Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

punishmentpark 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.

nickjordycj2 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.

roadmovie69 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.

pmullinsj 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 beguilenow 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 dreamswhen 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.