Larry Tucker Movies
A multi-talented jack-of-all-trades, screenwriter, actor, producer, developer, and frequent Paul Mazurski-collaborator, Larry Tucker was best-known for his television writing on such classic small screen staples as The Danny Kaye Show and The Monkees.Born in Philadelphia, PA, in 1934, Tucker began his writing career alongside satiric comic Mort Sahl at the Hungry I club in San Francisco. Moving from nightclubs to television in the early '60s, Tucker began his acting career in such films as 1961's Blast of Silence and Samuel Fullers' institutional cult classic Shock Corridor (1963) while writing for The Danny Kaye Show and beginning development of The Monkees. Soon serving as writer and producer of Mazurski's I Love You, Alice B. Toklas in 1968, the duo teamed again the following year (this time sharing an Oscar co-nomination for Best Original Screenplay) for Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice. Tucker would later share writing credits for the television series based on Bob & Carol.
In April 2001, Tucker succumbed to an extended battle with multiple sclerosis and cancer. He was 67. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Angels Hard as They Come is a melange of sex, violence, leather, and souped-up Harleys with a note of topicality added in by having some of the bikers dress and behave like hippies. One of the things distinguishing Angels Hard as They Come other pictures of its ilk is the fact that it was produced and written by Jonathan Demme. Also worth noting is the presence in the cast of stars-to-be Scott Glenn and Gary Busey, together with broken-nosed cult fave Charles Dierkop. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1970
- R
Made on the heels of Paul Mazursky's Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, this cinematic experiment is one of the director's more personal films. With a big tip-'o-the-hat to Fellini's 8 1/2 (to make sure no one misses the references to the film, Federico Fellini appears in a cameo), Alex in Wonderland centers on a young director (Donald Sutherland) who feels compelled to follow his recent box-office hit with another blockbuster. While mulling over this dilemma, the director's mind wanders to his past, his present, and probable future. One of the film's memorable sequences involves a restaging of the Vietnam War in downtown Hollywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Ellen Burstyn, (more)
"Consider the possibilities," read the ads for Paul Mazursky's 1969 satirical comedy about what happens when the sexual revolution hits affluent bourgeois life. After a weekend of "beautiful" emotional honesty at an Esalen-type retreat, married wannabe hipsters Bob (Robert Culp) and Carol (Natalie Wood) return to their well-heeled Los Angeles life determined to apply the principles of free love and complete openness to their marriage. To the respective curiosity and repulsion of their married best friends, Ted (Elliott Gould) and Alice (Dyan Cannon), Bob and Carol have affairs that they happily reveal to everyone. Inspired by all that openness during the quartet's trip to Vegas, Ted admits an affair of his own, provoking the outraged Alice to demand that this new ethos be taken to its obvious conclusion: a mate-sharing foursome. Once they're bedded down and ready to go, however, they start to have second thoughts. Without sacrificing authenticity for comedy, first-time director Mazursky and co-writer/producer Larry Tucker delve into the confusion of the Eisenhower generation when faced with the temptations of the counterculture. Too old to be hippies and too young to be fogies, the would-be California swingers sincerely attempt to try on the lifestyle, but it never looks quite right. A then-controversial example of the New Permissiveness both onscreen and off, Bob & Carol debuted at the New York Film Festival to great praise, particularly for Gould and Cannon. Whether they wanted to laugh at their elders' faux looseness or see what their peers might be doing, audiences turned Bob & Carol into a substantial hit, and its observations about marriage and sex remain humorously sharp even if the encounter group jargon is past its vogue. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natalie Wood, Robert Culp, (more)
One of the few 1960s satires of the hippie culture that doesn't appear to be concocted by grumpy old men, I Love You, Alice B. Toklas stars Peter Sellers as Harold Fine, a staid, fortysomething Jewish attorney. Engaged to the equally straitlaced Joyce (Joyce Van Patten), Harold wistfully dreams of having a more exciting lifestyle. Through a fluke, Harold is obliged to drive a station wagon emblazoned with "psychedelic" imagery; it is with this vehicle that he picks up his flower-child brother Herbie (David Arkin), and Herbie's groovy chick Nancy (Leigh Taylor-Young). Rather enjoying the company of people outside of his establishment orbit, Harold visits Nancy at her pad, where she plies him with "hash brownies" -- concoctions laced with marijuana. His inhibitions released by the spiked pastries, Harold kicks over the traces, grows his hair to shoulder length, and embarks upon an affair with Nancy. But when the effects of the brownies wear off, Harold suddenly feels like the rather foolish middle-aged man that he is. The beauty of I Love You, Alice B. Toklas is that it patronizes neither the hippies nor the Establishment characters; both groups are shown as human beings rather than agit-prop stereotypes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Jo Van Fleet, (more)
- 1966
Originally titled "The Monkees," this pilot episode for the series of the same name was held back from public view until November 14, 1966, by which time the series had been on the air for ten weeks. Now rechristened "Here Come the Monkees," the episode was written by Larry Tucker and Paul Mazursky, still several years removed from their breakthrough theatrical feature Bob&Carol&Ted&Alice. The plot finds the Monkees hired to perform at a sweet-16 party for the lovely Vanessa Russell (Vanessa Russell). But there's a catch: Unless Vanessa passes her history exam, the party is off. The solution: Micky, Peter, Mike, and Davy help the girl cram for her test -- adopting innumerable disguises along the way. Bing Russell, father of actor Kurt Russell, appears as Rudy, while co-scripters Tucker and Mazursky show up in cameo bits. Songs: "I Wanna Be Free" (two different versions) and "Let's Dance On". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Shock Corridor represents filmmaker Samuel Fuller at his most excessive, but few would have it otherwise. Peter Breck plays a ruthless journalist who believes that the quickest way to a Pulitzer Prize is to uncover the facts behind a murder at a mental hospital. To glean first-hand information, Breck pretends to go insane and is locked up in the institution. While pursuing his investigation, Breck is sidetracked by the loopy behavior of his fellow inmates. During a hospital riot, Breck is straightjacketed and subjected to shock treatment. By now almost as crazy as he's previously pretended to be, Breck begins imagining that his exotic-dancer girlfriend Constance Towers (a Samuel Fuller "regular") is actually his sister! Typical of the Fuller ouevre, the characters in Shock Corridor are either saved or destroyed by their individual obsessions. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Breck, Constance Towers, (more)
A few days in the life of a murderer go under the microscope in this offbeat and intense low-budget film noir, the first feature from director Allen Baron. Frankie Bono (Baron) is a hired killer from Cleveland who travels to New York City a few days before Christmas on an assignment. Bono, a bitter loner who has few friends and little use for relationships with others, has been brought to the Big Apple to rub out Troiano (Peter Clume), a second-rate mobster. After a less than pleasant encounter with Big Ralph (Larry Tucker), a rotund underground gun dealer, Bono begins casing out Troiano and discovers his target is out of town for a few days, giving him some time to kill. Bono bumps into a childhood friend who thinks he could use a friend and introduces Frankie to Lorrie (Molly McCarthy), but when she invites him to her flat for dinner, the evening doesn't go well and Bono feels more alienated than ever. While keeping tabs on Troiano, Bono runs into Big Ralph again, with consequences that put the hit man and his career in great danger. Blast of Silence features a distinctive and highly dramatic second-person narration read by Lionel Stander (whose name does not appear in the credits); the narration was written by the then-blacklisted Waldo Salt under the name Mel Davenport. Director Allen Baron originally cast Peter Falk as Frankie Bono, but ended up playing the lead after Falk dropped out to take a better paying role in the crime drama Murder Inc. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Allen Baron, Molly McCarthy, (more)
