what he saw from the script. Mazursky was intended to direct the film while Tucker was meant to produce. However, when Fields got Peter Sellers to sign on as star, a directing search started, which went from Jonathan Miller (who Sellers rejected due to a comment about music) to Mazursky (who he accused briefly of fooling around with his wife Britt Ekland). Sellers eventually relented and asked for Mazursky's help in collaboration after one week of filming (which led to Mazursky being the "first mate" of what Sellers thought was a sinking ship), and before the film ended, there were plans to do a film adaptation of The Russian Interpreter. However, an exchange about "vibrations" when Mazursky tried to get Sellers to act tougher against Leigh Taylor-Young led Sellers to kick out Mazursky, who had to sneak out to see dailies. Critical response On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 14%, based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 4.50/10. Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it "a very derivative comedy", with Peter Sellers "sometimes funny (as he tries to spread love among the police) but quite often grotesque (in some embarrassingly intimate bed scenes)." Variety was more positive: "Film blasts off into orbit via top-notch acting and direction. Sellers' performance – both in scenes which spotlight his character as well as ensemble sequences in which everyone is balanced nicely – is an outstanding blend of warmth, sensitivity, disillusion and optimism"; Roger Ebert found some of the movie "good and pretty close to the mark, and Sellers is very funny," he disliked the film's stereotyped view of hippiedom, concluding, "If they'd dropped Sellers into a real hippie culture, we might really have had a movie here." Home media I Love You, Alice B. Toklas was released by Warner Home Video on June 20, 2006, as a Region 1 widescreen DVD and years later in 2014 as a DVD-on-demand title via Warner Archive. See also List of American films of 1968 List of films featuring hallucinogens References External links 1968 films 1968 in cannabis 1968 romantic comedy films American films about cannabis American romantic comedy films Films about Jews and Judaism Films directed by Hy Averback Films scored by Elmer Bernstein Films set in Los Angeles Films shot in Los Angeles Hippie films Warner Bros. films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films