Welcome to L.A. (1976) User Reviews

It has great wallpaper and Sissy Spacek.

[starfrog · 7/10 · 24 June 2000]

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!

Early Use of Digital Photography Technology in Chaplin Nude Scene.

[nickjordycj2 · 7/10 · 19 March 2005]

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 is a movie born from self-important people doing lots of cocaine.

[raiderdan-48491 · 7/10 · 25 April 2021]

Well acted but the movie just drones on about people that aren't as smart as they think they are. I lived in L. A. for 10 years and worked at Paramount Studios. I've met these people. Most of them are boring, self-obsessed people., Hutton being the worst of them.

Easy to criticize, but . . . I love it.

[zorro6204 · 16 March 2004]

Despite a fabulous cast led by Alan Rudolph regular Keith Carradine, this vacant, flat movie with virtually no plot is easy to classify as a lesser "Nashville" set on the West Coast. I mean, what are the major happenings, Denver Pyle makes Harvey Keitel a partner? Uh . . . that was about it, there's a party.

So, why the heck do I like this so much? I've seen it maybe 30 times, even though it's unavailable on any media, at the moment, at least, and every time I watch it all the way through to the last shot of Carridine looking sideways at the camera. I saw it when it first came out, and it stayed in my mind for decades until it started to show up on the movie channels. I can't explain it, the music is nice (particularly "One Night Stands" and "Welcome to L.A."), but the conversation isn't particularly clever (compare "Choose Me" for example). I can't really defend the film, how could I? There's no message, no plot, no outstanding performances to champion . . . I don't know, I just enjoy watching it. Beats me.

Lost Angelenos

[Bolesroor · 4/10 · 22 March 2005]

"Welcome To LA" is a dated film involving ten characters whose only shared trait seems to be loneliness. The movie plays like a moody tone poem, and there are no comedic, dramatic, or action-filled sequences... just a bunch of urban sun-bums looking lost and hopelessly mellow.

Keith Carradine redefines the term "slacker" for the Me Generation, as he wanders around LA with a soul patch having intercourse with a score of women while never once changing his expression. He's supposedly an artist, with troubles in his romantic life and familial relationships, but he is so centered, so serene, so placid, that he comes off more as a Buddhist monk or Jedi Knight.

He has occasional flashbacks to his former lover played by Diahnne Abbott, and I have to believe that no man would ever forget this woman. In her wordless seconds of screen time here, just like her tiny roles in "Taxi Driver" and "New York, New York," you can see that this is one of the most gorgeous, sexual women ever to walk the Earth... she's got the jungle in her, and this is the type of woman men kill other men to be with. She was my favorite part of the movie.

Between stories involving the grating Geraldine Chaplin and the sexy Sally Kellerman we keep cutting back to Richard Baskin as a singer/songwriter recording his album in a studio. These songs and the montages cut around them- which were presumably meant to be the heart of the film- are rendered unlistenable by the foul, nails-on-blackboard voice of Baskin. The fact that this man was ever allowed behind a microphone is a crime against the eardrum. Instead of the soulful, contemplative center of the story, we get a talentless drone warbling clichéd lyrics while the leads bemoan their fate. Nothing makes the heart ache like sunshine.

The only other bright spot is Sissy Spacek, a woman of unbelievable beauty and depth, who effortlessly steals the show whenever she's on screen. Ms. Spacek can be a naive little girl one minute, an intellectual adult the next, and a lusty sexpot only seconds later. If you love her like I do check out "Violets Are Blue" in which she plays a woman so irresistible you cannot help but fall in love.

"Welcome To LA" is supposed to show the isolation and loneliness that exists even in the hedonistic, superficial world of La-La Land... the trouble is we wind up with a movie that confirms our worst beliefs about the place: These characters have no right to be this bummed... it's shallow, narcissistic self-pity. But it makes for a great late-night movie.

