LOOKER

Albert Finney and Susan Dey

LOOKER (1981). Written and directed by Michael Crichton.

Cosmetic surgeon Larry Roberts (Albert Finney) does work on several beautiful women who obsess over certain "imperfections." You would think that he would wonder where these women got the exact-to-the-centimeter measurements of their alleged flaws, but Roberts only worries about it after they start being murdered. The murders are traced back to a sinister TV test group, Digital Matrix -- although it is never really explained why the women are murdered -- who plan to use computer-generated images to replace real people not just in commercials but in political ads -- or something like that. They have also invented a gun that freezes people in their tracks so to them it appears as if time has passed by without their being aware of it. While the technological stuff is not without interest  -- although by now it's rather dated -- Looker is still an astonishingly dull movie despite all the running around. There's one decent, fairly suspenseful scene in which Larry and his surviving patient, Cindy (Susan Dey), break into a lab, but the chase sequences which make up most of the movie aren't that exciting and Finney [Shoot the Moon] looks ridiculous playing action hero, especially when he dresses up like a cop  -- he's wasted in the movie anyway. Dey is appealing enough, and James Coburn and Leigh Taylor-Long are appropriately reptilian as the couple who run Digital Matrix, but -- typical for Crichton -- they aren't given actual characters to play. Darryl Hickman [The Tingler] plays Larry's associate, Jim, and looks good with a beard. Michael Crichton's attempt to have himself another hit like Westworld didn't work this time. Some of the pretty women who play Larry's patients can't act to save their lives -- literally.

Verdict: Not worth a "look." *1/2.

I LOVE YOU, ALICE B. TOKLAS

Peter Sellers turns on, drops out, and takes a bath

I LOVE YOU, ALICE B. TOKLAS (1968). Director: Hy Averback.

Harold (Peter Sellers) is a successful lawyer with a hippie brother, Herbie (David Arkin), an anxious fiancee, Joyce (Joyce Van Patten of Perry Mason), and an even more anxious mother (Jo Van Fleet). After being introduced to Nancy (Leigh Taylor-Young), a sort of girlfriend of his brother's, Harold finds himself attracted to her. It isn't long before he says goodbye to Joyce, "drops out" of his regular life, and adopts the hippie lifestyle with Nancy (while staying in his fabulous apartment). Will he ever come to his senses? The title refers to some hash brownies made by Nancy (the recipe apparently comes from a cookbook written by Toklas, Gertrude Stein's companion), and which are eaten by Harold, his father (Salem Ludwig) and his mother, who says the title line with a happy glaze on her eyes. Many sixties comedies with drug and hippie references don't date at all well, but I Love You is still a very, very funny movie (even if it has fun with things that really aren't funny, such as a funeral for a beloved husband and being literally left at the altar). with excellent performances from the entire cast. Sellers, of course, is just wonderful, and he is matched by a terrific Van Fleet in a great comic performance to compare with  her wonderful dramatic work in such films as Wild River. Apparently, no one really knew how to end the film, so the finale to this is rather stupid. Taylor-Young was introduced in this film and later wound up on Dallas in a nice role. David Arkin was an attractive and appealing actor who had a few credits, mostly in Robert Altman's films, and committed suicide at 49.

Verdict: You won't even need some Alice B. Toklas brownies to enjoy this movie. ***.