The Picasso Summer

San Francisco architect George Smith (Albert Finney) is feeling a little dispirited. He wakes up reinvigorated by his collection of Picasso paintings. He suggests to his wife Alice (Yvette Mimieux) that they go to France to find Pablo Picasso and thank him.

I was expecting a basic travelogue and a minor Picasso retrospective. There isn't much of a plot. There is even less plot than I expected. George finally does something interesting in the last third. The bull fight is interesting, but it adds nothing to the narrative. This is really about Picasso's work being translated into adult-themed animated sequences and various visual stylings. This couple needs a guide or George himself could do more exposition about Picasso. The audience probably needs a helping hand. Quite frankly, they are better off doing an animated short about Picasso's art if they're not going to give drama to this movie. In an aside, how much is that Picasso collection if it's real.

I'd rather be in Guernica. Can you imagine how bad Serge Bourguignon's rough cut must have been for Warner Brothers to reject it in favor of this...what? Call it an R rated Rick Steves episode with stupid Picasso animated psychedelia alternating with dopey devices like the ol split screen/jigsaw puzzle as Albert Finney and Yvette Mimieux bike around southern France, swim in the Med and copulate at the Carlton. Kind of a "Two For The Road" for idiots. And good luck getting that syrupy Michel Legrand score out of your head anytime soon. I bailed right around the time Mimieux and Finney temporarily split up and suggest you do the same before that. C minus.

I had the pleasure of working on this film in a small capacity. At the time I worked for the Campbell, Silver, Cosby Corporation (the producer's) as a secretary. The office was in Beverly Hills where I met, writer Ray Bradbury who was a dear person. One day Ray asked me to Xerox copies of the script he had written. As I made the copies I began to read the pages. I saw where there was a singer for one of the scenes. I asked Ray if I could be the singer. Ray told me it was fine with him but I would have to speak with Bruce (Campbell) and Roy Silver. I did speak to Roy and he told me Cass Elliot was doing the music for that scene. I very brazenly said to Roy "If Cass doesn't do it can I? He said yes I could. Long story short --Cass was not able to do it and I did. The part of the movie I am in is a party scene that was filmed at attorney Melvin Belli's home. I am in a gray suede slip dress standing by a piano with a pianist (I don't recall his name) who was such a nice person. I am singing an old madrigal called "Hard by a Fountain." In the background is the San Francisco Bay with a freighter passing in the shot. On the terrace is the rock band Sopwith Camel. The animation in this film is amazing. I haven't seen it in years and would love a copy.

Good movie about a San Francisco couple (Albert Finny, Yvette Mimieux) who go to France to find Picasso. Beautiful location shooting and some humorous situations as the stars meet various locals and eccentrics in their search. Simple plot is accompanied by music by Michel Legrand.

On the down side are a long and violent sequence in which Finney seeks out a famous toreador who is friends with Picasso. There are also three long and tedious animation pieces that depict Picasso's art and themes of war, love, and the bullfight. These are done in a pulsating psychedelic style and seem interminable.

On the plus side are Finney and Mimieux. Familiar faces include Graham Stark as the postman, Georgina Cookson as the loud lady at dinner, Jim Connell as the artist at the party, and Peter Madden as the blind artist.

The final scene on the beach was filmed on Catalina Island and tacked on. The film was never released in US theaters but has been shown on television.

Originally completed in 1969 but not released by Warners Bros. TV division until 1972 and broadcast on CBS late night movie, "The Picasso Summer" demonstrates, in the most negative manner, what happens when a film director and the "groupthink" of the film's producers are in complete disagreement.

Clocking in at a scant 90 minutes, 60 minutes of which are devoted to frequently tedious animation of Picasso's works, Warner Bros. would have been better served by entirely jettisoning the framing story, that of self-absorbed architect (Albert Finney) and his loving, long suffering wife (Yvette Mimieux). The framing story is reminiscent of the excellent 1967 film, "Two for the Road," which also starred Finney, but with Audrey Hepburn playing the long suffering wife. Hepburn and Mimieux project similar spiritual images, but Mimieux has the added bonus of a sexiness, of which Hepburn could only dream. Think of Jennifer Love Hewitt playing Hepburn (which she did, for a TV movie), but with Hepburn's acting abilities. Even so, most of that 30 scant minutes of live action consists of footage either of peripheral characters, "60's style artsy" footage of the Finney and Mimiuex observing Picasso's art, attending a "pop art" party (the film's worst live action sequence) or bicycling through France. Actual dramatic screen time between Finney and Mimieux clocks in at about 10 minutes.

Fortunately, Warner Bros. did not jettison the live action sequences, because of a roughly 8 minute segment involving Mimieux, an elderly painter and his wife. Of the live action, that is one of the few segments which does not appear to be ugly work-print; and the two scenes are so profound, they make including the live action worthwhile.

Given the talent involved, (Oscar-nominated Serge Bourguignon, five-time scar-nominated Albert Finney, two-time Golden Globe-nominated Yvette Mimieux, Hugo Award-winning classic fantasy/science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, three-time Oscar winner Michelle Legrand and Oscar-winner and multi-nominated cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, the fate of the "The Picasso Summer" seems especially tragic. However, if you do happen to come across "The Picasso Summer" and are not a particularly huge fan of Picasso (which, I am not), copy it and fast forward to the last twenty minutes, as they are worth the watch and are worthy of a "10" rather than the "4" I gave the movie overall.