Grade: C

Self-absorption as a starting point

[moonspinner55 · 4/10 · 22 July 2007]

A gauzy, perfume advertisement-styled depiction of Los Angeles as a carousel of lonely, emotionally needy people has a great cast of actors, yet is so self-conscious about its theme that it leaves everyone wilting in a sterile vacuum. Debuting director Alan Rudolph, who also penned the screenplay, is so narcissistic over these hapless characters that self-absorption is just a starting point--does he think these people are reflective of modern human lives? Keith Carradine plays a songwriter whom women want but can't get (he's mired in alienation); Geraldine Chaplin is an unloved housewife who roams the streets; Lauren Hutton (at her most attractive) is a photographer specializing in pictures of empty rooms, and so on. Rudolph and producer Robert Altman, trying--one assumes--for a West Coast "Nashville", take the edge off everything, so that the movie is a smoothly banal experience, passive and bland. Despite a minute or two of honest emotional despair, the film quickly becomes a pity party for the apathetic. *1/2 from ****

Under-appreciated insightful Rudolph!

[shepardjessica · 9/10 · 11 July 2004]

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!

Traffic and Daydreams

[dansview · 5/10 · 12 May 2012]

If you saw this film when it came out, the cultural atmosphere would have no nostalgic impact on you, even if you lived in L.A., because it was obviously present day for you.

Which brings us to the main thing that so many of us like about the movie. We like to take in the clothes, cars, landscapes and musical vibe of a bygone era; one which we may have lived for and now long for. For younger people, there may be a fascination for the way part of the world was before they were born.

I was there in L.A. at that time. As a very wide-eyed and impressionable teenybobber, I was standing in the background watching the grown ups and the older kids living out their 70s lifestyle. I was just a tad too young to join. My favorite line in the film is "Daydreams and Traffic," uttered by Keith Carradine, repeating what his blonde real estate agent said L.A. is all about. I totally agree with that vibe. It's addictive in an odd sort of way.

Character development is vitally important to a film, and this one is short on it. For me, at some point, a character has to explain why they are the way there are. Or at least it must come out in related dialogue. It didn't here for the most part.

I say "for the most part," because we do at least see through couplings and facial expressions, and monlogues, that they are lonely people who are not getting the love and devotion they had hoped for from their life partners and families.

Yes, these are mostly shallow,self-indulgent losers, who characterize the worst aspects of their era and area. But it's o.k. to tell a story about losers, if they are the types you are familiar with. Like another reviewer, I too give the makers credit for not including movie people. That would be too easy and too clichéd.

I loved the Richard Baskin music. His slightly off-key delivery made it better than it would be if it were perfect. Songwriters are not necessarily supposed to be great singers. They sing their own stuff with true feeling however, since they know the ethos behind the music better than anyone else. Of course in this movie, maybe the Keith Carradine character was supposed to have written the music.

The nudity did nothing for me. The context was not sexy. I'm not a big fan of big boobs on a super skinny body. I like proportion.

Even though I am a conservative person, I do often wish I could have lived as an adult during a period when everyone was open to one night stands. I love the idea of bonding with a waitress and enjoying an evening together with no strings. I know that makes me a bit of a hypocrite.

I guess I envied the Carradine character's unearned millions, his cool house, his talent, and his ability to bed whomever he chose, whenever he chose. Enough said.

Added it to one of my alltime favourites

[roadmovie69 · 10/10 · 2 January 2005]

I saw this movie late at night. I was sitting in front of the TV with headphones on because my girlfriend was already sleeping. Although I had to sit in a rather uncomfortable position in front of the TV and it was already 2.00 in the morning I was fascinated from the beginning and completely forgot about being tired and just wanted to enjoy the atmosphere of the film.

I loved this movie, maybe because I have a fascination for California and LA myself. I don't have much else to say which hasn't been posted in the other comments but the I never have read so different opinions on any movie. There seem to be a great amount of people who love it (like me) and some who think its the worst film of all time. It reminds me of the way people talk about LA itself.

They way this film polarizes makes it an outstanding piece of art, definitely worth seeing - like the city itself.

As I said - one of my favourites - cant wait to see it again on TV.

Why not just watch a Robert Altman film?

