Bloomberg Adviser: Sanders Said Toddlers 'Should Run Around Naked and Touch Each Other's Genitals'

[MineralMan]

23. It won't be pretty.

Not at all. Most people in this country cringe over ideas like that, whether or not they might actually be OK and useful ideas.

The late 60s and early 70s were full of different approaches to things. There were X-rated movies in regular theaters. Books like Joy of Sex were best-sellers. All such books are gone these days. As a young adult in that era, I remember a lot of things like those that showed up, and then disappeared fairly quickly. I found it all very interesting.

I remember seeing a movie with the title "Friends." in 1972, I think. It had a soundtrack by Elton John, and came out about the same time as his first album. It was a French film, about two runaway young teenagers in the Camargue coastal region of France. They found each other, fell in love, and lived in an abandoned little house. They had a child together at about age 14-15. It was beautifully filmed and nominated for several awards, particularly in Europe.

Here, it was shown in a few smaller theaters, but soon disappeared, due to its frank approach about adolescent sexuality. Few saw it. Few know about the soundtrack album or that Elton John and Bernie Taupin did some of their best early songs for that soundtrack. Nobody knows about it, because US sensibilities were simply not capable of accepting such a film.

As far as I know, it's not available on DVD, although I remember seeing VHS recordings of it at the time. I saw it in a small theater in a small town that regularly showed foreign films and b-movies.

So far, though, I've never met anyone who even knows the film was made.