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The Lady in Red (1979)
3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Fairly decent look at the life of a Gun Moll, 11 September 2002
Author: rlcsljo from Hollywood, ca
If they had called it "The life of a Gun Moll", nobody probably would have gone to see it. So they went with the Dillinger angle, but forget it this is Pamela Sue's film.
If you ever wondered how "good little" girls end up being window dressing for some of the most notorious gangsters that ever lived, this film gives a good look at her rebellion against her strict religious up bringing and her descent into crime and prostitution.
Pamela Sue is so cute, you have a hard time believing she is a hardened criminal, but she just about pulls it off.
1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
A spirited and engaging crime saga., 3 February 2008
Author: Scott LeBrun from Winnipeg, Canada
Polly Franklin (Pamela Sue Martin), through fate and circumstance, leaves her humdrum life on the family farm in the depression-era Midwest, making her way to Chicago. Here, among other things, she gets sent to prison, is forced into prostitution, briefly becomes the love of notorious criminal John Dillinger (Robert Conrad), and ultimately tries to break into bank robbing herself.
Working from the second film script by the talented John Sayles (his first was "Piranha"), Lewis Teague makes his solo directing debut, having cut his teeth editing and directing second unit for various low-budget flicks. The familiar story is told in pure 1970's exploitation style (lots of nudity on display here, and the violence is quite potent), but it's handled with style, pizazz, and offers some really nice twists and developments.
There's no shortage of reprehensible folks here; the little pleasures often come from seeing them get their just desserts, from lowlife boss Patek (Dick Miller) to jail matron Tiny Alice (Nancy Parsons) to mob collector Frognose (Christopher Lloyd).
Martin has the right amount of appeal and spunk as the title character, ably supported by Conrad as a romanticized Dillinger, Louise Fletcher as kind-hearted madam Anna Sage, Peter Hobbs as the elderly Pops, Rod Gist as Pinetop, and Glenn Withrow as Eddie, with nice cameos by the likes of Mary Woronov and a solid Robert Forster in an uncredited special appearance.
Deftly edited (Teague was one of the three credited editors), with a nice score adapted by James Horner in one of his earliest gigs, and a respectable evocation of the time and place. "The Lady in Red" is an enjoyable 1970's version of a classic 1930's crime story.
8/10
1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
I liked it, 14 December 2003
Author: grahamsj2 from SE US
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.
1 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Fun, Thrills, and Wholesale Cheese, 17 August 2000
Author: (Guy_T) from London, England
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.
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