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24 out of 25 people found the following review useful: I Love You Peter Sellers, 3 April 2005 Author: angelsunchained from United States
" I LOve You Alice B. Toklas " is a 60s gem. Peter Sellers is out-standing as an uptight, highly successful, Jewish lawyer, engaged to be married, who falls in love with his hippie brother's hippie girl and "drops out". For those too young to remember the 60s this film will probably appear to be meaningless, but it's a classic example of what thousands of Americans went through during this revoltionary decade. The film however is stolen by the incredible beauty of Leigh Taylor-Young who was making her film debut. What a beauty! A real 10. Nothing fake about her. I recall seeing this movie when it first came out in 1968 when I was 10 years old. Everyone in the theater was rolling in the aisles with laughter. And every guy there had a "crush" on Leigh Taylor Young.So, turn on the lava-lamb, put on some love-beads, put some pillows on the floor, take off your shoes, and go back to time and enjoy this 1960s comedy classic.
11 out of 11 people found the following review useful: A soul searching movie! Great fun, 27 November 2004 Author: kulaboy (williambevill@gmail.com) from United States
I was born 8 years after this film came out, so I'm a little out of touch with the generation. BUT! Look closely at this film. Sure, it stereotypes hippies and seems a bit out of date. What this film really is becomes a search for one man (Petter Sellers) to find out who he is, and to avoid the traps of life that he suddenly sees as conventional. As Harold Fine, he questions what life and marriage have to offer and he seeks to discover what else is out there. The pot brownie sequence opens up his world to new dimensions, he breaks off his marriage to be with a hippie chick, he drops out, he tries to free himself. Do I relate to Harold Fine? Heck yes! The film mirrors much of Peter Seller's life himself, confunsed, unsure, searching. The scene with his guru cracks me up- Sellers face is priceless as he tries to stop trying and learn who he is. This film deserves a lot more attention then what it receives. This isn't just a time capsule into the dropout 60s world- it's a good time capsule into soul searching.
7 out of 8 people found the following review useful: One of the best comedies of the 1960s, 8 March 2006 Author: pljewkes from Boston, MA
One of the best comedies of the 1960s and one of the most subversive as well...it's difficult to believe that Warner Bros. released I LOVE YOU ALICE B. TOKLAS. Peter Sellers, in his most American role, plays Harold Fine, an uptight mama's boy putting off any commitment to girlfriend Joyce Van Patten. He falls head over heels for free-spirited Leigh Taylor Young and all hell breaks loose. Sellers is brilliant, Van Patten is pretty funny, and Taylor-Young is striking. The movie is nearly stolen by Jo Van Fleet as Sellers mother, a shrike to be sure, and hysterical eating a "special" brownie. She's priceless...once again giving a great performance as a character of a substantially more advanced age...she was 54 playing 43 year old Sellers mother! Hy Averback's direction is clever and the film is filled with a lot of funny gags...a highlight is Sellers and crew driving ALL OVER Los Angeles in search of a funeral.
6 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Hilarious Peter Sellers Vehicle, 11 November 2001 Author: zetes from Saint Paul, MN
This is a very funny send up of the flower child generation. Peter Sellers plays an uptight, Jewish lawyer who falls for one of his hippie brother's girlfriends. After that, he descends into hippiedom. The film is filled with some of the funniest scenes around. The funniest part of the movie is Sellers as a hippie with hair down around his cheeks and psychedelic clothing, but still wearing horn-rimmed glasses. The musical score, which uses sitars as satire, is really great, too. It's very much worth seeing, although it overstays its welcome. Its humorous observations (and imaginations) about hippies get a bit repetitive in the film's second half. 8/10.
4 out of 5 people found the following review useful: Sellers drops out in charming time capsule, 28 February 2000 Author: Dan Franzen (dfranzen70) from United States
Harold Fine (Peter Sellers) is an uptight lawyer, a member of the Establishment. His longtime girlfriend Joyce finally has pinned Harold down on a wedding date, and his life seems to be settling down. But wait! Harold meets Nancy, a friend of his hippie brother, at a family funeral. Turned on by her free thinking, free loving, and free living, Harold leaves Joyce at the altar to be with Nancy. He drops out of society and into hippiedom! Sellers isn't the most likely person to play this role, but he's very good in it. Leigh Taylor-Young, as Nancy, is positively ravishing. The movie takes you back to the late sixties, even if you've never been there. All the sights and sounds are lovingly created by director Hy Averback. And the script! Nearly every aspect of counterculture society in the late sixties is covered, and there's hardly a stagnant scene. In particular, the wild parties at Harold's apartment and the scene where the policeman come upon Harold and Nancy in the backseat of his car are real gems.
