pool of a wealthy Beverly Hills businessman, Dave Whitman, and subsequently teaches Whitman to eat garbage, cures the neurotic dog, seduces Whiteman's ungreencarded maid, new-aged-gurued wife, and anorexic daughter, gives the gay son permission to come out of the closet, destroys Whitman's New Year party, teaches the whole family to walk on hot coals and ruins the garden by urinating on the flowers. All of this and a good deal more, produces continuous laughter.

Still great
After more than 15 years, this comedy still elicits huge laughs and the primary reason for that is it's sharp. It bites. No comedy can last through the years without some noticeable degree of sharp social irreverence built into it. It just can't be done. And this comedy is nothing if not irreverent.

Based on the '30s French farce Boudu Saved from Drowning, the American director Paul Mazursky does a terrific job of fusing stinging satire with mock pathos as Nick Nolte's street bum Jerry, having lost the last thing important to him--his dog--decides to end it once and for all. Stumbling into the upper crustean Beverly Hills, he manages to locate a swimming pool at whose bottom he decides to meet his maker. The pool, as it happens, belongs to Richard Dreyfuss' Dave Whiteman, a very wealthy wire hanger mogul, and his daffy wife played by Bette Midler.

Dave's maid, the always fetching Elizabeth Pena, is playing hanky-panky with Dave, yet Dave is not without a heart. He catches sight of Jerry right after his plunge and rescues him, and the rest, as they say, is hysterical.

Everybody, as it happens, winds up loving Jerry--Dave's wife, Dave's maid, Dave's dog, Dave's son, and Dave's daughter. And even Dave himself. What 'love' means here depends on who is doing the loving. Dave's neighbor is Little Richard who can't help but toss in a couple of his songs here and there, which adds to the romp that is this film. Jerry manages to teach just about everybody a thing or two about life--even the dog learns how to eat regular dog food from him.

These days, as the rich get slightly--but not a lot--less rich, and the poor definitely get poorer, it's refreshing to see a comedy that irreverently laces into both. This really refers to class under attack here, and that word has more than one meaning. Social class, what we think of as class (as in 'a class act'), and what we learn from each other (it's Jerry who leads the class--he's the real teacher here) all get the treatment.

A great satire well worth watching, if not owning. Don't miss. ... Read more

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In 1974, the Oscar nominees for Best Actor included Jack Nicholson (Chinatown), Al Pacino (Godfather Part II), and Dustin Hoffman(Lenny). And the winner? Art Carney for this Paul Mazursky comedy about a retired schoolteacher evicted from his apartment to make way for urban redevelopment. So he takes his cat, Tonto, and heads cross-country to live with one of his children. But the trip is an eventful one, involving encounters with an assortment of friends and strangers. Carney is a game and canny old pro and he helps this film rise above its occasionally sentimental excesses; the result is consistently entertaining. But honestly--the Oscar over Nicholson, Pacino, and Hoffman? You be the judge. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (15)

A Wonderful Film
This is not a comedy, by any stretch of the imagination, and Art Carney deserved his Oscar. There are some very funny moments but they are mainly bittersweet-this is a sad story. I saw it for the first time today and will be thinking about both Tonto and Harry for a long time. This is a movie that takes you in immediately, makes you care about its characters and relies on a great story to carry it through. If you have a heart this excellent film will touch you. It was much too short.

A Superb Look At Life; Six Stars!
I have recently bought a copy of "Harry and Tonto" (1974) and it has undoubtebly become my favorite comedy picture! I love its Woody Allen-esque traces and wonderful catch lines about politics, life, etc. The theme of an old man traveling incognito-like with a cat to get a place to live is totally original. In the opinion of this writer, Al Pacino honestly did not deserve that Academy Award and it went admirably to Art Carney. A gem of a film: get it, watch it, love it!

Well-Paced Human Interest Story from 1974
What can you do if you're a senior citizen, retired and living on a small fixed income, when the apartment building in which you've lived for the past 30 years or so is about to be demolished to make way for an upscale high-rise? What can you do if your best friend, who promised to take you in, then up & dies? What can you do if you are then taken in by your son and his family who pretend that they want you but, all the while, you know in your gut that you are an absolute burden to them? What can you do if your only true friend is yourself--and your cat? Would you have the courage to uproot yourself for the first time in your life and to discover new places, new experiences and yourself?

Such is the predicament of Harry Coombes (Art Carney, in his Oscar-winning performance), who sets out in search of a new, better life after the old, comfortable existence he always knew is unceremoniously cast by the wayside. In his quest across America, which takes him from New York City to Southern California, he occasionally hooks up with family members--his neurotic son Burt (Philip Bruns) and his dysfunctional family, cold-hearted daughter Shirley in Chicago (a well-cast Ellen Burstyn, who won her much-deserved Best Actress Oscar in the same year for Martin Scorsese's ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE) and philandering son Eddie (an earnest Larry Hagman)--but it's his experiences with others such as hippy chick Ginger (Melanie Mayron), Native American healer Sam Two Feathers (an unforgettable Chief Dan George) and possible new love interest Celia (Sally Marr) that truly guide him to his destination; perhaps his destiny.

Also memorable is the earlier-mentioned dysfunctional family of eldest son Burt, consisting of wife Elaine (Dolly Jonah) and their two grown sons, the ingrate Burt Jr. (Cliff De Young) and the weird, silent Norman (Josh Mostel, in the second significant role of his career). One of the most touching scenes in HARRY AND TONTO is the brief reunion of Harry with his old flame Jessie (a radiant Geraldine Fitzgerald). Their scene together in which they dance to their old memories is one of the greatest in all of cinema.

Art Carney's performance as the 72-year-old Harry Coombes is so incredibly natural that you don't realize that Art was, in fact, only 56 at the time. You also forget all about him having played Ed Norton for all those years in the 1950's on the classic TV sitcom "The Honeymooners." HARRY AND TONTO may not be the most exciting film from 1974, but it is has the most human interest. I personally cannot wait until it comes out on DVD.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Wonderful movie, Art Carney at his best !!!
I purchased this movie after Art Carney passed away last year based on reviews I had read about it. It is one of the nicest movies I have ever seen. It makes you stop and think about how simple life really is ,if you just let it be.

