‘A dream is not reality but who’s to say which is which? – Lewis Carroll
The Touchables (1968) is the kind of film you can remember watching but no matter how hard you try you cannot remember what it’s about. To put it another way, it’s as if you’re recalling someone else’s dream while you’re dreaming.
The plot has something to do with four beautiful young women kidnapping a pop star, Christian, who looks a lot like George Harrison circa 1966. These young women live in what appears to be a massive, soccer-stadium-length plastic dome somewhere in the English countryside. And they seem to compete for Christian’s sexual interest. Like the 60s TV series ‘The Avengers’, it is a landscape in which you cannot imagine discovering children as the grown-ups have taken their place.
At some point, Christian’s manager decides that the pop star must return and, incredibly, a gangster gets involved as does a wrestler. Don’t ask. It’s Swinging London…. baby.
Christian doesn’t necessarily want to leave his sex filled life with the four women. We must commiserate. A Pleasure Dome indeed.
Beatles photographer Robert Freeman directed the film with an eye for lighting, achieving a kind of hypnotic, optical ambience that far exceeds the limitations—or necessity— of character development or suspense or, well, expectations…. It’s not so psychedelic as it is contemplative. There’s an odd serenity to the whole story though it involves crime and guns and gangsters. Perhaps we know that in this make-believe world no one can ever really die.
The film has achieved a cult status possibly based on its tightly focused visual tone, a scene-to-scene harmony that’s rare in films of any period. Anyway, in this adolescent and fantastic world, during our brief visit, we are best served in suspending disbelief and judgment. Accept that happiness can be found in just thinking about happiness.
Long ago, Alice was told “”The secret… is to surround yourself with people who make your heart smile. It’s then, only then, that you’ll find Wonderland.”
The Untouchables is a gateway film to Wonderland.
#DavidAnthony #DonaldCammell #pinkfloyd #georgeharrison #swinginglondon #EstherAnderson #JudyHuxtable #Kathy Simmonds #MarilynRickard #RickiStar #Robert Freeman #Thetouchables #1968 #film #review #letsplaysomethingelse
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