Medium Cool is a 1969 American drama film written and directed by Haskell Wexler and starring Robert Forster, Verna Bloom, Peter Bonerz, Marianna Hill and Harold Blankenship.

In the course of his television job, Cassellis meets Eileen, a single mother, and her son, Harold, who have moved from West Virginia to Chicago.

As they drive to an undisclosed location, unaware that Harold has returned home, Cassellis accidentally crashes the car into a tree, killing Eileen and critically injuring himself.

The film features contemporary music from the early Mothers of Invention albums by rock musician Frank Zappa, as well as the Love instrumental "Emotions" over the opening credits and as a recurring theme.

"[4] Shot at a time of great social and political counterculture upheaval in the United States, Wexler's film reflects the nature of a country divided by issues of race, gender, poverty, crime and war.

[6] Much of the critical response to Medium Cool concentrated on the revolutionary techniques of combining fact and fiction rather than the plot of the film.

[7] While Ebert did not find the plot to be particularly innovative, he acknowledged that Wexler purposely left it up to his audience to fill in the gaps of the romance and at the same time presented images of great political significance.

[9] Like Ebert, Canby pointed out that the political atmosphere of the film fills in the blanks left open by a relatively superficial plot.

[9] Like Ebert, Canby felt that the real significance of the film was in its capturing of a political situation rather than its conventional success through plot and character development.