Great Movie That Will Break Your Heart!
This movie came out in 1974, when I was 16 years old, but I don't recall ever hearing of it until I read about Art Carney's death a couple of weeks ago. I promptly ordered the video, watched the movie for the first time last night, and wow! it was so sad it ripped my heart out! It's a great movie, with an outstanding performance by Art Carney (yes, I do think he deserved the Oscar). The thing that most prompted me to get it was the fact that I love cats. If you love cats, I guarantee you'll love this movie, but I also guarantee you'll cry at the end. You'll also feel sorry for Carney's character, an old man who feels he's lost all his old friends and doesn't know his place in the world. He sets out with his cat Tonto trying to find roots, and along the way he meets some strange characters. That's one thing that makes the movie interesting. This movie also took me back to the 1970's and made me realize that life was actually simpler then, when we didn't have the Internet, cell phones, and computerized cars. Watching the movie will give you a feeling of nostalgia (if you can remember the 70's), as well as humor, sadness, and sympathy. A lot of emotions are wrapped up in this movie, and I couldn't believe how real it seemed to me. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Overlooked gem.
It's hard to explain the lack of public response to this charming comedy in 1976. Perhaps because it was released when all cities, especially New York City, were having such hard times. Or maybe it was the casting of mostly unknowns that sank it.

For whatever reason, Paul Mazursky's NEXT STOP GREENWICH VILLAGE is a classic movie about youthful ambition, betrayal, tragedy, and never-ending surplus of hope. While most directors ultimately wind up knee-deep in schlock when making a movie about their youths, Mazursky keeps his focus on honesty. There's an integrity in his examination of these young characters, as they support and/or abuse each other in pursuit of their aspirations.

The performances are sparklers. The late Lenny Baker contributes just the right amounts of comedy, self-doubt and, ultimately, self-confidence the role demands. And, as others have mentioned, Shelley Winters is totally priceless! NEXT STOP GREENWICH VILLAGE should be your next purchase.

PS--When will the dvd version come out?

"The Mother Behind The Throne"
This early Paul Mazursky film could well be his finest achievement. Wonderfully mixing irony and affection, it examines bohemian New York in the 50's, its scenes generously filled with the assorted types - from fragile to vicious - who then flocked to Greenwich Village, seeking personal freedom and frequently a career in the arts. Mazursky's knowledge of that time and place is unerring; the pubs, the street life and the character types he presents are accurately, hilariously and, often, movingly drawn. From the frequenters of the San Remo to the Brando imitators at the Actor's Studio, he recreates the aspiring young people of a time long since gone but still fresh in the memories of some persons who were part of it.
A nostalgic invocation of the past, however, is not the film's sole or even chief strength. That honor goes instead to the amazing part of the actor hero's mother brilliantly portrayed by Shelley Winters, clearly in the role of her career. She is the Jewish Mother On Film for all time. Not just a stereotypical devotee of the classic formula - control guilt feelings and you control the child - she is also, surprisingly and freshly, herself a frustrated artist. When she weeps over the radio singing of Jussi Bjorling, vowing to hear him in person at the Met, or unconventionally jitterbugs, mad glint in her eye, with a black gay guy at a Greenwich Village party she crashes, we feel affection for her despite her cluelessness and manipulations. Hers is an unfulfilled life in Brooklyn, for she's bursting with an artist's energy which has no outlet. This becomes the ground of her aspiring actor son's and then our eventual respect and affection for her despite her meddling as the would-be power behind the son's throne. "Next Stop Greenwich Village," all told, is a film of considerable distinction, and it deserves to be far better known.

A Little-Known Masterpiece
This is an autobiographical film by Mazursky featuring young, then unknown New York actors like Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, and Bill Murray, and it gives us one of Shelly Winter's best performances (it's unforgettable). Greenwich Village in the 50s, the Bohemian era with its cafes, rent parties, and blossoming sexual freedoms. Lenny Baker promised to be our own Jean-Paul Belmondo--he died young--and this is his best performance: sensible, yearning, funny, and blossoming with talent and ambition, he catches it perfectly. The remaining cast is surprisingly powerful, and the mood that Mazursky catches is memorable: freedom and youth, humor and youthful hypocrisy in an era cracking at the seams to reinvent the world and still have it all. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This Paul Mazursky film was considered pretty hot stuff when it came out in 1978 and was part of a wave of films that opened Hollywood's eyes to stories of women discovering their own identity. And it still holds up. Jill Clayburgh plays a comfy East Side wife whose lawyer husband (Michael Murphy) one day drops a bombshell on her: He doesn't love her and he's walking out on the marriage. Clayburgh, who is accustomed to thinking of herself as an adjunct to her man, suddenly must stand on her own two feet. But it's not an easy transition for her. This was one of the first movies to show how tough it can be, and Clayburgh portrays a compelling blend of vulnerability and growing strength. She even meets a great new guy, a painter (Alan Bates) who, she discovers, she can love without losing herself in the process. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Great acting, superb script
What I like about this film is that it leads the viewer through the heart-wrench and painful gutted sense of a woman who discovers her husband has been unfaithful, and then who goes through the slow process of making a life without him. You actually go through those feelings with the wife. One criticism is that it's a little bit hard to believe Jill Clayburgh, who's otherwise so sharp, could have put her WHOLE life into her dopey husband, since she appears college-educated and has worked part-time even through her marriage. Michael Murphy always plays kind of super-achiever but wishy-washy characters, and typically a woman he'd be involved with would have her own life anyway.

It's never too late to become your own person
I first saw this movie with my mother when it was released theatrically. Because I was just 13 years old, some of the subject matter sailed right over my head, but I was still entranced by the film and cheered Erica on to find her own happy ending.

I have seen the film many times since, and it has become one of my all time favorite movies. Jill Clayburgh shines as Erica and brings such a believability to this role. You are right there with Erica as she revels in her comfortable Upper East Side life, as she walks around in a fog when her husband leaves, as she takes those tentative first steps into the world of dating, as she finds love once again, and ultimately, as she emerges as a woman who discovers who she is and is determined to face life and love on HER terms.

