The Lady in Red

1979
X
1h 33m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

After being in the wrong place at the wrong time, a naïve farm girl moves to Chicago, where she becomes trapped in a vicious cycle of prostitution and crime abetted by John Dillinger.After being in the wrong place at the wrong time, a naïve farm girl moves to Chicago, where she becomes trapped in a vicious cycle of prostitution and crime abetted by John Dillinger.After being in the wrong place at the wrong time, a naïve farm girl moves to Chicago, where she becomes trapped in a vicious cycle of prostitution and crime abetted by John Dillinger.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

1.6K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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Trailer 2:43

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Lewis Teague was paid eleven thousand dollars to direct this film. However, since this movie was made non-union, he had to pay his entire salary as a fine to the Director's Guild.

Goofs
The reporter, Jake Lingle, who is killed at the end of the film by Robert Forster's character, Turk, was a real person. Lingle was gunned down in 1930, four years before the setting of this film. Lingle was killed by an underpass as shown in the film, however, it was at rush hour with crowds of people around.

Quotes
Satin (a prostitute): The day I can't handle the likes of him, I best get me a needle and thread and sew it shut.

Alternate versions
The 1986 UK VHS released by Eagle Crest Video is only 83 minutes long (86/87 minutes when converted back to NTSC) and uses a print that is missing all shots (and sometimes whole scenes) of sex and nudity, as well as some of the violence (e.g. Dillinger's bloody corpse). Note that these are not BBFC edits - they had already approved the film uncut for cinema release.

Connections
Featured in Big Bad Mama II (1987)

Soundtracks
Ain't She Sweet
(uncredited)
Music by Milton Ager
Courtesy Warner Bros. Music

User reviews16

Featured review

7/10

Fun, Thrills, and Wholesale Cheese

Clearly a product of the Corman School, Sayles's first major screenplay shows that he already knew how to tell a great story from an interesting angle, something he has never forgotten how to do.

Director Teague keeps the pace rattling along, and hammers the message home fast (he was an occasional assistant to Sam Fuller, of course).

The plot's quite straightforward, and all the better so - this packs something of the punch of the 30's classic gangster films, but with distinctly 70's sensibilities to violence.

Where the film becomes more interesting than your average low-budget 'gangster-exploiter', however, is in the telling of the story through her eyes, rather than his (a distinctly 70's approach). Yet it's wonderfully ambiguous, on reflection, as to whether the film champions her willingness to break away and start acting for herself (she's a great strong character), or whether she just goes from one woman in peril situation to the other (which is the plot, basically).

I've probably over-analyzed it already, but if you've got a spare hour and a half on your hands, give it a chance. A classic of its kind.