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

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 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, The Rainbow Film Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Opinion about this film was so divided when it was shown at the 1971 New York Film Festival, that the audience broke out into shouting matches which nearly led to a brawl.

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Quotes

Mitch: Do you know why I like you, Noah? Because you're simple-minded.

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Crazy Credits

Jaglom's highly experimental sense of montage continues well into the closing credits, cutting between Orson Welles' hysterical laugh, aerial shots of the roof, the younger Noah in the window and older Noah leaning on the jukebox staring directly into the camera as the credits roll on the left side.

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Connections

Referenced in Laserdisc Memories: America Lost and Found (2010)

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Soundtracks

I'm Old-Fashioned
Music by Jerome Kern
Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
Performed by Fred Astaire

User Reviews

One of the worst motion pictures ever made

The title of my review is no exaggeration. The only saving grace to watching this movie is that it's only about an hour and a half in length, even though it seems at least twice that long to view. The screenplay (assuming there really was a screenplay to begin with, because the dialogue feels totally improvised...not because it sounds "real", but because it's strained and ludicrous) is annoying to the nth degree, unless you like hearing profound voice-over comments such as "I love you from New York to Rome..from Rome to Madrid, etc. etc. etc. over and over and over again. If I was on a deserted island with a DVD player and this was the only DVD I had with me, I'd break it in a hundred pieces with a coconut because, otherwise, I'd end up searching for a shark to eat me as soon as possible. If I had a choice between being water-boarded and being forced to watch this movie repeatedly, I'd have a VERY tough decision to make. But, other than that, the movie was great.