I think this is Paul Mazursky's best work. He was not afraid to explore his feminine side and write this film from a woman's point of view. Many of the themes brought up in the film, such as loss, self-esteem, and independence still ring true today and I am hard pressed to name a recent film that explores this territory as well.

On a purely aesthetic level, I would kill to have Erica's apartment. A spacious, tastefully decorated hi-rise apartment with stunning views of Manhattan...I would be in heaven. The movie gets a star alone for that location.

Unmarried Woman
It`s excellent. I need the films have subtitles in spanish, for my english very bad. The film have a way for persons unmarried, wish we begin the live again. I live in San José Costa Rica, América Central.

One of the Best Films
This is one of the best films I have ever seen. It is well-written, superbly acted, introspective, accurate.

When will this be on DVD!!!???

SEX AND THE CITY IN THE 1970'S
BEFORE SEX AND THE CITY HOLLYWOOD MADE A GREAT FILM IN THE ERA OF THE EQUAL RIGHT MOVEMENT! IN THIS MOVIE A WOMAN WHO WAS HAPPILY MARRIED FINDS HERSELF SINGLE AFTER HER HUSBAND HAS BEEN HAVING AN AFAIR! AFTER THE DIVORCE SHE DISCOVERS HERSELF AND FIGURES OUT WHAT HER NEEDS ARE! ... Read more

Amazon.com

When director Paul Mazursky is good, he's a keen social observer capable of stinging satire. And when he's bad, he makes movies like this bizarre curiosity. A Los Angeles couple (the improbably paired Woody Allen and Bette Midler) head for the mall on their anniversary to do some shopping and, among other things, wind up revealing marital infidelities and having sex with each other in a movie theater. Aside from the idea of the neurotic Allen visiting a mall, there is surprisingly little entertainment value here. Both actors exert serious effort to impart a humorous spin to some of the most pretentious and tedious dialogue in recent memory. The whole thing is like a lengthy marriage counseling session, minus the counselor. Can this marriage be saved? By the end, you'll be wondering, who cares? --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (14)

The best comedy EVER! Scenes from a Mall
This is the best comedy in the world! Bette Midler and Woody Allen are great. Scenes from a Mall has everything. Heart warming, sad, funny, hilarious!, even happy scenes. It has a weird and odd original idea to it, and that is what I love best about it! BUY IT BUY IT! Scenes from a Mall will not let you down.

pretty good considering the cast
this film is about a husband(Woody Allen) and a Wife(Bette Midler) that go to a trendy mall and reveal some deep and dark secrets to each other

I liked this film because it was differnt from alot of comedys it is set in a mall for god's sake, where they shop and tell secrets to each other.

The title says it all!
This film is about a couple celebrating their wedding anniversary at a Los Angeles shopping mall. The celebration is bittersweet because the husband(Woody Allen) admits his affair to his wife(Bette Midler). The wife remains angry for a while but eventually forgives her husband. Allen and Midler have done better films than this. Midler's much better films include DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS,RUTHLESS PEOPLE and BIG BUSINESS(all made by Buena Vista like this one). Allen's subsequent film MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY from 1993 was much better than this.

Makes The Viewer Feel Like A Mensch Schlep!
I am not a Woody Allen fan. His neurotic persona never appealed to me. I watched this movie because I like Bette Midler. This film makes the viewer feel like a mensch schlep (third wheel, tag-a-long) who went to the mall with them, & has to suffer through their angst, make-ups, yelling matches, etc. because you need a ride home. In between the couple's dysfunction a lame mime is tossed in to try & add some comic relief. This movie could have been so much more.

Tedium! Aisle 6!
Three cheers and an unlimited mall shopping gift certificate to whomever can sit though this stale, bland, virtually humorless, endless piece of crap. Could the dialogue be any duller? Could the 2 stars be more mismatched? I live near one of the 2 malls used for filming and even that tiny tidbit couldn't get me through this tedious mess. Could either of them have had any idea as to what they were in for? I hope this is a product of bad editing and writing since I want to give Woody and Bette a fair shake for trying hard.

Go to the mall on the busiest day of the year for more laughs and insight. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Contemporary Psychobabble Dates Badly
BOB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE starts off as if a stoned hippie with an 8mm cam began to film cinema verite and did not wish to infringe on the rights of an equally stoned cast to get the scene right in the first take. Somewhere in this turgid bloated mess of a psychodrama are some unpleasant truths about the way married couples confront personal and sexual disconnections, but this relevant set of subtexts is hidden under an annoying coating of a 60s mentality of free love, beads, primal scream therapy, and groupsex, all of which date what otherwise have been some eternal truisms.

Robert Culp is Bob, a 40 something successful businessman who is less a fully-fleshed individual than a stereotyped hippie weekend wannabe who wants the freedom to have affairs but is unwilling to give his wife Carol (Natalie Wood) the same right. Bob is not just a man in search of himself. He comes across as an annoying pest who likes to think of himself as a new age guru who believes that he personifies the adage of Do Your Own Thing. Naturally, anyone who dares to show conventional middle class moral objections to his philandering is dismissed as a fuddy duddy out of touch with his own feelings. Carol is even less of a believable person as she skates through life with her feet barely touching the moral ground of life. Director Paul Mazursky allows the viewer to get an idea of how and why Bob and Carol think and act. At the start of the film, they attend a group interaction session led by a therapist who exhorts his patients to engage in some questionable methods: they scream, beat pillows, gawk about the room, and stare into one another's eyes as if to connect on a visual level.

Ted (Eliot Gould) and Alice (Dyan Cannon) are more open with their vulnerabilities, and hence engage us more. Both are disgusted at first with the open fooling around of Bob and Carol. Ted wants more frequent sex with Alice but does not know how to handle her rejection of him. Despite his geekiness, Ted comes across as a reasonably moral man whose own limits are soon to be tested first by a wife whose burgeoning sexuality snaps to attention then later by his own crumbling wall of marital fidelity.

