ABSTRACT
By 1969, when Paul Mazursky’s directorial debut, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, appeared in movie theaters, almost every “Hollywood” movie was “independent” to some degree. The studios had gradually transitioned from mogul-driven production/distribution/exhibition monopolies to primarily distribution entities in charge of promoting independently packaged, agent-driven productions. This essay explores the nature of this film’s independence from the overlapping perspectives of industry, aesthetics, and ideology. In its joining relative newcomers to the movies with veteran star Natalie Wood, in its modest budget, satirically comic commentary on both middle-class sexual mores and alternative lifestyles, as well as its reflexivity, improvisatory feel, and loosely structured narrative, Mazursky’s film forged patterns of independence, both consistent with and unique to its late 1960s New Hollywood context.
