[.ca] I Love You, Alice B. Toklas

From Amazon.com:
Poor Harold Fine (Peter Sellers)... he's a suit-and-tie-wearing Jewish professional who's being pressed by his fiancée (Joyce Van Patten, in a supremely whiny and irritating performance) to nail down a wedding date. Harold's bored and dissatisfied with his life, though; when he meets Nancy (Leigh Taylor-Young), a hippie-chick friend of his brother's, he decides to tune in, turn on, and drop out, in a big way. He flees the altar, leaving Joyce standing alone, and pursues the counterculture life. Soon, though, Harold discovers that the hippie life isn't all it's cracked up to be, with its hipper-than-thou hypocrisy adding up to little more than a different brand of conformity. Screenwriter Paul Mazursky skewers the shallowness of the '60s with dead-on humor and some hilarious set pieces; the scene where Harold and his straitlaced parents eat some of Nancy's "funny" brownies is especially memorable. Sellers's comic timing and physical awkwardness, paired with Mazursky's dialogue, makes this one of the better '60s-time-capsule flicks. --Jerry Renshaw

This Movie Needs To Be Released On DVD!!!:
It's a very sad state of affairs when a comic artist the caliber of Peter Sellers is not as appreciated as he should be. The man was a genius at playing the uptight middle class doltish kinda guy. And his Harold Fine is the quintessential umcd. I didn't see this film until the late 80's. My brother & I were stoned one night and just laughed our asses off. It was amazing how the film had retained its comic force after 20 years. After viewing it I gave it a few years and wondered if it wasn't just the added effect of the drugs but I saw it again stone cold sober and still lmao. Some of the 60's hippie-era stuff probably hasn't aged well but Sellers can't be denied. I think along with his brilliant triple-shot in Dr. Strangelove this is his best work. The film also benefits from its terrific supporting cast including Jo Van Fleet, Joyce Van Patten & Leigh Taylor Young(giving arguably the best of films many spaced-out hippie portrayals). Hopefully whoever owns the rights will get a clue and have this dvd-released sometime soon but if not I highly recommend the vhs version of this comic gem.

Kiss my ankh!:
Peter Sellers is actually fairly toned down in his role as an "uptight" Jewish lawyer who decides to join the Counterculture (quite literally, overnight) after ingesting pot brownies and enjoying a roll in the hay with a free-spirited "hippie chick" (radiant Michelle Phillips look-alike Leigh Taylor-Young). Despite the dated Hollywoodized trappings of late-60's psychedelia (including the inevitable Party Scene, although interestingly nobody falls into a swimming pool for a change), Paul Mazursky's script is at its heart a serio-comic tale of one man's mid-life crisis. Sellers fans take heart,there are still some supreme comic moments (a very stoned and giggly Sellers trying to "maintain" as he watches a straight-faced man getting fitted for a minidress is a definite highlight). The film may have inspired a sub-genre of "Middle Aged Guy/Free-Spirited Young Woman" films like "I'll Never Forget What's 'Is Name" and the more dramatic "Petulia". So warm up the VCR and grab a plate of brownies (don't forget the secret ingredient!)

I Pluck You From The Crannies...:
one of my all time favorites. cannot wait for the DVD release, which hopefully will be coming out soon.

Hip For The Time:
The movie and television industry of the late '60s tried to capitalize on the "Flower Power"/"Summer of Love"/"Drop Out-Counter Culture..." by basing entire projects on this new demographic, often with big budgets and big names: for example, the failed Preminger film "Skido", also from '68; the first season of the television show "Laugh-In", where psychedelia met the "Borscht Belt". Ofcourse, the result were usually poor and embarrassing. "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas!" has generally good writing and very good acting which elevates its' awkward or dated material, although the key scene involving his fiancee and parents's unwitting use of marijuana, as humorous as it is, even by today's entertainment standards is distasteful; likewise some ethnic and sexual orientation material which today would be inconceivable even for sitcoms. A particularly weak scene involves Sellers visit to Young's workplace, a mod Women's boutique. He still hasn't "come down" from the brownie interlude and shows up on an impulse. They flirt a bit until a male customer enters the shop. He is a masculine guy who shocks the giddy Sellers by asking to try on a dress. The reaction is uncontrollable laughter on Sellers' part, while Taylor-Young attempts to make the sale. There seems to be a lack of understanding on the creative end here because instead of TY asserting his "individuality", the hey-man-whatever-turns-you-on attitude of the era, she suggests to PS that the outfit might be for a masquerade party. Despite the shaky foundation, Peter Sellers is astonishing as the "successful young Jewish lawyer" about to tie-the-knot. He gets his first real exposure to the Drop-Out folks while (trying to) attend a funeral during a limo drivers' strike - he takes control as chaffeur (in his Mechanic's son's "hippiemobile" he had to borrow) and meets his brother's girlfriend, played by Leigh Taylor-Young. She's the one who...bakes the brownies...and sends him reeling in self-discovery amidst new possibilities. Joyce Van Patten is excellent as Seller's exasperated Secretary/Significant Other, whose we're-not-getting-any-younger attitude finally causes him to capitulate. Her character's amorous reaction to the Alice B. Toklas recipe is notable. For every high there seems to be a low, however, and the ending is a case in point - the lawyer who seems to "come to his senses" following a party which goes haywire at his pad, unexpectedly retreats a second time from the marriage. On the one hand, going "straight" would have made for a bland wrap-up, but consider the idea that Van Patten could have turned the tables on *Sellers* by running off with his brother! \oI guess we'll save that one for the imagined remake!\c. Director Paul Mazursky, well-known for mild but memorable social satire in films like "Moon Over Parador", "Down And Out In Beverly Hills", and "The Pickle" always seems to get the most of out his actors even if the script needs work. This 1968 release utimately survives by some terrific performances.

"What are these LSD clothes he's wearing?":
"I Love You, Alice B. Toklas...and so does Harold Fine!"...and so begins the rousing theme song that belongs to this strange, sometimes random movie with a brilliantly meaningless title that refers to a sole line in the movie. Peter Sellers stars as Harold Fine, an extremely hairy dude who is about to reluctantly marry his annoying secretary. Oh, excuse me, I mean "Administrative Professional"; after all, this isn't the sixties!....OR IS IT???? This movie will take you back to the times of the hippie movement, free love, and hitchhiking. And we think a traditional Hopi Indian outfit is awesome for a funeral.