In Southern California, documentary filmmaker Robert Culp (as Bob Sanders) and his beautiful wife Natalie Wood (as Carol) participate in group sensitivity for research. They meditate and get in touch with inner feelings; they stare at each other, hit pillows and cry. The experience enlightens our co-stars, and Mr. Culp later reveals he had a one night stand in San Francisco. This leads Ms. Wood to consider hitting the rackets with a tennis instructor. Wood and Culp share sexual feelings with each other and best friends Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon (as Ted and Alice Henderson) come into the bed...
Though considered by many to be very 1960s, sessions like the one in the opening are used today to "bond" workers in new employment situations; however, the cigarette smokers and topless women are not in evidence. The swinging sixties weren't easy to capture in films, as most of the movies trying to reflect the times seem silly; moreover, they usually presented through the eyes of personnel older than hippie age. "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" is really only a hesitating tease, and consequently works better than some contemporary fare. Most obviously, Natalie Wood is sexy and stupendous.
******* Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (9/17/69) Paul Mazursky ~ Natalie Wood, Robert Culp, Elliott Gould, Dyan Cannon
