Brenda Starr

Witless adaptation of a comic-strip revolving around the titular female crime reporter (which had previously been the source of a 1976 TV movie with Jill St. John); Brooke Shields looks good throughout but seems undecided whether to approach the role straight, or else play it for laughs!

Indeed, this dilemma afflicts the entire production to its ultimate detriment – with the result that the film was shelved for some three years (it was, in fact, shot in 1986 i.e. prior to co-star Timothy Dalton's brief stint as James Bond)! At least, the latter seems to have had a good time making it for he subsequently tackled the part of the villain in another comic-strip adaptation with, again, some powerful gizmo as the object of contention between various factions (and nationalities) – namely ROCKETEER (1991; which I watched a day previously and found to be vastly superior)! Dalton's character here is actually enigmatic – dashing in spite of an eye-patch, he always turns up at unexpected moments to save, guide or otherwise romance the heroine.

The chief villains are a gang of incompetent Russian agents (including a bald-headed goofball and the pint-sized cigar-smoking female leader), though also hindering Shields is the ambitious and vaguely vampish rival reporter played by Diana Scarwid. Incidentally, the plot involves a fantasy framework in which animator Tony Peck inhabits the world of his subject (they keep quarrelling about how he isn't fit to design Brenda's exploits because he continually looks down on her, something of which the film-makers themselves are guilty!) – this doesn't really work and is actually rather pointless.

I was surprised to learn that renowned veteran cinematographer Freddie Francis (a beloved minor genre director in his own right) was behind this one in the former capacity; his craftsmanship at least renders the silly and positively dreary goings-on (which relocates to Brazil during the second half) pleasing to the eye. A number of guest appearances (including Eddie Albert as the Police Commissioner, Charles Durning as Starr's flamboyant boss, Henry Gibson as the obligatory eccentric scientist and Ed Nelson as the piano-playing American President) add nothing of substance to the film.

She would cash in on her looks. Her acting ability has finally reared its head with Suddenly Susan, but prior to her stint on TV Brooke Shields did a number of lack luster appearances films that were shot as A-quality pictures, but suffered from her poor acting ability.

"Brenda Starr" shows a turning point in Brooke's acting career, largely because it seemed as though she actually projected herself into the Brenda Starr character, verse reciting lines in her previous roles.

Even so the film is poorly directed, and veterans like Dalton and Scarwid cannot prop up a film that has a definate lack of vision. In fact the best sequences of the entire film are in Act I; from Shields braving a ledge to get an interview with an Irish immigrant gangster, to her welcome home to the office by the Brenda Starr comic strip's supporting characters.

The film was given a kind of feminine sense of adventure, which I believe detracts from what could've been a far more entertaining film; had the director just followed his personal instincts and created a good adventure film. The high points are seeing Brooke herself in very alluring fashions of the late forties. Beyond that there's not much here. Brooke looks the part, but couldn't act it ... at least not then.

Totally enjoyed this. Was it ahead of its time or behind? I think it would have been great in the pop art '60s.

Brooke Shields was something like 21 when she filmed this - it wasn't released right away. She is so gorgeous she's all you can look at. And those Bob Mackie outfits! Totally worth the entire film.

Seeking a hot story, journalist Brenda travels to the Amazon to find a crazed scientist who supposedly plans to destroy the planet.

Brooke does a great job. She's always been more than a fabulous face, as she's proven on Broadway and in her own series. I saw her in person one Thanksgiving- unbelievably tall!

Really fun. Too bad it only made $67,000.

i thought this movie was unreal.it is certainly Brooke shields vehicle and she does an amazing job with it,she was totally impressive,endearing and mind blowing-ly gorgeous as the ace comic book reporter.her comedic abilities really shine through here so it is a shame that this film didn't become more recognized than it was. the editing in a certain part is terrible-witness Brenda Starr falling from a balcony in slow motion-but the rest is a hell of a lot of camp fun. Diana Scarwidis awesome in this role as is the Russian woman on Brenda's trail. i have watched this film over and over again and it gets better every time. do yourself a favour and dust it off a rental shelf and watch it.

The most that people know about this movie was that it was filmed in 1986, then spent six years on the shelf before being (barely) released to theaters. Was it deserving of its fate? For that most part, yes. Though obviously not a big budget exercise, the movie does boast (for the most part) passable production values. However, the rest of the movie falls flat. Brooke Shields looks the part of Brenda Starr, but her performance simply isn't very good. In fairness to Shields, her role is strangely not written to be a smart and resourceful woman, but kind of a bubblehead - such a demeaning role would make anyone reluctant to give a good performance. In fact, just about every character is written to be kind of stupid. The movie seems to think that the whole thing should be some kind of joke, when in fact this kind of movie needs a SERIOUS treatment. It doesn't help that there are several instances where key linking footage or entire scenes seem to be missing, leading to some very confusing moments. I'm willing to be that Dale Messick, the original cartoonist of the "Brenda Starr" comic strip, wasn't very pleased by this cinematic adaptation of her work.