The second half of the film is more interesting than that of the first. The cloying irritability that dominates the first half is replaced by several humorous, yet revealing vignettes that culminate with all four in bed and not knowing or daring what to do. The hesitant expressions on their faces suggest that morality is not a blanket to be donned or doffed at will. BOB AND CAROL AND TED AND ALICE is a potent, if misguided moral fairy tale that warns us that the freedom to be superficially open may in fact be nothing more than a license to hide behind that blanket of openness.

Amusing and Intriguing
Certainly a movie that has publicized the sexual revolution of the sixties and seventies. Very interesting how Bob and Carol's carefree attitude about sex eventually loosens up Ted and Alice's more conservative ways.

Its interesting how Bob and Carol test their relationship with their affairs. Amusing how Carol is quicker to be more accepting of their individual affairs than Bob. Ted and Alice at first are appalled by each of their infidelities. However when they hear the reasons behind their actions, they lighten up their approaches. Bob and Carol truly love each other where their affairs are merely for recreational purposes.

Those who are intrigued by psychology or the free love generation of the late sixties will be specially interested in this video.

A Hip Sendup of the Sexual Revolution
"Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" is an insightful film about the sexual revolution.

It deals with two couples -- one older and into "experimentation" (Bob & Carol), and the other younger and more square (Ted & Alice).

In a sense, the sexual experimentation of Bob and Carol epitomized the 60's ethos of (perhaps pathological) self-reflection and the idea that "if it feels good, do it." (We're still feeling the reverberations of that.)

But the ending of this enjoyably funny movie also indicates that most people can only go so far. Whether its cultural conditioning or innate, there are certain lines that most people simply cannot cross....

The movie does not pass judgment, but ultimately, there is a message there.

All the actors are good, but Elliot Gould and Dyan Cannon especially so. (They were both nominated for supporting Oscars.) Dyan Cannon is wonderful -- she's the best thing about the movie.

sexual revolution
I watched this movie on local television in the UK a couple of weeks ago, turning it on a half hour or so into it.

Once I got past the shallow critique of hair styles and clothing I was able to consider what was happening socially in the US during the late 60s when this movie was conceived/filmed.

I was only 3 when the movie was released but I imagine it was significant for adults at that time. Society was much more open/liberal re: sexuality and the challenging of stereotypes, such as the long-standing double standards afforded to men.

My '4 star' review may be slightly high, but what motivates me to do so has more to do with the subject this movie takes on, its willingness to challenge the status quo and collective consciousness of the public at that time, as well as the honesty in which it's delivered.

The final scene is hardly climactic compared with the latest Bond film but, like much of the film, there's an authentic message there.

Ill-conceived
"Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice" is widely applauded as a breakthrough film, but lets cut through the hype. First what Leonard Maltin calls "ultrasophisticated" is more an exposure of his own dimwittedness than a film commentary. 2 couples seek enlightenment and think they found the key: just have an affair and tell your partner about it...is that really the extent to which enlightenment was explored in the '60s? Such is the main flaw; 2 couples are sincere about transcending middle class limitation, but group encounter sessions do not "insight" make.

Robert Culp and Natalie Wood play the couple who think affair+honesty=enlightenment. As Horst observes, Culp is one hellofaguy. I wish Natalie Wood's husband would let me have her...I'd think he was a nice guy too. What would have made this film good is if at the end they decided to go to India and seek true enlightenment.

On the bright side we have '60s fashions and good Bacharach music...and the beautiful Natalie Wood. The final scene "Love Sweet Love" is an interesting ending to an otherwise disappointing film. ... Read more

Description

The story of a wealthy woman who teams up for revenge with the hitman her husband has hired to kill her. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

"FAITHLESS"
THIS IS THE ONLY CHER MOVIE THAT I ONLY SAW ONCE. CERTAINLY,NOT HER BEST. SHE LOOKED LIKE SHE WAS SLEEPWALKING THROUGH THE ROLE & THE MATERIAL WAS LACKLUSTER. I REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO SEE HER SITTING IN A CHAIR THROUGH THE WHOLE MOVIE. SHE NEEDS A WIDE ARENA TO SHINE & THIS MOVIE DIDN'T PROVIDE IT.

FAITHLESS? NO! FAITHFULLY ENJOYABLE
I would love to rate this 5 stars but I'm an equal opportunity Cher fan. To begin with as other reviewers have remarked, this film - originally produced off Broadway by Palmienteri (who at the time was hot from "The Usual Suspects") does not translate as well to the screen. The wordy script, however, gives Cher some great lines and she really carries the film. It is a very interestingly written screenplay (it varies drastically from the original show) and once again there were rumours of trouble on the set between Cher and Mazursky, the director. The ending and last shot is so obviously stapled on - something Cher was so angry about you can actually see her seething in the scene while she is in the car. And she has good reason - the film reaches a crescendo and then BOOM just falls flat. Cher's performance is wonderful and emotive; unfortunately her recently "touched up lips" shall I say - are hard to ignore in many scenes. (I don't know what she did, however I rode up in an elevator with her back in February and she looked amazing). Ryan O'Neal, as well, is bloated - so there is a desperation of the aging Hollywood actor feel about the film. However, in an odd sense that all actually works very well with the theme of "out with the old" that is O'Neal's character's motivation and Cher's character's desperation as well. A very enjoyable and underrated film.

it can keep you laughing,it's enjoyable movie
from the beggining this movie has a great soundtrack and a beautiful suburb.as for chazz palminteri who played a hired mafia,is such a brilliant actor together with cher.the two actors makes this movie looks like a comedy at times and it can keep you laughing always.this is an enjoyable movie and a must see for all.

A Broken Heart Treat!
Unlike the other reviewers, this under rated and overlooked film put Cher in fine form. She adequately went through the paces of a depressed and suicidal wife to an assertive and in-control woman by the films end.

Anyone who has ever been in a long term relationship will find that their thoughts have been placed in full view on the screen.This was superbly written and acted by Chaz Palmitari who enhanced Cher's performance.

It seemed odd to cast Ryan O'Neal as the slimy husband, but he did manage to pull it off with the accurate yuppie whining headset that the role demanded.

If your heart has been broken or is currently in the throes of a disintegrating relationship, this film is a MUST see! Many introspective ideas will come to the forefront that you may not have considered before.

Rent it if you must, but it is certainly one of those films worthy of a purchase as well as repeat viewings.

