Hussy

One of Helen Mirren's first......I suppose everybody has to work their way up from the bottom.

The writer and director of this nonsense did go on to write one of my favourite movies, Runaway Jury. So that's something I suppose.

The action is stilted, the characters unbelievable, the plot simplistic and the production quality is poor.

In a few years, Mirren would go on to have her breakout role in The Long Good Friday which is not too dissimilar to this in look and feel.

Just a word about the ridiculous climax the hinges on whether or not a child wants to run away with his mum. Must have sounded great on the page because it was laughable on the screen.

I read with interest the other reviews on IMDb. With all respect, all from the other side of the pond, so to speak.

Helen is a National Treasure to many of us Brits; the oft (and justified) referral to her Oscar winning portrayal of Her Majesty being the Crown on a long and varied career.

As such, many actresses could get very squeamish and guarded about their earlier films, disassociating themselves totally and making excuses. Whilst Ms Mirren is unlikely to list 'Hussy' as one her key performances, her conviction and strength of character means that no doubt it has helped shape her career and made her a better all-round actor.

Yes, 'Hussy' sells itself as soft porn, like the very clubs she is an escort for, to entice you in. The DVD cover is tawdry-looking and mentions Mirren as the now Oscar winner. This is not about bitching and petty jealousies as was in Paul Verhoeven's "Showgirls"; the story does move on and away to being a credible thriller that were a mainstay in UK cinema and TV. Series such as The Professionals; hard nosed, in your face crime, gritty and unrelenting. Not particularly good but generally quite watchable.

True, only Mirren shines on the acting front, and that hardly taxes her. But this is over thirty years ago. No-one else in the cast is actually bad to the point of being awful. To me, though, becoming of adult age about then, it is the London, the snapshot of a misspent youth of my own and making it slightly more human that is the best bit of this practically forgotten film. I do not regret having bought this DVD; true it won't get played very often, if at all, any more but as I said before 'Queen' Mirren did have to start out somewhere!

I can't say that I liked this film very much, but it did have some good elements. First, and foremost, Helen Mirren. She has always been sooo beautiful, even into her sixties. Here, she was about thirty-five, and looks it, with some lines around the eyes that no modern actress would tolerate in this Botox era. I found it charming and attractive, myself. But then, I'm no spring chicken myself. Many actresses ruin their looks with toxins and surgeries. Yes, feminine beauty is ephemeral, but the effort to maintain it often goes horribly bad these days. Anyway, the plotting and casting seem better to me now, than when I was watching the film yesterday. Not sure what that means. I guess I'd say that fans of Mirren (like me) should definitely see this, and others should probably skip it.

Much underrated and sadly, little seen seedy gem. Low budget so lots of location shooting, always good, especially in London and if a little rough around the edges, all the better. Helen Mirren gives a gutsy and convincing performance in what is a surprisingly convincing glimpse of the sleazier side of late 70s London. She would play a rather more glossy version of the fancied girl on the edge of the underworld in the following year's Long Good Friday but even in that fine film we do not see a finer performance than here. Matthew Chapman does well with his limited funds and gets decent performances from everyone including the child and surely one of the most menacing bad guys in cinema. Paul Angelis, who worked mainly in TV but famously voiced parts for Yellow Submarine, switches deftly between friendly and fearsome as a psychotic criminal strong man and coming between the two main protagonists. Solid script, competent direction, great performances and wonderful settings make this an essential view.

This was not a bad film, but without Helen Mirren's acting -- she was superb even in 1980 -- I'm not sure how bad it COULD have been. Unfortunately, she's teamed here with John Shea, an American would-be heartthrob who was supposed to be a big star at one time until someone found he wasn't a very good actor.

It was annoying to rent this, because the DVD jacket shows Mirren in sexy poses. She is never really nude; we get a profile glimpse of one of her breasts as she climbs into a bathtub. But the DVD jacket would have you believe she's all but into explicit sex here. Pure exploitation of Mirren. This movie would have been more or less forgettable if she hadn't gone on to greater things.

All things considered, this is just another familiar and formulaic 'thriller' about a hard-working single mother reduced to prostitution who gets it on with Shea after a 'romance' of sorts.

My personal rule of thumb: if you're looking for a sexy movie, and a DVD has sexy pictures on the front, there's a 90 per cent chance you're going to be disappointed. This movie is just another example of the rule.