Du rouge pour un truand

Fans of 1930's "pre-code" gangster flicks will probably love "The Lady In Red," a beautiful and realistic love letter to films such as "Scarface" (1932) and "Public Enemy." Pamela Sue Martin is ultra lovable as Polly, the rebellious farm girl who just seems to attract trouble like a magnet. At the wrong place at the wrong time, Polly is used as a human shield by the Dillinger gang as they speed away from a bank robbery. They ditch her after she serves her purpose, but a chain of events leads Polly down a very winding road that includes sweat shops, prostitution, a prison stint, and culminating with Polly and her friends picking up the machine guns, John Dillinger style, after the authorities do her wrong. Episodic in structure, which is not a problem, as every 'episode' in Polly's journey is more fascinating and just plain wild than the previous chapter. Now people refer to this as a low budget "B" movie, but the production values are very sleek, with stunning attention to period detail; the cars, the clothes, the hairstyles, the sets and the music, are all completely realistic in a way that is seldom seen in even higher budget films. The cinematography is stunning and this movie is gorgeous. The scenes in the brothel are reminiscent of the Storybook era sets of Louis Malle's "Pretty Baby," while the prison episode is more powerful and realistic than the roughest "women in prison" movie...and YES; that is Beula Ballbreaker from "Porky's," as the evil prison matron, turning in a perfectly savage, evil performance as a hate-filled racist lesbian guard. "Lady In Red" is the perfect balance of exploitation and Hollywood productions like "Bonnie & Clyde," but this is actually more fun than "Bonnie & Clyde." It deserves more recognition.

I first saw this film on TV and with the commercial breaks, it suffered. However, I later saw it without the commercials and it's so much better. It's the story of Gangster John Dillenger and his last girlfriend. Pamela Sue Martin as the moll and Robert Conrad as Dillenger both deliver great performances. I don't know much about John Dillenger, but I wonder if he was as "gentlemanly" as Conrads' portrayal was. Just a thought! However, it is a strong story, with enough violence to be realistic (those were violent times). There's also the romantic element that gives a softness to Dillenger. As I said, I wonder if he was a romantic at all. Anyway, a decent enough flick and well-acted.

Great watch Small shots and the unknown subtley with the signature style from the 70's is completely gone in movies today. Someone's gotta start makin' retro throwback modern 70's movies...with all the cgi crap we have now just imagine how priceless they could make em now!

This picture makes for an interesting companion piece to Michael Mann's recent "Public Enemies"; it covers not only the same era and the same setting but, inevitably, much of the same source material. And compared to earlier black-and-white gangster movies it shares a similar distinctly modern sensibility. Indeed, dubbed a "cheerful exploitation flick", it far outdoes the more recent film in the sheer quantity of sex and nudity on display. Yet oddly enough it manages to avoid the impression of gratuitous indulgence: the lolling female flesh on view is treated as more matter-of-fact (sometimes grotesque) than erotic, and the explicit violence is never casually treated.

"The Lady in Red" turns out to succeed on a number of levels where "Public Enemies" failed: above all and most vitally in characterization and plot development. We actually care what becomes of the heroine and those she meets, however lurid the scenarios that ensue. Individuals are vividly drawn and memorable, and a vein of black humour periodically enlivens the script; it even conjures up some moments of almost lyrical happiness to provide a far more convincing love affair than Mann can achieve. Every victory over tyranny may seem to leave Polly in the long term worse off, and yet we cheer fiercely at her rebellion. There is no lack of audience identification here.

The film is also surprisingly sure-footed in its period setting. After the initial reflex jolt at seeing the familiar monochrome settings re-enacted in colour -- unthinking: of course in reality the colour would always have been there, it's just that we never saw it -- "Lady in Red" pulls off the rare trick of presenting a world that seems entirely natural to its era. The cars are not conscious museum pieces, the clothes are not being worn as costumes, the props are not just set dressing: 'period' productions so often give the air of having tried too hard over every glossy detail, or else of importing a patronising grime of deprivation. This one seems to do neither. It even gets away with the potentially heavy-handed use of period cultural references (Elliot Ness, King Kong). After a while -- the ultimate accolade -- you forget that it's in colour.

And finally, despite an escalating violence/body count, this film manages to retain death to genuinely shocking effect. There are no diminishing-return shots of gun porn here; no five-minute jerking, numbing sprays of muzzle-flash after dark. (And, although it had not until now occurred to me, no cars that roll over and burst into flames...) A lot of people wind up dead one way or another: but seen through Polly's eyes, it is neither cheap entertainment nor taken for granted.

Acting performances are admirable all round in both major and minor roles. The use of music, in particular the evocative "42nd Street" as general theme to the picture in changing moods for each context, is excellently done. This isn't the sort of picture I would have anticipated liking -- the breast count alone is about fifty times greater than anything I'd normally see -- but I found it quite unexpectedly successful... and, I'm afraid, superior on every level to "Public Enemies", with which it has on the surface so much 'modernity' in common.

"The Lady in Red" is the kind of movie that those of us fans of cult cinema and b-movies live for. It's an unheralded classic, and a movie that totally rises above its inauspicious "grindhouse" or exploitation roots.

I believe the movie's success may have been undercut by advertising that suggests it is about Dillinger. It isn't. It's the story of Dillinger's alleged girlfriend, the one who supposedly betrayed him to the feds. The story is, if anything, more interesting than Dillinger's, and packs a feminist punch. It shows a path to crime more heartbreaking than any famous bankrobber's.

The protagonist is thrown out of home and ends up in jail. There's a whole genre of women in prison movies, and they almost all feature a sadistic lesbian guard. Yet, none of them are this good, and none of the guards are as horribly believable as the one in this movie.

The movie only spends about half an hour there, and is yet more believable and impactful than all the women in prison movies combined. The only way out for the protagonist is prostitution, which is where she comes into contact with crime figures she is destined to join.

Dillinger is, in fact, just another guy she meets, and that's a massive strength. To her, he was no hero. He was just another man, a potential user, thief, murderer, whatever.

This is the world through the eyes of a down-on-her-luck woman who had little choice but to turn to crime.

How fitting that it would be so roundly ignored, even after all these years.