Ever had a ceaser salad with ranch dressing?...
...it doesn't quite work, but it's okay right? All the tools are presented to put together a pretty good movie. Paper flat direction by Paul Mazursky is the real let down with this play turned film. No sweat!! Cher and Chazz Palminteri hold things together. Palminteri's script makes many good points, but some how shoots for a degree of shock value that makes for some dialogue that can be a little more hardcore than one might of expected. Thats cool though I haven't heard Cher talk like that since "The Witches of Eastwick" (1987). Some traditional married folk may find themselves offended. This movie was often halarious and insane in it's honesty. Bottomline..for those that love Cher and expect the magic of "Moonstruck", "Mermaids", "Mask", or "Tea with Mussolini". You won't find it with "Faithful". ... Read more

Amazon.com

Robin Williams in his fuzzy, sensitive mode with bittersweet touches plays a musician in a Russian circus who gets talked into defecting by a pal and does so (though the pal bails on him at the last minute)--in the middle of Bloomingdale's. A great concept, to be sure, but writer-director Paul Mazursky doesn't seem to know where to go from there. Williams winds up living in the same kind of poverty that he did in Russia, casting about for a way to make a living while both wallowing and drowning in the sudden tidal wave of freedom. Mazursky wants to make a point about how little we appreciate what we have, but he fails to entertain in the process--or at least to engage in a consistent way. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (14)

A nice addition to your film library
I like Robin Williams as a comedian and even more in dramatic roles (Dead Poets Society, etc). I think he did a very good job in this movie. His love interest, Maria Conchita Alonso did very well also. This is her first American film role and if you have a bit of a crush on her like I do, you will want to see her nude scene. She was Miss Teen World in her mid-teens and later Miss Venezuela. She is in her mid-twenties in this movie and looking very nice and fresh.
Overall, the movie is light-hearted, but compelling. There are silly moments such as when Williams is scurrying around on the floor on his hands and knees while he tries to avoid KGB agents. There are also moments that reminded me of how precious are our rights and freedoms. Sometimes it takes seeing it thru the eyes of others to appreciate what we have. All of the patriotic scenes gave me a lumpy throat and they didn't seem contrived at all.

One of the best roles for Robin Willims so far...
MonH is funny, touching, and more or less credible, as far as the life in the Soviet Union goes.

Robin Williams, who never ceases to amaze, speaks Russian and plays sax in this film. He mamages to re-create general "Soviet Man" image without many common stereotypes.

Most of the film's story is actually true, based on the life of an immigrant jazz-musician, who is still alive and well. In 70s, this man managed to leave Soviet Union and settled in New York.

The title sums up the story nicely, too.

the dawning of glasnost
This is not a great movie but definitely a sleeper. Robin Williams does a fine job as a jazz musician from Russia who deeply desires the freedom--and gets his chance--to play in America. The scene where he and his bandmates are being briefed by the KGB before traveling to New York is priceless, especially where the head agent pronounces Greenwich Village as "green-Vich Ill-yage". But the most priceless scene is where Robin Williams does defect in that greatest symbol of all American democracy and capitalism, Bloomingdales. From there, the movie teeter-totters between a comedy of cultures and some soppy sentimentality. Still, this is a movie well worth seeing, expecially for those of us who remember the dawning of glasnost

A snapshot of New York
After visiting New York for the first time, I had to order this DVD. The film captures the experience I had in NY: Everyone was from someplace else! The hot dog vendors, the cab drivers, hotel staff, store personnel, waiters, carriage drivers, street performers. I loved the scene in the cafe: so-called American waitress, the lawyer from Puerto Rico (or Cuba?), the Asian and the Russians. This may seem like flag waving and some critics might nitpick, but the film truly captures the flavor of NY. Now, whenever I want to go back there again, I watch this film. All the cast was great, plenty of humor, a feel-good movie that celebrates America. Watch for the scene where Robin Williams is being followed.

Good entertainment
This is Robin Williams at his best. He displays a variety of talents. There is good comedy as well as a historical perspective. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Love Triangle- two's company three's A crowd.
Excellent romantic-comedy directed by Paul Mazursky centering around the free-spirited-relationship's of three people through the un-conventional decade the 70's. Willie a jewish english teacher in New York meet's Phil italian-photographer at a screening of Jules et Jim and strike up a friendship as best buddies until the fateful day the meet Jeanette a young woman down on her luck from Kentucky and she tosses a coin to decide whom to move in with. From their their relationship's intertwine as their destines are interlocked forever. Willie and Jeanette get pregnant and have a baby while Phil move's out West to LA and big success. Willie known to Phil as Mars never seem's to know what he want's and after moving onto a farm for a few years Jeanette's had enough wanting more out of her life she moves to LA with Phil as he trek's of for India and enlightenment. Complication's arise hilariously as Phil's strict Catholic parent's arrive on the scene. Eventually it is the woman between the two men that chart's course into her own direction as neither can decide whom should stay with her. A whimsical if not somewhat nostalgic-look back through the 70's and comic-look at the coming together of two best-frien'ds and the luscious woman they both love. Performances by Michael Ontkean(Willie),Margot Kidder(Jeanette)and Ray Sharkey(Phil).Fleeting cameo by Natalie Wood in scene walking on Phil's beach. Recommended Viewing! ... Read more

Amazon.com

This underrated film by director Paul Mazursky stars Richard Dreyfuss as an underemployed actor who is offered a great acting role, though outside of New York. Still, beggars can't be choosers and he accepts--only to discover that the part involves impersonating the dictator of Parador, a troubled Central American country on the verge of revolution. The dictator has died, but his chief adviser (Raul Julia) doesn't want that news to come out; he'd rather continue the charade that the big guy is still in charge. And to his surprise, the actor discovers that he enjoys the acting challenge, until he figures out that Julia is positioning himself to take over as the country's true strongman. Naturally, Dreyfuss also discovers that, aside from enjoying the perks of power (including the late dictator's toothsome mistress, Sonia Braga), he actually has the power to do some good--to Julia's chagrin. Dreyfuss captures the actor's insecurity, while Julia is hilarious as the wild-eyed adviser to whom torture is second nature. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Entertaining Spoof on Latin American Politics
When I first saw this movie over a decade ago, I was so happy to see that Hollywood decided to film a movie about the political charade many Latin American republics of that era were involved in. Except for a few democracies, Latin American was still a mecca for dictators and coup d'etat's.

