O Abilolado Endoidou

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.

One of the best comedies of the 1960s and one of the most subversive as well...it's difficult to believe that Warner Bros. released I LOVE YOU ALICE B. TOKLAS. Peter Sellers, in his most American role, plays Harold Fine, an uptight mama's boy putting off any commitment to girlfriend Joyce Van Patten. He falls head over heels for free-spirited Leigh Taylor Young and all hell breaks loose. Sellers is brilliant, Van Patten is pretty funny, and Taylor-Young is striking. The movie is nearly stolen by Jo Van Fleet as Sellers mother, a shrike to be sure, and hysterical eating a "special" brownie. She's priceless...once again giving a great performance as a character of a substantially more advanced age...she was 54 playing 43 year old Sellers mother! Hy Averback's direction is clever and the film is filled with a lot of funny gags...a highlight is Sellers and crew driving ALL OVER Los Angeles in search of a funeral.

Harold Fine (Peter Sellers) is an uptight lawyer, a member of the Establishment. His longtime girlfriend Joyce finally has pinned Harold down on a wedding date, and his life seems to be settling down. But wait! Harold meets Nancy, a friend of his hippie brother, at a family funeral. Turned on by her free thinking, free loving, and free living, Harold leaves Joyce at the altar to be with Nancy. He drops out of society and into hippiedom! Sellers isn't the most likely person to play this role, but he's very good in it. Leigh Taylor-Young, as Nancy, is positively ravishing. The movie takes you back to the late sixties, even if you've never been there. All the sights and sounds are lovingly created by director Hy Averback. And the script! Nearly every aspect of counterculture society in the late sixties is covered, and there's hardly a stagnant scene. In particular, the wild parties at Harold's apartment and the scene where the policeman come upon Harold and Nancy in the backseat of his car are real gems.

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.