[bregund · 3/10 · 10 May 2018]

This film is so Altmanesque that you might as well watch a Robert Altman film. The inherent problem with mimicking a genius's style is that you'll never be as good as he was. I get that Rudolph is Altman's "protege" and Altman was even a producer on this film, but for the life of me I can't fathom why Altman just didn't direct the film himself...maybe he was busy working on other projects, but if so why water down your artistic legacy with mediocrity. The most egregious problem with this film is the miscasting of Denver Pyle; he might have been good in smaller roles as a hayseed but he simply isn't believable as an executive, and lacks the depth to accurately portray a man who has become distant from his own son. Every line he delivers is flat; he must have known he was struggling in the role, he looks uncomfortable. On the other hand, most of the other actors are terrific: Lauren Hutton, Keith Carridine, Geraldine Chaplin, Harvey Keitel, and Sissy Spacek, all in interwoven Altmanesque stories. My main problem with the film is that it feels very claustrophobic; where Altman tells the big, grand story and dips into the characters every once in a while, Rudolph focuses on the relationships among these vapid people, complete with closeups intended to convey contemplation, wounded pride, happiness, or any other emotion these superficial characters experience. We never really get to know any of them, they appear as strangers at the start of the film and by the end they leave as strangers, which might have been the point that Rudolph was making, but the presentation of this idea isn't sophisticated enough to drive the point home. If it were any good, the music might have redeemed the film, but none of the songs are particularly catchy or memorable, though they are sophisticated. Before last night I had never heard of this film but I'm glad I watched it so I could reminisce about the 70s when cell phones were science fiction and wicker furniture and spider plants were everywhere.

Rudolph's best movie

[nunculus · 20 June 2000]

You can't help but compare it to the other big L.A. Statement Movies--Altman's SHORT CUTS, and P.T. Anderson's MAGNOLIA. I like Rudolph's way better than either of those: it's gentler, humbler, more observant, truer. Limiting himself to a dozen or so L.A. habitues, Rudolph starts with one funny, correct move: no movie people. The dances of disconnection, attempted connection, failed connection, and--stunning!--connection accomplished are as tender and as finely, thinly observed as Rudolph has ever pulled off. So many beautiful moments here: the best comes when Keith Carradine, as a dupe of his sleepy-stud character from NASHVILLE, breaks up a romance to go on a healing mission with a half-crazy housewife (Geraldine Chaplin). When his philandering with her rescues her marriage during a tense phone call in his apartment, Carradine's face spreads with gladness and relief. The rightness and the unexpectedness of the moment is fantastic. Even more than the goofy, enjoyably romantic CHOOSE ME, this is the one where Rudolph got it all right. And no other movie captures L.A.'s peculiar loneliness like this one: he doesn't hype anything or play to the tourist mentality--something that could not always be said for his mentor, and the movie's producer, Robert Altman.

Pretentious Shlock

[Argyle302 · 1/10 · 26 April 2022]

Wow, what a bunch of drivel. Self absorbed Hollywood celebrities acting like they are all that. It can't get any worse than this, bad acting, bad directing, bad singing, bad lighting, just bad Los Angeles.

Son of Nashville...

[inframan · 4/10 · 12 March 2003]

Curious little artifact for those who wish to pin down a certain microcosm of Los Angeles subculture circa 1975. The clothes, the "pads", the attitudes are all pretty authentic in their shallow superciliousness. Who ever cared about these people? Possibly only Alan Rudolph & Robert Altman who made endless paeans to them.

Keith Carradine's love patch and Richard Baskin's music... aaah.

[stephenpaultaylor · 10/10 · 18 September 2004]

i am in love with this film and i cannot explain why.

my uncle thinks i'm a nutcase for loving this film so much. but i can't help it.

People diss the music. I love it. The ambiance. The swingin' seventies. Sissy Spacek. Sally Kellermen, so vulnerable yet strangely sexy. Keith. This film endeared me to Keith Carradine, whom I now see precious little of.

Such a great character... sure, a little pretentiously boho, but the poor guy has a father that can't express his love...

The Greta Garbo scene with Geraldine Chaplin. Classic. The slow act of leaning onto the pool table; her tortured, self-absorbed, self-pitying character, intriguing, passive aggressive, unable to express herself, caught in a loveless relationship with a young Harvey Keitel, who was great in this flick. Slimy. The way he talks to Spacek about taking the relationship far beyond your average man/ woman relationship. Wow.