Parador (must me a hybrid of the countries "Paraguay" and "Ecuador" since Parador in Spanish means "inn") is a country in a deep crisis. Their dictator has died mysteriously and the oligarchy that really rules the country is looking for someone to take his place. Enter Richard Dreyfuss, a struggling New York actor who gets the role of a lifetime playing a third-world despot. At first he finds it amusing, but later realizes that the charade he is performing is really hurting the people he is supposed to rule.

Filmed in Minas Gerais, Brazil, "Moon Over Parador" features that talents of some of Latin America's best actors. Puerto Rican actor Raul Julia and Brazilian actress Sonia Braga both steal the show as the president's advisor and mistress respectively. I was happy to see Spanish singer Charo in a small role as one of the president's maids and the ambiance of a small Latin American republic is perfectly captured by director Paul Mazurksy ("Down and Out in Beverly Hills").

This is a film that deserves to be on DVD. It is one of the 1980's hidden gems, and hopefully Universal will release it in the DVD format it rightfully deserves to be on. "Moon Over Parador" outranks Woody Allen's "Bananas" as the best spoof of Latin American politics ever made. It's a comedic masterpiece.

Moon Over Parador
Its president greets an actor finishing up a movie in a Latin American country. The actor shows his talent for mimicking the president. Naturally the people that really run the country is observing this. After the president dies from overindulging in the local food and drink called "Puma" The actor is recruited to keep the country stable.

Take the time to look at the list of actors in the movie as even thought a hand full take the show, there are many major (and minor) popular actors in this movie. Just a few are:

Dana Delany as Becky in " Housesitter" (1992) ASIN: 6302579449

Richard Dreyfuss as Roy Neary in " Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977) ASIN: 0767827031

Raul Julia as Archbishop Oscar Romero in " Romero" (English Version) (1989) ASIN: 6301589068

Jonathan Winters as Whoppa Chopper Pilot/Ohio Cop with Bullhorn/Jeb in Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000) ASIN: B00003CXJ9

There is some Social redeeming value in this movie and a lot of one liners.

Paraguay - Ecuador
Fabulous movie! Did you know the movie Title is actually a combination of Paraguay and Ecuador? I was formerly a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador and traveled extensively in Paraguay. This movie is a great spoof (in a tender/humorous way) of the prototypical "banana republic". There is more than a little truth in this satire. Required viewing for any Latin American studies majors. Enjoy!

Film Fun Mazursky Style!
Paul Mazursky has worked with so many greats in his extensive filmography, but you would have to reach far to top this group for crazy laughter, great gauging humor, and the translation of an old tale told extremely well! Method is what you will get from Raul Julia here, he (Julia) simply takes this role and runs with a brisk, snappy style that this (normally dry) role really needs. Also pulling it off are Dreyfuss and Braja as victims of circumstance, and they pull it off to exhaustion! Dreyfuss can feel this role and that is apparent, he seemed to have a great time with this and in doing so, was magnificent and very funny. Jonathan Winters will surprise you in his brief stints, but he is also quite effective. Mazursky makes you laugh, sympathize, and laugh again to finish off this cute film that is well worth seeing, even if you only go to see the Mazursky cameo (President Simms disgustingly precocious mother) "You Swine"

DVD ?
This movie is a super flick. Dreyfuss at his best in my opinion. I wonder when they will put it on DVD ? ... Read more

Description

In a nation that loved gossip, Winchell loved gossip, and the nation couldn't help but love WINCHELL. From young starlets to aging businessmen, from presidents to purse-snatchers, Winchell didn't just report the news ... he made it. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A riveting story of one of the most unforgettable characters
Stanley Tucci's portrayal of Walter Winchell is nothing short of brillant. It's no small wonder why he won an Emmy for this movie. The story and natural flow of Winchell's life, spanning over sixty years, was both eye-opening and gripping. The clothes, sets, and supporting actors all added to this interesting and factual story, and one not to be missed and enjoyed.

A Great Portrayal Of A Complex Man
Recently while accepting his Emmy award for this film, Stanley Tucci sheepishly told the audience "This is a mistake". Well, wrong, Stanley, because you were absolutely fantastic portraying Walter Winchell, king of the gossip columnists for many decades. Luckily last year when it was on HBO I taped it, & I've watched it 3 times since then, it's that good! Highly recommended, and if you've not yet seen Stanley Tucci's work, this is a great way to get started. Highly recommended. ... Read more

Amazon.com essential video

Nobel laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer wrote often about despair and redemption, the subjects of his novel on which this Paul Mazursky film is based. Ron Silver plays a Holocaust survivor who has moved to America and married the Polish gentile who hid him from the Nazis. An intellectual, he is not satisfied with this simple peasant woman and so he has an affair with a sultry émigré (Lena Olin). His life is then made more complicated by the reappearance of his wife from the old country (Anjelica Huston), who he thought had died in the Nazi death camps. Mazursky and his terrific cast find the pain, irony, and sad humor in this material, capturing Singer's tone and bringing it to life. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (7)

grief, love, forgiveness
I saw this movie after reading Steven Pinker's non-fiction book on socio-biology, "The Blank Slate." Pinker recommended this movie based on a tale by Isaac Bashevis Singer, for its study of the human condition, ripe with irony, seasoned with despair, love and forgiveness.

The casting is excellent, and the acting is first-rate from beginning to end. Male viewers will wonder how Herman Broder gets so lucky, having three different but highly appealing women in love with him. Tidily, the three women are from three boroughs of New York City, a typical Singer touch, and the movie includes a scene where Broder stands at the subway entrances deciding which direction to take.

Highly recommended.

