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.
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.