A buttoned down lawyer joins the flower power party
I Love You Alice B. Toklas was released by Warner Bros./Seven Arts on October 18, 1968
Director: Hy Averback
Cast: Peter Sellers, Leigh Taylor-Young, Jo Van Fleet,
Joyce Van Patten
A strait-laced, middle-aged lawyer (Sellers), tunes in to the charms of a very fetching Leigh Taylor-Young (who, in her feature film debut, turns in a very credible performance as the quintessential hippie chick), and soon thereafter turns on and drops out.
This one is pretty decent. There are some genuinely funny moments and the premise almost holds together until the last reel when the hippie absurdity stretches the plausibility factor a little too far. Still, it’s worth a peek.
Featured Califormulants
There are several reveling shots of the Sunset Strip section of Sunset Blvd. c.1968 scattered throughout the film, as well as a few nice shots of Venice Beach, which include a hippie shop situated among the colonnades left over from Mr. Kinney’s Venice of America.
The very groovy audio enhancement comes from old school soundtrack master Elmer Bernstein, who contributes an appropriately cheery score featuring an Indian sitar, and even throws in an equally cheery title tune sung by sunshine popsters The Harpers Bizarre.
Bonus Tracks
And that cheery title tune can be heard right here on YouTube.
And then, of course, there’s the official trailer.
Back to the Cpop Cinema