5 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Seller's Life Story, 1 March 2005 Author: (caspian1978@hotmail.com) from Attleboro, MA
Peter Seller's (modern) comedy is set in early 70's California. In many ways, this coming of age comedy is the story of Peter Sellers. Leaving his wife for the single life and "swinging" with several women until marrying his 5th or 6th wife, Sellers kept moving, searching for something else. Much like the final scene, Sellers is seen alone running after the unknown as he continues to find himself. While this is a comedy, the movie has many (hidden) dramas among the mix of laughter and jokes. Also, the movie uses many stereotypes to get laughs. Not that PC for today's audience, it is still funny. Having 10 Mexicans in 1 car, having the Jewish family ask how much the bumper cost at the garage, the hippies preaching peace and the yuppies talking about sex all get laughs in this Peter Sellers comedy.
5 out of 7 people found the following review useful: Mister Everyday joins the flower crowd, 10 November 2001 Author: helpless_dancer from Broken Bow, Oklahoma
Entertaining film with lots of 60's memories like psychedelic cars, hip, cool, groovy lingo, long hair wigs, and, naturally....pot. Mr. Uptight just couldn't make up his mind whether he wanted to be a straight or be hip, which caused him to alienate himself from both circles. Fun and funny picture.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: Definitive 60's time warp!, 7 July 2006 Author: cyclebuys from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
Sellar's character's arc from legal beagle to hippie starts slow. Watching the progress requires paying attention to the details in why his quest for Ms. Taylor-Young is so primal (I related), but once the film hits the mid-point (when she sleeps over his place) it makes sharp observations about: wedding planning, the purpose (love vs. guns) behind the social movement of the 60's against "the establishment", and the hilarious effects of accidental recreational drug use.If you live in Los Angeles, you will appreciate the exterior scenes in the Venice Beach neighborhood and other areas which we frequent in the present world and how much they have/have not changed since the film was made. The ending comment on Sellar's character's choice NOT to walk down the aisle is not entirely plausible (for my taste) as I found "Joyce" a pleasant enough woman to marry and who is 110% in love w/ him.
1 out of 1 people found the following review useful: care for a brownie?, 26 June 2006 Author: TheatreX from Louisville, KY
This is not one of Peter Seller's best films but it's still not bad. Sellers plays an uptight Jewish lawyer in L.A. who has been engaged to a woman for a couple years and finally sets a date. He ends up having his car wrecked and while its in the shop he has to drive a hippie van, painted up with flowers and slogans and such, and also attend the funeral of the local butcher which means he has to track down his hippie brother to bring him to the funeral. And the brother's girlfriend comes along for the experience. She ends up sleeping at Seller's apartment after the brother abandons her to go frolic elsewhere, and before she leaves to go to work the next day she surprises him with a batch of special brownies she made. Of course Sellers comes home with his fiancée and his parents and they snack on the brownies and things are never the same again, including Sellers abandoning his bride at the altar to purse the hippie life. But he finds out that being a hippie isn't all it's made out to be and he still is himself underneath all that hair, and doesn't like the togetherness and free love and people sharing his bath. But is what you're seeing all true? You'll have to watch it to find out I guess. How much you enjoy this may depend on whether or not you're a Sellers fan. It's kind of a fun little trip down flashback lane, but not as funny as it had potential to be. 7 out of 10.
Kiss My Ahnk, 17 November 2009 Author: binaryg from CA
I saw this in '68 when I was about in the same place Harold Fine was, in his social development. I was already married and had kids though. At the time of its release this seemed like an important movie. It was funny and satiric but it ended in a positive note for someone ready to drop out. If we'd only known where that was going to lead, but it was fun for a time.I'm so glad I revisited this over 40 years later (yikes!!) Some of the film I remembered as if I saw it yesterday. Some scenes I had no recollection of. Peter Sellers is marvelous and the rest of the cast is fine. It is a time capsule of a film and really blends film styles. It has a definite TV flavor. Hy Averback mostly worked in TV so that's not a surprise. The film though, is authentic to the time and it was fun to watch for this old hippie.
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