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| Art Garfunkel and Candice Bergen |
CARNAL KNOWLEDGE (1971). Director: Mike Nichols. Screenplay by Jules Feiffer.
In college post-WW2, two friends, Jonathan (Jack Nicholson) and Sandy (Art Garfunkel), contemplate getting laid and what type of woman they'd like to wind up with. Sandy begins dating Susan (Candice Bergen), but so does Jonathan, sleeping with Susan behind his friend's back.
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| Ann-Margret and Jack Nicholson |
Years go by. Although married, Sandy wants more excitement in the bedroom and hooks up with the more aggressive Cindy (Cynthia O'Neal). while Jonathan shacks up with Bobbie (Ann-Margret of
State Fair), who -- a la Rosalind Russell in
Picnic -- is almost desperate to get married. Things don't go smoothly with either relationship, but then Jonathan is a complete chauvinistic pig -- his truly disgusting nature becomes even more apparent by the end -- and Sandy, although apparently more "sensitive," isn't much better.
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| Best friends? Garfunkle and Nicholson |
Carnal Knowledge was a popular and admired film in its day, probably due to its frankness, but it doesn't hold up well. It is an absorbing picture nevertheless because of the acting and because there's some suspense over what will happen to the characters. Bergen, Ann-Margret, and Garfunkel (so good you wished he did much more acting) are all excellent, and while Nicholson was already falling into that certain stock "Jack Nicholson" mode, his performance is also good. O'Neal and Rita Moreno are quite effective in smaller roles.
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| Triangle: Bergen, Garfunkel, with Nicholson in background |
But one is left with the sensation that this screenplay was an old and unsatisfactory stage play dusted off by Jules Feiffer and turned into a movie by a compliant Mike Nichols working in a Woody Allen mode. The movie, deliberately paced and with long takes, is expertly shot by cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno [
Haunted Summer]. Some scenes, such as when Jonathan shows Sandy and his new girlfriend slides of all of the women he's screwed (Susan gets in there by "mistake"), are quite contrived. Mike Nichols also directed
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Verdict: Two pigs in a poke. **1/2.
Perfect review, Bill, my sentiments exactly. Had been reading about this film for years before seeing it, but what a letdown, despite the marvelous Ann Margret, Jack Nicholson and a promising debut acting performance by Garfunkel (who can break your heart with the pure emotion of his famous voice!) I was bored, frankly, which disappoints me since Nichols is one of my all time favorite directors: I own Silkwood, Postcards from the Edge. Working Girl, Primary Colors, and of course Virginia Woolf and Angels in America. But watched this once 20 yrs ago and never again.
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Something tells me you didn't like it, LOL! Seriously, I had never seen this until recently but figured I should give a movie so famous in its day at least a look. Oh well -- can't win 'em all.
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