Nice tempo, too. A bit languid. The film is more about atmosphere than fast tempo plot. The bits with Carol Barber chugging back "steamboat", watching Eric Wood play his songs, sinking into the background, while his dad's young girlfriend (who takes pictures of corners - classic) eyes him; intrigued.

Swingin' sex, corny yet endearing music ("Livin' in a city of one night stands, sleepin' next to pity and it's crazy"), and Keith Carradine with a love patch. What more could you want?

A film that is easy to hate, in many respects, but I just can't do it. It's a guilty pleasure. A guilty, delightful pleasure.

D-minus

[pderocco · 2/10 · 7 April 2002]

This is a bad movie. It wouldn't be worth saying so, except that Alan Rudolph is capable of making moderately entertaining movies (The Moderns, Mrs. Parker, Equinox), and even one very good movie (Choose Me). For a movie about people to work, the characters must either be nice or interesting--an ordinary person may charm us, and even a villain may fascinate us. But this movie has about a dozen characters, none of whom give us any reason either to like them or hate them or be interested in them. A few are given artificial eccentricities, but we can see through the false effort. They wander aimlessly through random meaningless sexual couplings in suburban Los Angeles, accompanied by an unremittingly dreary soundtrack. This is a one-note movie, in which the one note is a sour one.

Many characters interacting - and Keith interacting with everyone!

[caa821 · 10/10 · 6 August 2006]

This film has a users' rating of precisely the mean average between the lowest of "1" and the highest of "10" -- "5.5." Put me at the very top. Charting the interaction among the sizable cast of characters would look like one of those illustrations of the structure of a molecule or chemical compound. Everybody interacts with multiple others, often in different relationships, and occasionally with the knowledge of, say, the other's spouse or significant other, usually not. Keith Caradine's character certainly knows well his father, and his father's prime business right-hand man, played by Harvey Keitel - but neither of these is aware of his romantic interaction with Dad's girl friend or Harvey's wife. Keith has a lot on his hands in this film, between all of the women interested in him, and his music. Sissy Spacek cleans for him (topless yet, and is one of the few females with whom he is platonic); Sally Kellerman is interested in Keith, and Sally's husband is interested in Sissy (oh, and Harvey is interested in Sally)... and on, and on. Thoroughly fascinating film, with Altman's fingerprints all over it, and (in my opinion, to the contrary of some others) great music. An interesting romp, and the Carradine character is so strange, he completes the full circle away from "normal" so that he almost gets back there, and becomes someone with whom you can empathize.

Kind of crappy, but you could still go see this for Sissy Spacek vacuuming almost completely nude in paradise.

[punishmentpark · 3/10 · 16 March 2015]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who hated the soundtrack. That bad, huh? Uhm, yep. It's such awful, over the top pre-Michael Bolton^ drivel, making it hard to sit this one out. I just found out that this guy's name is Richard Baskin and he is quite a well-known and respected artist... I can only judge him on what I saw and heard here - as I just did.

The rest of the film is a rather dull and soapy (intended to be deeply quirky, I'm sure) couple of days in the L.A. life of prodigal son Carroll Barber (and a few others, among whom I discovered good old Uncle Jesse from 'The dukes of Hazzard'), played by a confident Carradine with a pre-grunge^ goatee. Some dialogues and incidents are okay and interesting, but some others are just awful in offering a slice of life no one wants to taste. Perhaps it was made with the best of intentions, but 'Welcome to L.A.' comes off as an unceremonious exercise in omphaloskepsis (had to look that one up myself).

The most fun I had was (once again) with Sissy Spacek, vacuuming (almost completely) nude in 'paradise'. 3 out of 10.

^ This film seems to be dubiously prophetic in some ways... -edit- correction: Michael Bolotin was at it in '75 already.

Styles of Affluent-Bright Jade in 1970s American Displayed in Welcome to L.A.

[pmullinsj · 7 May 2004]

When Karen Hood (Geraldine Chaplin) tells Carroll Barber (Keith Carradine) "I love Greta Garbo," he responds with the slightly cryptic "Yeah, she's nice when you're by yourself."

