I remember Edith Bunker on "All in the Family" thinking this was a religious movie-- "Cardinal Knowledge." This is a movie about sex. It involve a couple guys who become totally focused on it, beginning in their college days when they share notes on their conquests. They are portrayed by Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel. One is a walking libido, the other a passive, sensitive guy. We get to watch as the two of them go through a tortured life, never quite getting what they want. They attract, then leave women. They ignore all that is positive in life to reach an end they determined when they were kids. Nicholson is a sad and unsatisfied character who is ultimately impotent after experiencing the chase. Garfunkel has a grandiose expectation of the experience and becomes so maudlin as to turn everyone off. Two sound performances in a movie that's not for everyone.

Carnal Knowledge is a decidedly downbeat film from director Mike Nichols. It's very obviously a product of the New Hollywood style of film, which was at its height around about the time its release. In actual fact this one pushed the boundaries even for a New Hollywood movie, with very frank adult subject matter dealt with in a fairly unsanitized manner. Its story follows two men from their post-World War II college days through to their middle-age in late 60's counter-culture years. It specifically looks at sexually dysfunctional and emotionally stunted males, one a sensitive idealist, the other an aggressive predator. The story is essentially a study of relationships from their skewered perspective. In fact, we are only ever witness to these characters talking about or interacting with women; we never see anything of their college, work or social lives beyond this.Jack Nicholson puts in a strong performance of a somewhat unpleasant character, the dominant side of the friendship, while Art Garfunkel is also very good as his more passive buddy. The primary female roles are filled by Candice Bergen as a woman who both men have relationships with and Ann-Margret, who is particularly good as a woman emotionally damaged by her destructive relationship with Nicholson's character. The acting is very good on the whole and the drama is quite intense and compelling enough. It isn't exactly a comforting viewing experience, however, with a distinct lack of likable characters. It is commendable though that it isn't afraid to be this way though and this approach does give the film a certain bite that makes it distinctive and confrontational.

This movie shows us two male friends from college age to maturity and their relationships with women. Art Garfunkel as Jonathan and Jack Nicholson as Sandy are good friends with very different personalities who share a healthy libido focused on women, particularly Candace Bergen as Susan. The opening scene shows the two men attending a low-key social, with 1940's jazz music playing, where Sandy urges Jonathan to make a move towards Susan, the only other girl there. Susan soon becomes friends with Jonathan but also dates Sandy. Both benefit from sexual encounters with her. The story uses a visual technique that makes the viewer feel like a voyeur watching their private conversations and encounters with women. Often filmed in the dark with the characters close-up to the camera, the movie kept my attention. Jonathan is the "sensitive guy" who women supposedly prefer so Sandy uses some of his honest conversational style to win over Susan. Later in their lives, we find Jonathan married to Cindi, played by Cynthia O'Neil, and passingly happy. Sandy is facing a mid-life crisis as his girlfriend, played by Ann-Margret asks him to marry. Sandy looks at women as if they have to attain certain physical standards, a few more inches here, a bit less somewhere else, as if choosing a partner is like picking a good cut of meat. The nudity is explicit by the standards of 1971. The film is not prudish in dealing with sexuality. We see shower scenes with people getting dressed and undressed as common as lighting up a cigarette. The movie has a certain European feel with scenes standing as little vignettes. One scene shows two women sitting on a bench watching a tennis match with neither speaking a word until both leave and we see the image of a lonely bench. Not an upbeat movie, it is an impressive piece of film-making about sexuality in the 1970's.

The free love era of the late 1960's is here on film. Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel are college room mates trying to score women. It is a fairly hard R rated film .There is a fleshy sequence of Ann Margaret with Nicholson that fires up the imagination. Nicholson while restrained does show some of the stuff that he would really cut loose later in films. While it is an interesting film for the period, supposedly based on Gerfunkels college experience, I got the impression they held back on the wildness, partly because Candice Bergen is her and she does not ever take off her clothes. She disappears halfway through the flick because if she stuck around she might have to take some off.There is a fair amount of talent in this one, but the script is a bit of a let down because it really makes the reality of the past seem better than it actually was.