..a bright, likable, interesting, indie-minded director (diligent, spontaneous) who tapped into something fetching and zeitgeisty in the ’70s and ’80s — basically a 16-year, six-film streak.
Let no one dispute that Jaglom was a world-class gabber and bullshitter (I interviewed him at length in the front seat of a car when he was filming Can She Bake a Cherry Pie? in Manhattan, and we could’ve easily yakked for another two or three hours). Plus he fancied himself as a soulful ladies man (his hottest girlfriend was Andrea Marcovicci), and he was a longtime friend and ally of Orson Welles.
He was always cushioned to some extent by family money, although I don’t know the particulars. “Risk is my middle name” was one of his better lines, but family wealth mitigates this.
A freckly, fair-skinned, auburn-haired guy who was shaped by ’60s experimentation and was always the agile, whipsmart social hustler, Jaglom’s run began with 1971’s A Safe Place, and continued five years later with Tracks (Dennis Hopper as a traumatized vet). Neither of these, to my fullest recollection, was all that great.
Jaglom found his groove and arguably peaked with four films released between the early to mid ’80s — Sitting Ducks (his only real financial hit) and Can She Bake A Cherry Pie? (’83), Always and Someone to Love (’87 — his only Marcovicci film).
That said, I’ve always had a thing for Jaglom’s Venice/Venice (’92):