Great film, awful DVD
I concur with other viewers who found the DVD unacceptable in sound quality. Oddly enough, it gets excellent reviews as a DVD transfer. They must have had a different copy. But the film itself remains as fresh and exciting as when it first was issued. Mazursky captures the spirit (if not all the nuances) of I. B. Singer's marvelous novel about Holocaust survivors in New York in the 1950s. None of the reviewers here seem either to have read the book or really understood the point of the film -- Herman Broder, ghost writer, who was hidden during the war by the Polish servant who saved him and marries her (Jadwiga), finds passion with Masha, who survived the camps with her mother (Eros and Thanatos certainly go together here), and discovers his first wife (Tamara), who was shot with her children by the Einsatzgruppen and left for dead, is actually alive. Each represents a different facet of the catastrophe, conveniently divided among the New York boroughs. Anyone, by the way, who has read anything of Singer, including this book, would recognize his very typical take on male sexuality. I would advise viewers to see this film (or see it again) and think more deeply about what's at stake in this ironic tragicomedy than look for mindless and shallow entertainment.

Great movie. Lousy soundtrack remaster. Disappointing!!
I have to concur with another posted review. Played a rented DVD on my home 2-speaker system. The Dolby 5.1 soundtrack is flat, muffled, and during several outdoor scenes, features a digital "howling" harmonic from background sound FX (street traffic, maybe?). It made the film difficult to listen to, and disappointing. The laserdisc release featured "Dolby Surround" audio (now called Dolby 2.0), which would indicate that someone messed this new release up in the transfer. Shameful.

Enemies - a Love Story
I have recently bought the video of this film and very much enjoyed it. The acting, direction, music and photography were all excellent. However, I do have one gripe and that is the sound quality. I had to re-run the tape several times to find out what the actors were saying. I don't know whether it's a sound fault or the actors mumbling. Whichever, it marred the film for me. I do love the film, though, and have played it several times.

Enemies : A Warner Bros. Ripoff
I don't know about anyone else but I bought this dvd having seen it when it was first in theatres and remember it being enjoyable. The story of a Jewish immigrant in New York who finds himself either married or invovled with three different women at the same time. So far so good but here's where my problem comes in. I put in the dvd ready to enjoy myself and I couldn't hear what was going on. The sound quality on this pressing was TERRIBLE! The music and dialogue kept going in and out and was muffled so bad that I didn't even get a chance to see 10 minutes of the movie. It says it was in dolby digital stereo and I have a surround sound system and I still couldn't hear without turning the volume way up and it still was muffled. I returned the movie and didn't bother getting another fearing they were all pressed the same way. Did anyone else run into this problem or did I just get a bad copy... ... Read more

Amazon.com

How many people who watch him on television's Just Shoot Me realize that at one point in the early 1970s George Segal was the biggest romance-comedy star in Hollywood? This Paul Mazursky film gives some clue as to why. Segal plays a divorce lawyer who is divorced himself after his wife (Susan Anspach) catches him cheating on her. She, in turn, moves on and falls into an easy-going relationship with an even more easy-going musician (Kris Kristofferson in one of his first film roles). But Blume chooses this moment to fall back in love with his ex-wife and begins to woo her anew. Segal has warmth, but with an edge, and a way with one-liners; this performance is one of his best from this period, which is shortly before his career self-destructed for a decade. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (3)

I just love this movie.
And Chester... God he was a good ol' goat.

I adore this movie and hope you will, too
I just watched "Blume in Love" again after a long lapse, and it's held up beautifully. It's about an attorney (George Segal) who still loves his ex-wife (Susan Anspach) even though she no longer loves him and is living with a musician (Kris Kristofferson in his first role). There's so much to savor that I'll just record a few random impressions for you:

The closing shot, which is perfectly symmetrical with the opening shot, is one of the most satisfying I've ever seen. It gives me the same kind of transcendent joy I got at the fadeout of "Annie Hall" and "Field of Dreams."

There's a rape in the plot that troubles some people, and yet given the era this movie was made and the way the characters themselves deal with the situation in that period, I don't have a problem with it.

The visual riffs on "Death in Venice" are very funny and sweet.

The idea of a shared cold (very early in the movie and never spoken of, just shown) expresses intimacy as well as anything could.

Kristofferson is hilariously laid back and sweet here, and his song about Chester the goat will stay with you a while.

If you've never been to Venice, and if after "Don't Look Now" you swore you'd never go, this movie might just change your mind.

I hope you see this movie if you haven't.

Perhaps not for everyone, but for those who have experienced
some of life and love's ups and downs, inside and outs, a wistful comedy about a shmuck who destroys his marriage with a casual affair and thereby liberates his ex-wife into becoming an independent woman who go on with her life, while he tries to regain that which he had had and lost; Segal, Anspach, and Kristofferson perfect in their roles in this period piece (70's) but with lasting appeal. A woman's movie that appeals to consciousness-raised men as well, with love winning in the end, but between which parties? Ah, there's the rub. Enjoy SHALOM Alex ... Read more

