sol1218 **SPOILERS** "Cover Me Babe" is one of those anti-establishment type 1970's films where it's main character takes himself, and his future in film, so lightly that it's a wonder that anyone, in the audience or in the movie, take him seriously at all.Tony Hall, Robert Foster, a college student film maker does everything he can to destroy his future career, if he had one to begin with, in film. Tony makes sure that if he would ever need to be financed by a film studios in or out of Hollywood to do a project they would slam the door in his face. Smug arrogant sarcastic and unfeeling Tony goes through the entire movie totally detached from his friends and fellow students as well as those in the film business like Hollywood press agent Paul Rogers, Jeff Corey. That by the time the movie is over Tony doesn't have a friend in the world and at the same time doesn't really seem to care. All Tony wants to do is do is "his thing" which is being snobbish and aloof like those in the establishment that he despises, and who he's rebelling against, and if nobody likes it let them take a long walk of a short plank. Robert Foster tries to be "Medium Cool" in "Cover Me Babe" but comes across totally obnoxious as the very overly conceited vain and pompous as Tony.Tony forces both his girlfriends Melsse & Sybil, Sandra Locke & Susanne Benton, to forcibly make love in movies that he was making with Jerry & Ronnie, Ken Kercheval & Floyd Murtux, who were also friends of his. Tony also doesn't get along with his film professor in college Will Ames, Robert S. Fields, Tony doesn't get along with anyone for that matter. Ames' is also in love with his girlfriend Meilssa and had an affair with her before she met Tony. It seemed to me that Prof. Ames had a grudging admiration of Tony's talents but Tony was so rude and uncivil to him that in the end Prof. Ames wanted nothing to do with him. Prof. Ames even wanted Tony thrown out of college when he found a film clip of a young couple making out, in a car at a local lovers lane, that Tony secretly filmed without their knowledge. Back at the college studio Tony has Meilsse almost raped on film in an "art movie" he had her "act" in. Later Tony had poor Ronnie, who was very shy with women,forced into a hard core sex scene with his, Tony's, other girlfriend Sybil. This action of Tony's part was so revolting that the cameraman, Sam Waterston, stopped shooting and walked off the set in disgust. Tony did show some talent when he touchingly filmed a derelict, Mike Kellin, at local park who spilled his guts out on how the world, and his ex-wife, treated him. That scene really hit me as well as it did Tony who was filming it. There was also a horrific scene, at a film exhibition in the college auditorium, that Tony shot of a man on a ledge of a high rise building being urged to jump by the people on the streets below, and then did. To the horror of those watching the film, to his death. It's been said that actor Al Pacino, who was a total unknown back then in 1970, was first offered the role of Tony Hall and for some reason didn't get the part. Not getting that part very probably saved Al Pacino's movie and acting career.

albertayler1 My recollection is that when I first saw this film (maybe at a drive-in) it was rated X, had a scene of male frontal nudity (Forster) and was actually first shown in theaters (some theaters anyway) under the title of Run, Shadow, Run. Can anyone verify this? I too saw the PG version once on TV years ago but last night saw the TV-MA (R?) version on Fox Movie Channel. This version seemed to have some scenes cut though I cannot be sure. A friend also told me at the time (he later became a film editor for Variety) that there was a trailer for the film that was a vicious diatribe against the studio for restricting the directorial control of Black. I was quite taken with the version I saw then, in part because I thought Black, the director of Pretty Poison, was an outstanding new director. Unfortunately his films after Pretty Poison have never lived up to it on subsequent viewings.

lensdarkly I saw "Cover Me Babe" in its brief first run in New York City. The film was rated "R" due to scenes of sexuality. To the best of my knowledge, if there was a "PG" rated version, it would have be the version edited for television. I interviewed Noel Black, and he told me that "Cover Me Babe" was televised although I did not pursue further information on the broadcast. This would have been in the late 70s. I wrote an article on Noel Black's films in the magazine, Velvet Light Trap, in 1973. The main problem Black had with this film was that he was contractually unable to change the screenplay to more accurately reflect the attitude and film-making style of a student film-maker in the early 70s. Black also noted that his original choice in the lead role was a then unknown Al Pacino. The box office performance of this film was so poor that it is unlikely to be seen again, except, possibly on the Fox Movie Channel.

slappy-8 Pretentious slop about a student filmmaker who is so hip that no one "gets" him. Robert Forster plays the student and his performance is limited to smug expressions and wooden stares. I don't blame him, though, since the script is so godawful. The gist of the plot is that Forster's character wants to push the boundaries of realism in films, and while making a new film manipulates his cast and crew to perform unknowingly to his master plan. Actually, it's not a bad idea and anticipates the JERRY SPRINGER SHOW to some degree, but as put together the film plays like a very, very bad student film. This was shown on FXM recently, apparently in an R-rated form. The film was released to theaters as a PG film.