Profound, but too offhand to be a predictable rejoinder. It's very striking, one of the most original of the film.

Especially do you get the flavour of the upper-middle-class world-weary young disappointed in Baskin's lyric:

"At first I loved your sweet complexion, your tawny cheeks and lip confections--they photographed you for your style.

your body held me for a while; you could disguise with such beguile

now lying her remembering it better than it used to be is loneliness, but it doesn't really matter now, I never really loved you much, I guess."

That's from the title song.

From "The Best Temptation of all" there is "there's so many bodies and scenes...so many faces and feelings...dreams...wet tasting dreams

when those silky infatuations come, enticin' me...invitin' me..excitin' me.."

The world of "bodies and pleasures" that was Michel Foucault's vision of the future of sexuality in the first volume of THE HISTORY OF SEXUALITY was being lived out in L.A. in particular before he even wrote that it would come to this.

At a Malibu party where Carroll and his wealthy father Carl (marvelously played by Denver Pyle) confront each other, Carl's mistress Nona (Lauren Hutton) spends some stylized, posturing time with Carroll up the stairs overlooking the stylized party, the kind of party in stark white stylized modern LA houses where being comfortable must be impossible, and being controlled is an impossible necessity; and he says to her "Do you really care about that old man?" She says, knowing it won't do to say anything "less," "He sure seems to care a lot about me."

Earlier, before Carroll sees Susan (Viveca Lindfors) for the first time since his return, she says on the telephone "don't you want to see me?" and he says "I've seen you." As the older woman, somewhat desperately clinging to an unshared wish, she says "I've seen you too. I liked it."

To the love-and/or sex-starved real estate salesgirl Anne Goode (Sally Kellerman), Susan says, when she makes the arrangements for Carroll's apartment, "I pictured you plump and tiny with curly black hair--AGGRESSIVE. And here you are--soft and blonde and pretty." Anne, always trying to hard to please: "And here you are so beautiful."

Kellerman drives Carradine to his new Silverlake digs.

She says "this is Hollywood. I just love it. I don't know a thing about it, but I love it...(long pause)....does that sound like a line?...I didn't mean it to..I guess everything sounds like a line these days...Shameless, aren't I?...what are you thinking?....

Carradine: "About your shame."

************************************************************************

"People deceive themselves here, don't you think? Yes. And that's how they fall in love. And then, when everything is over, it's the other person that gets deceived. Am I right? Yeah. Van Nuys Boulevard...(long pause)..I don't need to be loved by anyone...I don't mind waiting...it's how you wait that's important, anyway..I think.. but everyone gets deceived...don't they..."

These are the opening lines of the film, which Chaplin intones in a cab going through L.A., riding all over it as she does every day, all dressed up in fur and pearl earrings and hat all for herself's own formality in the anonymity of a taxi ride.

I knew a number of people like this in 1976 and 1977. They were over-sophisticated and living in the strange limbo between the volatile, but vital 60's and the beginning of the carnage and sterization that began to open its fully tarnished flower with the Reagan era and has escalated to the deafening roar we have only 24 years later.

Bars were full of people who weren't on cellphones all the time.

They weren't ever on cell phones--even the ones you can still see.

Boring, meandering, and pointless

[madahab · 3/10 · 6 April 2022]

This feels like a film by someone trying to imitate Robert Altman and failing spectacularly. This was a struggle to finish and had to turn the sound down whenever one of those horrible songs played. It was ear bleeding drek that I was not sure was intended to be a parody of this "style" of music that stank up music world or if it was supposed to be good. I hated every single character, except for Sissy Spacek who is always a charming presence. She drifts in out of this "story". About midway through I just gave up. These were hopelessly boring and vapid people who were never interesting enough to carry a film. I am familiar with Alan Rudolph's films and found them vastly better than this one. Apart from a briefly topless Sissy Spacek it is a wholly forgettable film. Three stars is a generous rating. It is a film of its time and now looks pretentious and to enamoured with it's quirky nature.

I cheered when it was OVER!!