Amazon.com

This autobiographical 1970 film by Paul Mazursky came on the heels of his success with Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Donald Sutherland stars as a young filmmaker who finds himself the toast of Hollywood after having a big commercial hit. But he feels that he should be doing work that challenges--and even puts off--the mass audience.As the studios clamor for his next film, he finds himself mired in self-conscious writer's block that ultimately leads him to Italy and a meeting with his idol, Federico Fellini (in a cameo as himself). Self-conscious is one of the words critics applied to this film, an obvious and only occasionally funny homage to Fellini's 8 1/2. Nevertheless, it's an interesting artifact of its time. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A magnificent self-indulgent masterpiece!
I probably have a real soft spot for this movie, since the one and only time I was in Hollywood was with my family as a kid when this movie was being made. But it wasn't just your typical movie location! Of course we all wanted to see Hollywood Blvd and got there very early in the morning. What we saw blew us away. Basically the entire Viet Nam war was taking place. Literally. There were tanks and bombs and Viet Cong prisoners and marines, and men in top hats and tails dancing on the rooftops (I don't remember that from Viet Nam, actually!), and Donald Sutherland all bearded and hippy looking, leading the "parade" crying his eyes out! I just sort of knew, even as a child that this was NOT your typical Hollywood scene! It was of course the famous Hollywood Blvd.-Viet Nam War dream sequence from Alex In Wonderland. The movie seemed to be following us around, since when we got to the airport, we saw, on the tarmac, ambulance and police and tons of people wondering around as if gassed, and bodies everywhere! Again... yes, a scene from "Alex"! I tried to wonder as we flew back to Boston, how all this was going to make a movie. In fact, it almost doesn't... but this wonderful mess of a movie is filled with imagery and ideas, and self-indulgent moments of enlightenment. It reminds me of a coffee shop out here. They make something called Missy's Mess. It's scrambled eggs with about 15 other ingredients thrown in. Actually I've been told that "Missy" throws in whatever looks good in front of her and just sort of fries it all up with lots of hot garlic, onions and hot sauce. It may look terrible, and you may not want to eat it every day, but oh, in the right mood... it's ambrosia! That is, I think the best description of Alex In Wonderland. Of course, Mazursky is doing his version of 8 ½ (and in fact has a wonderful moment where Alex goes to Italy to read a script and actually runs into Fellini who editing his TV documentary "The Clowns" and really has no interest in hearing from yet another "young American filmmaking fan")... but this is more than that. Mazursky had just come off several hits and had the power to make basically anything he wanted. The studios at the time really didn't have a clue (now they not only don't have a clue, they don't even now what game they're playing)... so they let him do what he wanted. Unlike so many other filmmakers who are given this freedom, Mazursky actually has talent and intelligence... so that when he makes his personal movie with a major studio budget, it rings with so much more entertainment and eye candy. "The Last Movie" this isn't! Disneyland on acid is more like it. Simply it's a movie about a moviemaker in search of his next movie. So much of that has to do with Sutherland's performance. He is not a man full of himself, but someone who understands with total sober clarity the "fluke" of fame, the power he has... and how fleeting that power is in Hollywood (this movie was made long before the phrase "flavor the month" came into vogue). And therefore, you really feel his worry, when he realizes that his next movie must be something good... something important, or else he too will end up out of "flavor", teaching extension courses in Fresno. Scene after scene delights with staggering honesty of the "biz" without getting too "in" about the whole thing. Yes, everyone talks about his shutting down Hollywood Blvd, and then staging the Viet Nam war on it, but perhaps the most brilliant scene is Sutherland going to see the head of MGM (played by Mazursky himself). There have been dozens of scenes done before and since to show just why movies are as bad as they are... basically because the people who make the decision are functionally illiterate, incompetent, and without any qualifications for the job. To watch Mazursky trying to convince Sutherland to make a "modern day" version of Huck Finn, or a just plain dumb "heart transplant" story (ironically, Sutherland made virtually that very movie years later called "Threshold"!) is classic filmmaking of the highest degree. Sutherland's reactions to this vapid shallow man, more interested in his pet monkey and wine collection that making movies says more about what's wrong with the "biz" than volumes of text. But there are also scenes of wonderful "control". Especially the long, slow, yet achingly naturally moments of Sutherland at home with his family. A sequence of him in his tub with his daughter, and another with his wife (a young Burstyn in her best performance) in bed, right after they've made love... ring so true and so universal to ANYONE with a family that it transcends a "filmmaker's odyssey", and becomes, instead, the odyssey of any man (or woman) who find themselves suddenly holding the brass ring and has no idea what to do with it.

For anyone who loves movies, this is a must have. I never thought it would make its way to video... so I'm delighted to see it here. The nice coda to this movie is the fact that the REAL filmmaker, Paul Mazursky DID go on to make one great hit after another. It's nice to know, even those "Alex In Wonderland" ends with Sutherland running through an empty house he may buy (and which could put him in instant debt)... pretending to be Errol Flynn... still without a clue what he's going to do next... that the REAL filmmaker's triumphant, not only had a clue... but the talent and the resources to back it up. ... Read more

Description

With equal parts humor and vitriol, Academy Award®-winner Richard Dreyfuss and Emmy Award®-winner Judy Davis portray Barnaby and Maxine Pierce, a middle-aged couple exploring the ups and downs of a marriage that has spun out of control.They embark on a cross country road trip from Connecticut to Los Angeles to attend the wedding of their son and give him their vintage Thunderbird as a wedding gift.By reflecting on the life they’ve shared together, the couple begins to re-evaluate their marriage and discover the possibility of rekindling their relationship. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

the pickle
this movie sucked big time, trust me my uncle was in this movie and it sucked

(pause) Sour.
It's always good to watch performers like Danny Aiello, Shelley Winters, and Dyan Cannon in an imaginative enterprise...like this movie was supposed to be. Maybe "The Pickle" was to be Paul Mazursky's "Stardust Memories" [Woody Allen's highly personal and decidedly off-beat effort]. All three try to wring life out of an unfocused, one-note script, leaving the viewer with the uncomfortable feeling that the performances are merely drammatic exercises in an acting class.
The premise is interesting: Aiello, the serious director of "art" films can no longer make a buck doing 'em, so he is convinced that in order to keep the home fires burning he must...stretch a bit. Like make a all-out crowd-pleaser with all the trendy, commercial stuff you can think of, with a totally spaced out science fiction backdrop. So the burned out Director reaches into his own psyche for whatever feels right, whatever works. When he was a child he was rewarded with a nice juicy pickle. So a pickle takes on guargantuan proportions and seemingly human intelligence.
One depressing and pointless scene blends into the next.
While the premiere of the film takes place its' embarrassed Director attempts to take his life in a hotel room and Aiello's acting is strong, but again pretentiousness reduces the impact. Little Richard fans note that the Architect makes a second Mazursky appearance - the first being the '86 "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" with a production number of the 1956 recording of "Good Golly, Miss Molly".

¿More pickle juice!¿
Danny ("The Professional," "Jacob's Ladder") Aiello plays a once-respected director who whores himself out to do a big budget sci-fi action flick, hysterically rolling-out his anxieties, fears, and mid-life neuroses on the eve of the film's premiere. Shelly ("The Poseidon Adventure") Winters is Aiello's tough, no-nonsense mum, and the movie-in-a-movie is actually pretty cool, featuring Ally Sheedy, Griffin Dunne, and Little Richard as the president of an alien world, whose inhabitants eat only beef. "More pickle juice!" ... Read more