EvC Forum: Is "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" a porn movie?

Over in the thread on Discussion on Creation article... RAZD and BobAliceEve have been having an off-topic disagreement about whether the movie Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (B&C&T&A from here on in) is a porn movie or not.

It starts pretty much from when BobAliceEve joins the thread in message 36 and RAZD replies in message 38 with:

(I thought it was supposed to be bob and carol and ted and alice ...?)

to which BobAliceEve replies in message 39:

Equating my name to a porn movie is insulting and demeaning. I bet you thought it was humorous?

If you're interested in the arguments each puts forward you can follow the linked messages youself.

Rather than make an off-topic comment in the original thread I created this Coffe House thread to argue whether B&C&T&A is a porn movie or not.

I contend the answer is unequivocally "no".

You could argue it is an adult-themed movie as suggested by the fact it got an 'R' certificate on release back in 1969 ('X' in the UK). This does not make it a porn movie.

If it isn't a porn movie what is it? It can be viewed as a satire:

This stylish satire is a simultaneously poignant and amusing account of radical sexual experimentation, rampant with Nehru jackets, Pucci bikinis, love beads, and psychedelic parties.

Roger Ebert's review from the time in the Chicago Sun-Times doesn't sound like a porno flick:

"Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" isn't really about wife swapping at all, but about the epidemic of moral earnestness that's sweeping our society right now.

I haven't seen that many porn movies but moral earnestness hasn't really been a theme of any of the ones I have watched

Time Out magazine in London thinks it's a satire:

Mazursky's sharp but sympathetic satire on the Encounter-group mindset and free-love ethos that swept certain areas of Californian life (Hollywood included, of course) in the late '60s.

Other reasons to say it isn't a porn movie:

It's been shown on ordinary broadcast TV over here (including the BBC I think) - that doesn't happen with porn movies
The cast list - the four leads are all well known mainstream actors and two of them were already established stars before B&C&T&A was made:
- Natalie Wood - star of the film 'West Side Story', appeared in many other films and TV shows
- Star of the TV series 'I Spy', appeared in many other films and TV shows
The awards:
- 4 Oscar nominations
- 2 BAFTA nominations
- 2 Golden Globe nominations
- Won the National Society of Film Critics Award, USA for Best Screenplay
- Won 2 New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress
- Won the Writers Guild of America, USA award for Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen

So BobAliceEve can you still seriously claim that B&C&T&A is a porn movie?

Edited by MangyTiger, : Fix '&E' to '&A'

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