The Sterile Cuckoo

The Sterile Cuckoo marks the directorial debut for producer Alan J.Paluka and the film bow for Wendell Burton. Burton plays Jerry, a shy and sexually inexperienced student of entomology at a college in upstate New York. He meets Pookie (Liza Minnelli) on a bus one day. He falls for the glib, extroverted freshman and the two begin to spend time together. Jerry soon learns she uses humor to cover the wounds of a lonely childhood which began with her mother's death while giving birth to her. The two make love after a nervous Jerry watches her undress in a hotel room. She can't relate to his party-animal friends who are more interested in beer blasts than higher education. The Fred Carlin-Dory Previn song "Come Saturday Morning" was nominated for an Oscar as was Miss Minnelli's stellar performance.