A Safe Place (1971)

A strange young woman lives in a fantasy world where she can never grow up.

Director:

Henry Jaglom

Writer:

Henry Jaglom

Stars:

Tuesday Weld, Orson Welles, Jack Nicholson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tuesday Weld	...	Susan / Noah
Orson Welles	...	The Magician
Jack Nicholson	...	Mitch
Phil Proctor	...	Fred (as Philip Proctor)
Gwen Welles	...	Bari
Dov Lawrence	...	Larry
Fanny Birkenmier	...	The Maid
Rhonda Alfaro	...	Little Girl in Rowboat
Sylvia Zapp	...	Susan at Age 7
Richard Finnochio	...	Noah's Friend
Barbara Flood	...	Noah's Friend
Roger Garrett	...	Noah's Friend
Jordon Hahn	...	Noah's Friend
Francesca Hilton	...	Noah's Friend
Julie Robinson	...	Noah's Friend

Storyline

A young woman named Noah lives alone in New York. She is a disturbed flower child, who retreats into her past, yearning for lost innocence. She recalls her childhood, searching for a "safe place." As a child she met a magician in Central Park who presented her with magical objects: a levitating silver ball, a star ring, and a Noah's ark. She is romantically involved with two totally different men. Fred is practical but dull. Mitch is dynamic and sexy, her ideal fantasy partner. Neither man is able to totally fulfill her needs.

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Plot Keywords:

experimental | childhood memory | new york city | free spirit | magic | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

GP

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 October 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

Un lugar seguro

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBS Productions, Columbia Pictures Corporation, Rainbow Film Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Anaïs Nin said of 'A Safe Place,' "'A Safe Place' is a masterpiece! All the subtle dreams and fantasies which color our experience are captured on film for the first time. Henry Jaglom is the magician of America Cinema."

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Quotes

Magician: Last night... in my sleep... I dreamed that I was sleeping. And in this sleep, I dreamed that I had awaken to find the world asleep.

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Crazy Credits

As the song credits are given at the end, every song is given a vocalist credit except for Fred Astaire for "I'm Old-Fashioned". The song title simply passes without vocalist credit as the rest of the songs are given such a credit.

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Connections

Featured in Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004)

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Soundtracks

"It's a Big, Wide Wonderful World"
Written by John Rox
Performed by Buddy Clark

User Reviews

A Safe Place Would Be Far Away From This Film

So, let me get this straight - if I have a taste for Fellini, Antonioni and Godard I'll feel right at home with A Safe Place? Um, no. I love Fellini, right up through 8 1/2. I've enjoyed much of Antonioni. Godard

• a mixed bag for me, but I like Breathless and Alphaville fine, and

Band Of Outsiders, too. Mr. Jaglom is not in their company, at least for me, and A Safe Place is a pretentious mess from start to finish. No one loves Tuesday Weld more than I, and she's fine. Jack Nicholson, who came in for a day and improvised everything is embarrassing. Gwen Welles gives new meaning to self-indulgent, but then again she has the most self-indulgent filmmaker imaginable "directing" her.

I have never met a Henry Jaglom film I liked - ever. And his "thing" that if you don't respond to his films then you don't understand women is, well, fatuous. I'm glad he considers himself such an enlightened and sensitive man, but I'm not buying nor are many of my women friends. It is the type of cinema that makes me want to throw up and not because I don't like experimental or interesting films, because I have and I do. As I sat there with drool running out of my mouth because I'd just invested what I thought was almost ninety minutes of my time, I paused the film to find out I was only at the forty-minute mark.

However, one has to commend any filmmaker who keeps on doing it - he does it with his own funds (good to be wealthy) and as long as he keeps having girlfriends he'll keep making films because his entire oeuvre is based on his love life.