I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!

I saw this in '68 when I was about in the same place Harold Fine was, in his social development. I was already married and had kids though. At the time of its release this seemed like an important movie. It was funny and satiric but it ended in a positive note for someone ready to drop out. If we'd only known where that was going to lead, but it was fun for a time.

I'm so glad I revisited this over 40 years later (yikes!!) Some of the film I remembered as if I saw it yesterday. Some scenes I had no recollection of. Peter Sellers is marvelous and the rest of the cast is fine. It is a time capsule of a film and really blends film styles. It has a definite TV flavor. Hy Averback mostly worked in TV so that's not a surprise. The film though, is authentic to the time and it was fun to watch for this old hippie.

I Love You Alice B. Toklas is one nostalgic film, especially for those who partook in the hippie movement. It expresses some of the joy and frustrations of what it entails.

Peter Sellers is your 40 something Jewish lawyer from Los Angeles who has put off matrimony, concentrating on work and material success. Now he's ready to take the plunge with Joyce Van Patten and nothing thrills his parents Salem Ludwig and Jo Van Fleet than to see their son final settle down.

But a chance encounter with hippie chick Leigh Taylor-Young on the Freeway where she's hitchhiking and he tunes in, turns on, and drops out. The second is the most important when after a night of some wild sex Taylor- Young gives him some of those marijuana laced brownies so popular in the day. Even his fiancé and parents partake and the result is the most hilarious scene in the film.

I suppose that people have to have a fling at something equivalent of hippie when they're young. Sad to say there is a time when one has to buckle down and assume a few responsibilities for yourself. If we all could be hippies that would be nice, but we all never will be. It was no accident that they were called flower 'children'.

Which brings me to the ending of this film. Sellers eventually has issue with Taylor-Young and they split, but can't commit to his former life and the relationships therein. Director Hy Averback gives us a happy ending which is both funny and yet sad in a way because we really don't know what Sellers will do because he doesn't know himself. I feared the worst for Peter.

A nice cast supports Sellers and Jo Van Fleet has to be singled out as the ultimate Jewish mother. Also take note of Herb Edelman as Sellers brother-in-law, confidante, and a rebound man from way back.

Nice film. Too bad we aren't all hippies. And it would have to be all of us to make it work.

Screenwriters Paul Mazursky and Larry Tucker have a deft idea here--but it only takes an hour on the clock to use up the essence of their idea, leaving nothing but dead space on the screen for thirty more minutes. Milquetoast Jewish lawyer in Los Angeles, about to marry his domineering secretary (an idea which is approved by his demonstrative mother), is reunited with his estranged brother, a flower-child circa 1968. Through the brother's sometime-girlfriend, a comely lass who knows a great recipe for hash brownies, the lawyer realizes he's living an existence without love or freedom. It's wonderful watching bespectacled, buttoned-up Peter Sellers learn how to be liberated...yet, once the lawyer grows his hair out and dons love beads, the picture has nowhere in particular to take us. The satire is unsubtle in its prodding of targets, while writers Mazursky and Tucker ultimately bite off more than they can chew (while leaning precariously on pretentiousness). Still, there are some mild, breezy laughs early on, and the production is bright. ** from ****

Peter Seller's (modern) comedy is set in early 70's California. In many ways, this coming of age comedy is the story of Peter Sellers. Leaving his wife for the single life and "swinging" with several women until marrying his 5th or 6th wife, Sellers kept moving, searching for something else. Much like the final scene, Sellers is seen alone running after the unknown as he continues to find himself. While this is a comedy, the movie has many (hidden) dramas among the mix of laughter and jokes. Also, the movie uses many stereotypes to get laughs. Not that PC for today's audience, it is still funny. Having 10 Mexicans in 1 car, having the Jewish family ask how much the bumper cost at the garage, the hippies preaching peace and the yuppies talking about sex all get laughs in this Peter Sellers comedy.

Entertaining film with lots of 60's memories like psychedelic cars, hip, cool, groovy lingo, long hair wigs, and, naturally....pot. Mr. Uptight just couldn't make up his mind whether he wanted to be a straight or be hip, which caused him to alienate himself from both circles. Fun and funny picture.