Wow! Such a good movie.

The Worst Film Ever

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

When I was once a VHS hound, scrounging around for some interesting second hand titles, and ruining a few VCR heads in the process, 'Welcome to L.A.' was one of my rewarding discoveries. Directed by Alan Rudolph, who was, before he made this, best known as a protégé of Robert Altman, 'Welcome to L.A. is very laid back and was thought to be racy in its day with lots of talk about relationships and who is doing what to whom, but seems pretty harmless when viewed by today's standards. (If there were any nude scenes they must have been cut out of the VHS version which I owned.) This has a wonderful feel about it, like a piece of music that you like and stays with you for a long time. It looks like one of those films that the cast enjoyed making, and it makes a refreshing break from the empty sturm and drang that goes on in most movies, just action for the sake of it.Denver Pyle plays Carl Barber, a mogul who has a wastrel for a son, Carroll (Keith Carradine) who returns home to Los Angeles and tries to resume his songwriting career. He is waylaid by a number of attractive women, but seems unconcerned and carries on regardless. The ladies in this cast are most interesting and they include Geraldine Chaplin who rides around in taxis and is neglected by her husband (Harvey Keitel); Sally Kellerman as a real estate agent; Sissy Spacek as an attractive young woman who likes to vacuum sans her upper garments; and Lauren Hutton as Pyle's young girlfriend. Geraldine Chaplin is superb in anything I've ever been lucky enough to see her in and I love her innocence in this, walking around seemingly in a daze, when she may actually have more self-insight than the other characters who have less of a clue than she does.It appears from other reviews that some people don't like the Richard Baskin music very much. I didn't realise this as I really think it adds an entire new dimension to the film, and is one of the best uses of music in a film that I've seen. The music weaves in and out of the plot as seen through the eyes of Carroll Barber and expresses his deepest moods and longings. I think its superbly done and must have taken a lot of effort to pull off but it was totally worth it.I had to let go of my VHS copy of this when I moved house for reasons of space, and apparently it is not available anywhere much at the moment which is a shame. I would love to see 'Welcome to L.A.' again as I found it a totally unique and worthwhile experience.

In one of the first experiments with digital photography, the head of Geraldine Chaplin was digitally positioned on the body of a model ( a former Penthouse Pet) for her nude scene to avoid embarrassing her father (Charlie Chaplin) prior to his demise. Although she was anxious to perform in the nude, director Alan Rudolph feared the loss of financing if Lion's Gate Films and producer Robert Altman fell into disfavor with the World Famous Film Icon. Ultimately, Geraldine Chaplin performed the scene in a nude body stocking and it took almost an entire month, using antiquated production equipment, to digitally transfer the nude body to the head of Chaplin. In turn, this put the production way overbudget and as a result, John Wayne was replaced by Denver Pyle as the father of Keith Carradine.

This film, Alan Rudolph's first and BEST (along with Choose Me 7 years later) had gotten a bum rap. Some people hate the music of Richard Baskin or think the variety of characters are a pretentious and boring lot. I think just the opposite! Harvey Keitel was never more amusing and pathetic. Sissy Spacek is a doll (in probably her easiest role) and brighter than some would think. Geraldine Chaplin is finally put to good use. Keith Carradine seemed to relax more after his Nashville experience and is very subtle. Sally Kellerman at her most beautiful and hungry. Viveca Lindfors creates a memorable "older" woman and John Considine is hilarious. Denver Pyle supplies stability.After a while the music grows on you, when you finally actually hear what he's saying. Needless to say, I'm a big Altman fan, and once in a while Rudolph hits the mark as well. A 9 out of 10. Best performance = Sally Kellerman. Worth a visit as L.A. is explored and exposed in a new light!

It seemed a bit dark in '77, but today it may even cheer you up! It takes at least a half-hour to understand what's going on in this movie so here's a head start:The guy with the hat and goatee (Carroll) is a song-writer/playboy and son of a millionaire. Watch him because he wants to sleep with most of the women in the movie. The crazy woman in the taxi is married to... is that really Harvey Keitel? Yes. You'll never believe it! He is the employee of the millionaire who is, incidentally, Uncle Jessie from the Dukes of Hazard.If I were Carroll I would have gone for Sissy Spacek, who likes to clean house topless throughout the movie. But he still makes enough tracks to be considered a hero of the sexual revolution.The music throughout the movie sounds a little like Dan Hill, but it gets you in a good 70's mood so that you can enjoy the atmosphere this movie creates. Look for Sissy Spacek's pants that match the wallpaper and definitely check out Harvey Keitel's pipe!