If you're a fan of any of the four leads, see this once. I am a Robert Culp fan, and I originally went into it simply to see him. When I initially started watching it, I muddled through the retreat scene, got to the restaurant scene of the four, post-retreat, and couldn't watch any more. I slammed the headphones down and said, This movie SUCKS! My sister, who's 8 1/2 years older and remembered it when it came out, laughed and told me she could've told me that, but NOOOOO, I just had to see Robert Culp.
I gave up on it for a few days and figured I'd try it again. So I got through those two major scenes, sans sound this time, and once it picked up from the restaurant and I turned the sound up, I have to admit...I began getting caught up in it.
The going back and forth between the four was entertaining and as someone said in another comment, a good portion of this is simply the great acting and the dialogue, the verbal exchanges and parrying back and forth as Bob and Carol discover things about one another, and work to whittle away at Ted and Alice about the possibilities inherent in emotion-free sexual dalliances.
Cannon's character is pivotal in a lot of this, as the outraged friend of Carol. Alice flips out when Carol casually tells her that Bob had had an affair when he was off on his last shoot (he's a filmmaker), and later wigs out again when she learns that Carol, too, had had a casual affair while Bob was gone.
As anyone who's seen the movie poster for this will know, the four end up in bed together. It's surprising how this is instigated, and very surprising how it all ends. As another comment said, back in the day, many were crying FOUL! and COP-OUT! about the ending, but I really liked the twist of how it ends. Bob and Ted, and Carol and Alice, come to a startling revelation about their situation and about their love and friendship amongst themselves. It couldn't have ended any other way in my opinion.
I gave it a 6/10, just a wee bit above middle-of-the-road. I could find no fault in the acting of the four, the basic storyline (as I discovered) was enough to grab and hold one's interest, but it's far from a "great" film as many have said. See it, just once, you'll like it.
I gave up on it for a few days and figured I'd try it again. So I got through those two major scenes, sans sound this time, and once it picked up from the restaurant and I turned the sound up, I have to admit...I began getting caught up in it.
The going back and forth between the four was entertaining and as someone said in another comment, a good portion of this is simply the great acting and the dialogue, the verbal exchanges and parrying back and forth as Bob and Carol discover things about one another, and work to whittle away at Ted and Alice about the possibilities inherent in emotion-free sexual dalliances.
Cannon's character is pivotal in a lot of this, as the outraged friend of Carol. Alice flips out when Carol casually tells her that Bob had had an affair when he was off on his last shoot (he's a filmmaker), and later wigs out again when she learns that Carol, too, had had a casual affair while Bob was gone.
As anyone who's seen the movie poster for this will know, the four end up in bed together. It's surprising how this is instigated, and very surprising how it all ends. As another comment said, back in the day, many were crying FOUL! and COP-OUT! about the ending, but I really liked the twist of how it ends. Bob and Ted, and Carol and Alice, come to a startling revelation about their situation and about their love and friendship amongst themselves. It couldn't have ended any other way in my opinion.
I gave it a 6/10, just a wee bit above middle-of-the-road. I could find no fault in the acting of the four, the basic storyline (as I discovered) was enough to grab and hold one's interest, but it's far from a "great" film as many have said. See it, just once, you'll like it.