The Lady in Red (1979 film)
The Lady in Red | |
---|---|
![]() Film poster | |
Directed by | Lewis Teague |
Written by | John Sayles |
Produced by | Julie Corman |
Starring | Pamela Sue Martin Robert Conrad Louise Fletcher Christopher Lloyd |
Cinematography | Daniel Lacambre |
Edited by | Larry Bock Ron Medico Lewis Teague |
Music by | James Horner |
Production company | |
Distributed by | New World Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 93 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $400,000 |
Box office | $900,000[1] |
The Lady in Red (also known as Guns, Sin and Bathtub Gin) is a 1979 American action-drama romantic film directed by Lewis Teague and starring Pamela Sue Martin and Robert Conrad.[2] It is an early writing effort of John Sayles who became better known as a director in the 1980s and 1990s.
Quentin Tarantino called it "my candidate for most ambitious film ever made at Roger Corman’s New World Pictures... Not only do I think this thirties era epic... is Sayles best screenplay, I also think it’s the best script ever written for an exploitation movie."[3]
In Tarantino's novel Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in an alternate history, he himself had released a remake of the film in 1999.
Premise[]
The film tells a 1930s' crime story of a poor farmer's daughter who leaves for Chicago, where she is sent to prison, works as a prostitute, falls in love with notorious criminal John Dillinger, witnesses his death, and finally tries bank robbery.
Cast[]
- Pamela Sue Martin — Polly Franklin
- Robert Conrad — John Dillinger
- Louise Fletcher — Anna Sage
- Christopher Lloyd — Frognose
- Laurie Heineman — Rose Shimkus
- Robert Hogan — Jake Lingle
- Glenn Withrow — Eddie
- Robert Forster — Turk
- Dick Miller — Patek
- Alan Vint — Melvin Purvis
Production[]
The soundtrack of this film is notable as the first film score composed by James Horner, who went on to a multiple Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy-winning career.
Teague recalls, "I was given that script and told to go with it. I didn't really have a chance to mold or change it. It was very socially conscious for an action picture about the Great Depression. I had 20 days to shoot it, and three to edit and a budget of less than a million."[4]
John Sayles later said the film "didn't turn out the way I wanted because they just didn't have the budget to make the movie right. I wanted that to be a real breathless, '30s, Jimmy Cagney everybody-talking-fast type movie. It turned out a little more like Louis Malle. Different movies have different speeds."[5]
Release[]
The film was not a big success at the box office. Roger Corman re-released it in 1980 under the title Guns, Sin and Bathtub Gin, but it did not fare much better.[1]
On December 17, 2010, Shout! Factory released the title on DVD, packaged as a double feature with Crazy Mama as part of the Roger Corman Cult Classics collection.[6]
References[]
- ^ a b Christopher T Koetting, Mind Warp!: The Fantastic True Story of Roger Corman's New World Pictures, Hemlock Books. 2009 p 169
- ^ "The Lady in Red". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
- ^ Tarantino, Quentin (16 February 2020). "The Lady in Red". New Beverly Cinema.
- ^ Yakir, Dan (1985). "Big League Teague". Film Comment. New York. 21 (6): 26–28, 80. ProQuest 210237874.
- ^ Schlesinger, Tom; Sayles, John (1 July 1981). "Putting People Together: An Interview with John Sayles". Film Quarterly. 34 (4): 2–8. doi:10.2307/1212137. JSTOR 1212137.
- ^ "Roger Corman's Cult Classics". Shout! Factory. Archived from the original on 2010-04-11. Retrieved 2011-02-03.
External links[]
- 1979 films
- English-language films
- 1970s crime drama films
- Biographical films about John Dillinger
- Films directed by Lewis Teague
- Films scored by James Horner
- American crime drama films
- American films
- Films produced by Julie Corman
- Films with screenplays by John Sayles
- 1979 drama films