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
Rachel Harlow	...	Noah's Friend (as Richard Finnochio)
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 disturbed young woman - a former for child of the 60's, named Noah lives alone in New York, where she's retreated into her past, yearning for lost innocence., searching for a "safe place." As a child, she met a magician in Central Park who gave her magical objects. She's romantically involved with 2 different men; Fred's practical but dull, and Mitch is dynamic sexy - her ideal fantasy partner, but neither man's able to totally fulfill her needs.

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Plot Keywords:

hippie | new york city | magic | free spirit | experimental | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

GP

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jack Nicholson appeared in this film mainly as a favor to director Henry Jaglom. Nicholson did the film for no pay, his only demand was that he be given a new color television set.

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Quotes

Susan: OK. Now...
Fred: What's this? What's this?
Susan: This is my magic box. You've got to be very careful with it.
Fred: What does it do?
Susan: You put something in it that means something very special to you. And then you make a wish for something you really need to happen. When you need it to happen and not just when you're fooling around wanting something. And then you lock it and you don't open it until that something happens.
Fred: Does it work?
Susan: Well, of course it works... my magic box. Someone gave it to me.

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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 Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014)

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Soundtracks

Passing By
(Vous qui Passez sans me Voir)
Music by Johnny Hess and Paul Misraki
French lyrics by Charles Trenet
English lyrics by Jack Lawrence
Performed by Charles Trenet and Buddy Clark

User Reviews

Not without interest, but, in the end, I disliked it

Henry Jaglom is a director I've heard about before, but had never seen one of his films. He makes a film every couple of years, they play in like three cities in America, and no one seems to like them. A Safe Place was his first film, adapted from his own play, which he wrote in 1964. Tuesday Weld plays an insufferable hippie chick who doesn't want to grow up. Phil Proctor is a square who wants desperately to bone her, so he puts up with her nonsense (he knows that she's half crazy, but that's why he wants to be there). Eventually, a much more exciting Jack Nicholson shows up and steals her away. Orson Welles plays a magician who occasionally enchants Weld with his magic. Gwen Welles (whom you might remember from Altman's films California Split and Nashville), in her film debut, also appears and rambles on about her dreams of being sexually assaulted. The film is pretty, and that prettiness is very much augmented by Tuesday Weld's enchanting beauty. But, honestly, there's not much going on here. It's very repetitive (there are some nice, old songs on the soundtrack, but each of them plays all the way through like three times), and, well, boring.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 October 1971 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Safe Place

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

BBS Productions, Columbia Pictures, The Rainbow Film Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1