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 footage of a Yankees game [0:51] shows Yankees pitcher "49" pitching to Yankees batter "36" while another Yankee steals second base. Behind the plate is catcher "15" from an opposing team (possible the Baltimore Orioles), although the scoreboard shot during the National Anthem depicted a game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.

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Soundtracks

"Bilongo"
Performed by Eddie Palmieri

User Reviews

Subverisive but flawed femme/feminist noir

The combination of Kathy Acker as writer and Bette Gordon as director should have signaled a potent brew, but sadly what we get here is a brilliant idea cut down savagely by the film's low-budget budget. Tracing the seedy, crime-ridden porn theater world of Times Square in the early 80s from a what was a post-feminist perspective should have pushed the boundaries of what could be explored in feminist cinema but here the effect is to disengage the viewer from the convoluted action. Every technical aspect from the sound to the acting feels shabby and weak and frankly underwhelming but there is an underground post-Factory (Warhol not WalMart) passion at work that just about saves this oddity. Acker's polemical script presents feminist intervention/investment in the patriarchal world of pornography with some gusto and ambiguity at times but eventually the direction dilutes itself in a haze of revisionist sexual politics, thanks to the inconsequential scripting and unfocused lensing.