[Hinda · 1/10 · 15 February 1999]

I saw this movie in 1978 and I recall HATING it. Sissy Spacek was the only enjoyable performance. Much as I adore her, I wouldn't recommend watching this awful film just to see her open her Christmas present (as only she could do). Avoid seeing this one.

A very memorable movie

[wilsonld-1 · 8/10 · 20 November 2005]

I saw this movie some years ago and never forgot it. I really like the way the characters are developed. They are quirky and flawed, but understandably human. It has an excellent sound track also which I found hauntingly flowed throughout the move and added to the story line. I recently saw another movie by Robert Altman called "Nashville" which again reminded me of "Welcome to LA". It has many of the same actors and the same piano player, Richard Baskin. Again I find the characters very interesting with interwoven plots as part of the story line. Just like real life we see the good and bad in people. I also enjoy the parady of typical character types. It is obvious but in my opinion, not overdone.

vacuous and annoying

[firma_ment · 1/10 · 25 December 2023]

Rudolph made a few decent films. This is not one of them. In fact, I'd say it is the worst Rudolph movie I've seen. It's like some kind of third rate wannabe Altman movie, which isn't surprising considering Altman produced it.

The characters are all incredibly shallow, annoying flakes. It's so bad it's almost like a parody of flakey 70's people. They sit around and smoke 24/7 and sleep with each other at the drop of a hat. They have the charisma of a wet rag, but they all think they are the greatest things since sliced bread. I really can't fathom how Altman or Rudolph thought this was good. It's almost like it was made by an alien from a distant star system, who was trying to approximate the behavior of empty humans during the 1970s.

Keith Carradine looks ridiculous with the goatee and bowtie, but every woman he meets wants to jump in bed with him, even though he has the charisma of a sponge. Another irritating aspect of his character was the fact that he was swigging booze whenever he would drive around town. Then there's Harvey Keitel and his idiotic pipe, and his wife Geraldine Chaplin and her coughing fits.

I have to make special mention of the godawful music in the film. This is some of the most worthless, annoying singer-songwriter crud I've ever heard. No wonder Richard Baskin's career never went anywhere, his music and singing are annoying beyond belief. It was like a cliched parody of coked-up 70s Geffen singer-songwriters. I felt like kicking in the TV every time he opened his mouth. And those lyrics! Sometimes I wonder if Altman and Rudolph deliberately did their best to try and make some of their movies as irritating as possible. I really find it unfathomable how anyone with a working brain could give this movie a good review.

Windswept and interesting

[nomorefog · 8/10 · 6 May 2011]

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.

Oh Dear

[rabit818-67-764509 · 12 September 2021]

The minute the singer uttered "City of one night stands", I should have stopped watching this but I soldiered on. I was hoping for a storyline with Laurel Canyon scene in it since it was a "musical" of that period and about LA. Nope. Welcome To LA has a great cast that is totally wasted. I'm pretty sure the cast completely trusted Alan Rudolph on this mess and signed their respective contracts and have to suck it up.

Sissy Spacek, Sally Kellerman and Geraldine Chaplin were were good all things considered. Is the whole movie a flashback? I waited and waited for a narrative but the writer hid it with the Easter eggs. Scenes like a minute of Geraldine walking on an alley emoting, then cut to an unrelated scene. Cut and paste is a bad way. Rudolph trying to be a 1970s Alain Resnais, he is not by a long shot.

Being an Angeleno who loves movies about LA, I say avoid this movie at all costs.

Ps I looked up the singer Richard Baskin on Discogs and I am happy to tell everyone that his contribution to the soundtrack was the last of his recording career.

Moving tale of urban alienation.

[Lleu · 9/10 · 21 June 1999]

I like many of Alan Rudolph's films, and this is one of his best (Choose Me is also good). Although it was made in `77, the story is still relevant today. The lonely, alienated characters whose lives sometimes intersect (but only briefly) has a resonance that somehow captures the modern urban landscape, and L.A. in particular. Keith Carradine, as a near-alcoholic songwriter is the central character.He has brief flings with several women, played by Geraldine Chaplin, Lauren Hutton and Sally Kellerman. This is hardly a cheerful film and some may find it too slow-moving but what stands out is the underlying atmosphere and pathos.