A Safe Place

Plot

A young woman, named Noah, lives alone in a small apartment in New York City. She is a mentally disturbed flower child, who retreats into her past, yearning for lost innocence. She recalls her childhood, searching for a "safe place." As a child (whose real name was Susan), she met a charismatic magician in Central Park who presented her with magical objects: a levitating silver ball, a star ring, and a Noah's ark.

In the present day, Noah is romantically involved with two different men: Fred, who is practical but dull, and Mitch, who is more dynamic and closer to her ideal fantasy partner. Neither man is able to fulfill her needs totally.

Cast

The cast includes:

• Tuesday Weld as Susan/Noah
• Orson Welles as The Magician
• Jack Nicholson as Mitch
• Philip Proctor as Fred
• Gwen Welles as Bari
• Roger Garrett as Noah's Friend
• Francesca Hilton as Noah's Friend
• Rachel Finocchio as Noah's Friend

Production

The film was "culled from 50 hours of footage."

The work was a product of BBS Productions, a company formed by Bob Rafelson, Bert Schneider, and Steve Blauner, financed by their work on the TV pop group the Monkees. Other BBS films of the era include Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Last Picture Show, The King of Marvin Gardens, Head, and Drive, He Said. All seven of these films have been restored and released in DVD versions by The Criterion Collection in a set called America Lost and Found: The BBS Story.

Reception

Jaglom's directorial debut was a "critical and box-office disaster" Time magazine called the film "pretentious and confusing", a film that "suggests that the rumors of his expertise [in editing the film Easy Rider] were greatly exaggerated, or at least that it does not extend to directing."{{cite magazine| url= http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877354,00.html | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080309000635/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,877354,00.html | url-status= dead | archive-date= March 9, 2008

References

References

1. "Biography: Henry Jaglom". [[Turner Classic Movies]].
2. "America Lost and Found: The BBS Story".
3. "''A Safe Place'': Review". [[TV Guide]].
4. Canby, Vincent. (October 16, 1971). "''Safe Place'': Work by Henry Jaglom Stars Tuesday Weld". The New York Times.
5. (1971). "A Safe Place". [[Variety (magazine).