Variety (1983)

Director:

Bette Gordon

Writers:

Kathy Acker (script), Bette Gordon (original story),

Stars:

Sandy McLeod, Will Patton, Richard Davidson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sandy McLeod	...	Christine
Will Patton	...	Mark
Richard Davidson	...	Louie
Luis Guzmán	...	Jose
Nan Goldin	...	Nan
Lee R. Tucker	...	Projectionist (as Lee Tucker)
Peter Rizzo	...	Driver
Mark Boone Junior	...	Business Manager / Porn Customer
Suzanne Fletcher	...	Woman in Bar
Peyton Green	...	Woman in Bar
Cookie Mueller	...	Woman in Bar
Norma Angelica Rodriguez	...	Woman in Bar (as Norma Rodriguez)
Sally Rodwell	...	Woman in Bar
Nancy Reilly	...	(voice)
Scotty Snyder	...	(voice)

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

manhattan new york city | loneliness | movie theater | times square manhattan new york city | pornography | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

UK West Germany USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 March 1985 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Channel Four Films, Variety Motion Pictures, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

The Variety Photoplays Theatre was actually on 3rd Avenue and 14th Street, some thirty blocks away from the Times Square area.

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Soundtracks

"Bilongo"
Performed by Eddie Palmieri

User Reviews

The feminist director's answer to anti-porn feminists

There is no doubt that feminism is what holds this movie together.

Bette Gordon made this movie in the height of the feminist debate over pornography. She doesn't endorse or condemn porn in this movie.

"Variety" depicts a woman who uses porn as a tool of self-exploration.

The movie is also a spoof of film noir. Gordon has fun with the genre by changing the sex of the main character to female. She lets her heroine play the amateur sleuth, which is traditionally a male character.

Unlike many genre movies in which women are terrorized, there is no victim in "Variety." Gordon contends that pornography doesn't necessarily make women victims. It is so refreshing that Gordon never puts her heroine at the site of male violence.

Gordon succeeds in keeping the viewer in suspense till the very end of the movie.