A Safe Place – Orson Welles's worst film?

[Harvey Chartrand]

You'll find an article entitled "Glances at Undervalued Classics: Henry Jaglom's A Safe Place" at the Bowling Green Daily News website: http://www.bgdailynews.com/articles/200 ... _place.txt
I happen to disagree with the author, the superb blogger Jeremy Richey. [Check out his Moon in the Gutter blogsite @ http://mooninthegutter.blogspot.com/ - dedicated to retro music and films.]
I'm more in synch with the anonymous critic in Leonard Maltin's Movie and Video Guide who dismisses A Safe Place as "a spaced-out waterlogged fantasy"... undoubtedly one of the most boring and pretentious films ever made. Such a waste of an extraordinary cast of talented thespians: Tuesday Weld, Jack Nicholson, Phil Proctor (of Firesign Theatre fame, though saddled with the part of a pusillanimous weakling) and old Orson (it's hard to believe he was only 56 when he appeared in this 1971 travesty - he looks a good 15 years older, and without his customary old man's makeup!).
Orson Welles has been in quite a few bombs, but his appearance as a Jewish sage in A Safe Place marks the nadir of his once flourishing career... unless one counts his supporting role as the pompous commentator on sexual mores in Jaglom's equally unendurable Someone to Love.
I have yet to see a Jaglom film that I like, although Tracks (with Dennis Hopper) is supposed to be pretty good. Might screen that one now that it's out on DVD.

[chipm]

Festival in Cannes is great. If you don't like it, trust me, keep watching, the end is....awesome.

Chip

[purplepines]

"Tracks" is cool for one viewing, but I think it would have benefited from some cuts in the middle and end, particularly some of the saucier material.

But "Sitting Ducks" I think is Jaglom's best. Good supporting cast, an actual plot, and a strong surreal feel. Editing felt Wellesian.

[Glenn Anders]

I agree, purplepines, SITTING DUCKS is a little charmer of a picture. [I have never heard a thing about its sequel, featuring some of the same players, LUCKY DUCKS.)

ALWAYS and LAST SUMMER IN THE HAMPTONS have poignant qualities to recommend them.

To be fair, Henry Jaglom took Welles' advice, and with the help of some family money, was able to start a career of self-financed pictures, which continues to the present. After he left Hollywood, Welles would have liked that kind of track for his life as a professional movie maker.

And, after all, it does begin to look as if we are all headed for "home movies."

Glenn

[Clive Dale]

Glenn,

Did Jaglom tape Orson?

[Glenn Anders]

You know, Clive, I've heard that story, but I have no way of knowing if it is true or not.

Supposedly, one of the last persons to hear from Welles before he died was Jaglom, who received a phone message inquiring after his mother's health.

Glenn

[NoFake]

I seem to recall Jaglom admitting having taped Orson, but contending that Welles was aware of it. Does anyone else remember this?

[jbrooks]

Yes, Jaglom did tape conversations with Welles. (I think there's a thread discussing this a few years back). Jaglom has made no secret of it. He told me about the tapes when I met him at the Boston Film Festival in 1987. He said that this was something Welles wanted him to do, and Jaglom told me that he hoped to put out a book of transcripts.

Years later, in some documentary about Jaglom, there is an allegation made that Welles was unaware of the taping, was angry when he found out, and had a falling out with Jaglom about it. Jaglom denies that, and personally, I doubt the allegations. I haven't been able to find any reliable source for the story. And from all the evidence I've seen, Welles and Jaglom were great friends until Welles' death. Indeed, I think -- as Glenn mentions above -- Welles called Jaglom the night he died -- inquiring about Jaglom's mother, who had just had surgery.