{"id":31364,"date":"2013-05-13T10:48:18","date_gmt":"2013-05-13T17:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=31364"},"modified":"2021-11-12T14:12:14","modified_gmt":"2021-11-12T21:12:14","slug":"group-marriage-1973","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=31364","title":{"rendered":"Group Marriage (1973)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Two girls and three men &#8212; what do you call that?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Group-Marriage-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Group-Marriage-Poster-197x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"197\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-31366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Group-Marriage-Poster-197x300.jpg 197w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Group-Marriage-Poster-84x128.jpg 84w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Group-Marriage-Poster.jpg 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA car-savvy young woman (Aimee Eccles) in a contentious but committed relationship with her bumper sticker-producing boyfriend (Solomon Sturges) has an affair with a parole officer (Jeff Pomerantz), who brings his girlfriend (Victoria Vetri) into their growing sexual household. Soon Vetri meets a hunky lifeguard (Zack Taylor) who rounds out their &#8220;group marriage&#8221; by convincing a lawyer (Claudia Jennings) to join their unusual living arrangement.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Claudia Jennings Films<\/li>\n<li>Comedy<\/li>\n<li>Counterculture<\/li>\n<li>Sexuality<\/li>\n<li>Stephanie Rothman Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nFour years after the release of Paul Mazursky&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=30970\"><em>Bob &#038; Carol &#038; Ted &#038; Alice<\/em> (1969)<\/a>, maverick feminist director Stephanie Rothman made this much bolder exploitation comedy about the same topic: poly-amorous relationships. While Mazursky&#8217;s film was notable for introducing this timely concern to mainstream audiences in a crowd-pleasing fashion, Rothman&#8217;s variation dares to take <em>B&#038;C&#038;T&#038;A<\/em>&#8216;s concerns to the next logical step, as the group of adults in question actually carry out their desire to experiment with shifting sexual partnerships and a communal living arrangement. The script is often clunky (a pair of onlooking gay male neighbors are especially poorly handled), and the performances less-than-fine-tuned &#8212; but one nonetheless gets the sense that Rothman is genuinely concerned with exploring what a &#8220;group marriage&#8221; might look like, and what some of the obstacles might be, including (surprisingly) one member&#8217;s ultimate desire for more freedom than even such a radically-conceived &#8220;marriage&#8221; allows for. Meanwhile, it&#8217;s refreshing as always to see Rothman&#8217;s attempts to infuse her female characters with unexpected strengths and skills &#8212; gorgeous Eccles, for instance, is a whiz at fixing cars, while Jennings is a no-nonsense lawyer. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Watch for the film&#8217;s most unintentionally giggle-worthy moment, as Vetri encounters Taylor on the beach for the first time. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A clever spoof of shifting sexual mores<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Group-Marriage-Still.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Group-Marriage-Still.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"540\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Group-Marriage-Still.png 720w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Group-Marriage-Still-128x96.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Group-Marriage-Still-300x225.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, simply to see one of Rothman&#8217;s iconic exploitation films &#8212; and as an interesting counterpoint to <em>Bob &#038; Carol &#038; Ted &#038; Alice<\/em> (they would make a provocative double-bill).  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0068664\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=6641&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagoreader.com\/chicago\/group-marriage\/Film?oid=1051455\">Chicago Reader Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Two girls and three men &#8212; what do you call that?&#8221; Synopsis: A car-savvy young woman (Aimee Eccles) in a contentious but committed relationship with her bumper sticker-producing boyfriend (Solomon Sturges) has an affair with a parole officer (Jeff Pomerantz), who brings his girlfriend (Victoria Vetri) into their growing sexual household. Soon Vetri meets a hunky lifeguard (Zack Taylor) who rounds out their &#8220;group marriage&#8221; by convincing a lawyer (Claudia Jennings) to join their unusual living arrangement. Genres, Themes, Actors,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=31364\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31364"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78242,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31364\/revisions\/78242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}