Ms. 45 (1981)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Abel Ferrara

Writer:

Nicholas St. John (writer)

Release Date:

24 April 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Crime Will No Longer Roam the Streets.

Plot:

A shy and mute seamstress goes insane after being attacked and raped twice in one day, in which she takes to the streets of New York after dark and randomly kills men with a .45 caliber gun.

Plot Keywords:

Mute | Vengeance | Gun | New York | Magnum Handgun

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Zoë Lund	...	Thana (as Zoë Tamerlis)
Albert Sinkys	...	Albert
Darlene Stuto	...	Laurie
Helen McGara	...	Carol
Nike Zachmanoglou	...	Pamela
Abel Ferrara	...	1st Rapist (as Jimmy Laine)
Peter Yellen	...	The Burglar (2nd Rapist)
Editta Sherman	...	Mrs. Nasone (Landlady)
Vincent Gruppi	...	Heckler on Corner
S. Edward Singer	...	The Photographer
Stanley Timms	...	The Pimp
Faith Peters	...	The Prostitute
Lawrence Zavaglia	...	The Arab
Alex Jachino	...	The Chauffeur
Jack Thibeau	...	Man in Bar

Also Known As:

Angel of Vengeance (Australia)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

New Zealand:(Banned) | Finland:(Banned) (1981) | Finland:K-18 (2001) | Argentina:18 | USA:X | New Zealand:R18 (re rating) (1999) | USA:R (edited for re-rating) | USA:X (original rating) | Australia:R | France:-12 | Norway:18 (re-rating) (2003) | Sweden:(Banned) | West Germany:18 | UK:18 (cut) | Iceland:16 | Norway:(Banned) (1981-2003) (cinema release) | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Navaron Films

Trivia:

The name of Zoë Lund's character, Thana, is reminiscent of the Greek god of death, "Thanatos". Sigmund Freud used the word to refer to the human "death instinct", which leads people to take risks, seek thrills or behave destructively in ways that could lead to death.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: One band member is playing the trumpet, but what you hear is obviously a saxophone. There is no trumpet sound in the song the band is playing.

Movie Connections:

References Psycho (1960)

A potent and gripping cult classic.

One has to feel bad for mute young beauty Thana (Zoe Tamerlis). On her way home from work, she is dragged into an alley and raped. Then she gets back to her apartment and is raped again by an intruder. However, she manages to kill the second creep. At this point, something has snapped inside of Thana. Now a vengeance-crazed, man-hating Thana will be stalking the streets of Manhattan, just looking for men to kill. And she finds a fair assortment of jerks on her sordid journey...

Director Abel Ferrara (who also portrays the first rapist, under a pseudonym) gives this gritty exploitation gem true seedy NYC flavor, infusing it with humor (some of the gallows variety) and keeping it moving along very nicely. A true feminist variation on "Death Wish" (and this film does follow that earlier film rather closely), it has a memorable central character at its core. Tamerlis (a.k.a. Zoe Lund), who had her life cut tragically short by drug-related lung and heart failure at age 37, is definitely quite captivating and does well in this role without the benefit of dialog.

It's the finale at a Halloween costume party that is the most memorable portion of the picture for me. It's very stylish and I did get the sense that a human mind had become irretrievably insane.

In addition to Thana, some of the other characters made an impression on me as well: her brassy and much more self-confident co-worker Laurie (Darlene Stuto), the talkative barfly (Jack Thibeau), and the perhaps stereotypically eccentric landlady (Editta Sherman).

Nicholas St. Johns' script is very smart; it's worth pointing out that Thana ensnares some of her unsympathetic victims by playing up the sexuality which she had heretofore repressed so much. I was also impressed with Joe Delias' striking music.

A hard-hitting story of feminism unleashed, "Ms .45" is an excellent film of its type, and a solid effort from its daring director.

8/10