Verdict
Summary
The movie is really quite good. It’s a little melodramatic and basically a footnote in the annals of movies about making movies, but it’s quite a fascinating little picture, and really stunningly beautifully shot by William Fraker, with a lovely score by Ken Lauber. If you’re a Reynolds fan, then this should be a must watch, and even though he and Loden evidentially didn’t click at all in real life, I found their chemistry to be really special in the film. I’ve got nothing bad at all to say about this film. It’s a really neat little picture and totally worth watching.
Plot:
A film crew comes to Moab, Utah, to film a western, and the editor of the film falls in love with the local driver she’s hired to take her to the set every day.
Review:
A Hollywood production rolls into Moab, Utah, to film a western starring Terence Stamp and Ricardo Montalban (the film was really made, called Blue), and the locals in Moab are sort of drafted into either being extras in the movie or providing services to the film crew. One guy – a handsome rancher named Rob (Burt Reynolds right before his career took off in a huge way) – is hired by the editor of the film, a pretty and demure woman named Jean (Barbara Loden) to pick her up from her hotel every morning to drive her to the set and back, and right away they have chemistry. He never comes on too strong, but it’s obvious that over the course of the filming of the movie that they’re going to have a love affair. It’s complicated, though, because she has a man back in Los Angeles, while Rob is totally unattached and falling pretty hard in love with this woman. There’s some local drama in town too with some jealous ranch hands who try to throw a wrench in Rob’s romance with Jean, but he’s a standup guy who just wears his heart on his sleeve.
A somewhat forgotten little film from Paramount, Fade-In apparently was a bit of a stain in Paramount’s vaults, having had terrible test screenings that all but ruined its chances in theaters. The film was recut and messed around with and released on television in 1973, resulting in filmmaker Jud Taylor having his name removed from the film, replacing it with the notorious pseudonym Allen Smithee. The movie is really quite good, though. It’s a little melodramatic and basically a footnote in the annals of movies about making movies, but it’s quite a fascinating little picture, and really stunningly beautifully shot by William Fraker, with a lovely score by Ken Lauber. If you’re a Reynolds fan, then this should be a must watch, and even though he and Loden evidentially didn’t click at all in real life, I found their chemistry to be really special in the film. I’ve got nothing bad at all to say about this film. It’s a really neat little picture and totally worth watching.
Kino Lorber has just released a Blu-ray of Fade-In, which looks and sounds fantastic. The transfer is from a fairly recent HD master, and there’s an informative audio commentary by filmmaker Daniel Kremer, as well as another commentary by two entertainment journalist.
