Cover Me Babe (1970)

Name: Cover Me Babe
Genre: Drama
Released: 1970-10-01
Duration: 89 min
Rating: 4.7
Cast: Robert Forster, Sondra Locke, Susanne Benton, Robert Fields, Ken Kercheval

Cover Me Babe (1970), directed by Noel Black, starring Robert Forster and Sondra Locke.

10/01/1970 BR Drama 1h 29m

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Quiz about this movie

Life. Love. Illusion. At 24 Frames per Second.

Synopsis

Student filmmaker lets nothing stand in the way of his getting a studio contract.

Michel HugoCinematography
Noel BlackDirector
Harry GerstadEditing
Lester LinskProducer

About the film

Cover Me Babe is a 1970 drama film about a young filmmaker who is hypercritical about everything including his own work. The film was directed by Noel Black, and stars Robert Forster and Sondra Locke.

The title song was written by Fred Karlin and Randy Newman, and performed by Bread. A second song by Bread (written by Karlin and band members James Griffin and Robb Royer, titled "So You Say") also appeared on the soundtrack.

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Plot

Tony Hall is a film-school student who does not care to make conventional films. His first avant-garde effort features Melisse, who becomes Tony's lover and moves in with him.

Seeking a grant, Tony is steered to Paul, who's a Hollywood agent, but he continues to reject the notion of making movies that conform to the norm. Tony shoots realistic footage of a couple making love in a car, a derelict, a prostitute, even an argument between Melisse and a young student that nearly turns violent. He alienates all eventually, and becomes alone in the end.

Cast

Robert Forster as Tony

Sondra Locke as Melisse

Ken Kercheval as Jerry

Sam Waterston as Cameraman

Jeff Corey as Paul

Susanne Benton as Sybil

Robert Fields as Will

Production

It was based on an original script by George Wells.

Michael Sarrazin originally was sought for the lead role. Filming took place in spring 1969 under the working title Run Shadow Run.

Reception

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the film displayed "a compulsive need to ridicule itself, to deny its basic intelligence and to fail. It accomplishes all of these things with an idiocy that should warm the neurotic heart." He explained that it was "loaded with its own clichés of dialogue, attitude and style." He also pointed out the irony of the protagonist railing against the studio system in a movie financed by 20th Century Fox.

In the November 6, 1970 issue of Life, Richard Schickel called Forster's Tony Hall "a sullen creep" but added that "the writing is so bad and Mr. Black's direction so unpersuasive that he (Hall) deserves more to be pitied than censured, as does everyone else caught up in this foolishness."

Box office

According to Fox records, the film required $3,525,000 in rentals to break even, and by 11 December 1970, it had made $1,050,000, resulting in a loss to the studio.

References

External links

Cover Me Babe at IMDb

Cover Me Babe at Rotten Tomatoes

Text from Cover Me Babe on Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cover_Me_Babe

Trivia

It premiered on October 1, 1970, a Thursday.
It runs 1h29 — a typical feature length.
This film's quiz has 13 questions — enough to play more than once without repeats.