Carnal Knowledge

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For the euphemism for sexual intercourse, see Carnal knowledge.
Carnal Knowledge

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Mike Nichols
Produced by Mike Nichols
Joseph E. Levine
Written by Jules Feiffer
Starring Jack Nicholson
Arthur Garfunkel
Ann-Margret
Candice Bergen
Rita Moreno
Carol Kane
Cinematography Giuseppe Rotunno
Editing by Sam O'Steen
Studio AVCO Embassy Pictures
Distributed by AVCO Embassy Pictures (1971, original)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1999, DVD)
Release dates
  • June 30, 1971 (1971-06-30)
Running time 97 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Box office $28,623,000

Carnal Knowledge is a 1971 American comedy-drama film directed by Mike Nichols and written by Jules Feiffer. It stars Jack Nicholson, Art Garfunkel, Ann-Margret and Candice Bergen.

Plot

Sandy and Jonathan Fuerst are roommates at Amherst College whose lives are explored and seem to offer a contrast to one another. Spanning a 25-year period, from their college years in the late 1940s to middle age in the early 1970s, the film explores their relationships with various women.

Cast

Production

The script was originally written as a play. Jules Feiffer sent it to Mike Nichols who thought it would work better as a film.[2]

Legal problems

The changes in the morals of American society of the 1960s and 1970s and the general receptiveness by the public to frank discussion of sexual issues was sometimes at odds with local community standards. A theatre in Albany, Georgia, showed the film. On January 13, 1972, the local police served a search warrant on the theatre, and seized the film. In March 1972, the theatre manager, Mr. Jenkins, was convicted of the crime of "distributing obscene material". His conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court of Georgia. On June 24, 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the State of Georgia had gone too far in classifying material as obscene in view of its prior decision in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973) (the Miller standard), and overturned the conviction.[3] Jenkins v. Georgia, 418 U.S. 153 (1974). The court also said that,
Our own viewing of the film satisfies us that Carnal Knowledge could not be found … to depict sexual conduct in a patently offensive way. Nothing in the movie falls within … material which may constitutionally be found … "patently offensive" … While the subject matter of the picture is, in a broader sense, sex, and there are scenes in which sexual conduct including "ultimate sexual acts" is to be understood to be taking place, the camera does not focus on the bodies of the actors at such times. There is no exhibition whatever of the actors' genitals, lewd or otherwise, during these scenes. There are occasional scenes of nudity, but nudity alone is not enough to make material legally obscene… Appellant's showing of the film Carnal Knowledge is simply not the "public portrayal of hard core sexual conduct for its own sake, and for the ensuing commercial gain" which we said was punishable…

Accolades

Carnal Knowledge was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (Jack Nicholson), Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture (Art Garfunkel), and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (Ann-Margret).

In popular culture

DVD

Carnal Knowledge was released on DVD December 7, 1999, by MGM Home Video.

References

  1. ↑ "CARNAL KNOWLEDGE (X)". British Board of Film Classification. 1971-07-19. Retrieved 2012-10-20. 
  2. ↑ Nichols Meets Jules Feiffer: Mike Nichols By A. H. WEILER. New York Times (1923–Current file) [New York, N.Y] 26 Oct 1969: D17.
  3. ↑ Censored Films and Television at University of Virginia online

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Carnal Knowledge
Films directed by Mike Nichols
1960s
1970s
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