Review of Cover Me Babe (1970) by John S — 09 Dec 2008

I'm a sucker for movies like this. From the late '60's until the release of "Jaws", there were literally hundreds of cheap movies released by the nearly bankrupt major studios that were long on cinematography, short on plot and had surprising actors and soundtracks. The actors in this mess include Robert Forster, currently of the TV show "Heroes", Sondra Locke, the ex-paramour of Clint Eastwood, Ken Kercheval from "Dallas", Sam Waterston of "Law And Order" and longtime character actor Carmen Argenziano. The soundtrack features two songs by '70's mellow rockers Bread. The title song, "Cover Me Babe", features lyrics by a very young Randy Newman (I'd bet any amount of money that he doesn't remember this part of his catalog).

The "short on plot" thing is all too apparent with this film. Forster plays a film student trying to film reality in all its horrid glory, which includes the filming of people having sex in a car, transvestites, derelicts telling their life stories, prostitutes pleasuring themselves and people jumping to their death off of buildings.

There are some scenes of the ocean in the opening and closing credits and some outdoor shooting in one sequence. The rest of the movie is mostly forgettable, but as I said, I love schlock like this.

Currently in light rotation on the Fox Movie Channel at about 3 in the morning, right where it belongs.