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Feb 07, 2025 Web Exclusive By Hays Davis Photography by Kino Lorber

Rescued from a storied obscurity with this Blu-ray release, the 1968 film Fade In stars Burt Reynolds (four years before his breakthrough role in Deliverance) and Barbara Loden (Wanda) as lovers who come together during a film shoot. As Paramount Pictures trucks roll up to a desert location, we see an ad encouraging locals interested in starring in a movie to respond, and Rob (Reynolds) is hired as a driver who gets to know Jean (Loden), a film editor. A relationship develops while she introduces him to her work and as he escorts her around his small town and the scenic region.

Shot alongside the filming of an actual movie, the 1968 Western Blue, the charming love story at the heart of Fade In often leads to scenes that expose and examine late-’60s Hollywood filmmaking (as with a fake horse being pulled from the water during a horseback river crossing). After director Jud Taylor chose to be credited under a pseudonym, Fade In was essentially buried before finally premiering as a CBS Late Movie in 1973 and later becoming known as Iron Cowboy. This Kino Lorber edition, which includes multiple commentaries in its special features, finally offers a worthy release for the film’s cult following who had made do with bootleg DVDs, as well as for those who are bound to discover the multifaceted Fade In more than 50 years after it was completed without its audience.

(www.kinolorber.com/product/fade-in-special-edition)