Brooke Shields became a star and attracted mild controversy in this show, director Louis Malle’s first American production. Co-writer & producer Polly Platt and cinematographer Sven Nykvist collaborated on Malle’s fascinating look at life in a New Orleans brothel early in the 20th century. Prostitute Susan Sarandon raises two children in the upscale bawdy house, and art photographer Keith Carradine becomes an artist in residence. It’s a non-moralizing portrait of a bygone lifestyle. The handsome remastered release co-stars Diana Scarwid and Barbara Steele — and comes with a new interview with Brooke Shields.
Pretty Baby
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 174
1978 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 109 min. / Street Date November 4, 2022 / Available from / £
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Keith Carradine, Brooke Shields, Frances Faye, Antonio Fargas, Gerrit Graham, Matthew Anton, Mae Mercer, Diana Scarwid, Barbara Steele.
Cinematography: Sven Nykvist
Production Designer: Trevor Williams
Costume Supervisor: Mina Mittelman
Film Editor: Suzanne Fenn, supervisor Suzanne Baron
Music adapted by Jerry Wexler,...
Pretty Baby
Blu-ray
Viavision [Imprint] 174
1978 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 109 min. / Street Date November 4, 2022 / Available from / £
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Keith Carradine, Brooke Shields, Frances Faye, Antonio Fargas, Gerrit Graham, Matthew Anton, Mae Mercer, Diana Scarwid, Barbara Steele.
Cinematography: Sven Nykvist
Production Designer: Trevor Williams
Costume Supervisor: Mina Mittelman
Film Editor: Suzanne Fenn, supervisor Suzanne Baron
Music adapted by Jerry Wexler,...
- 1/24/2023
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
At the time of its production, Louis Malle’s 1978 title Pretty Baby (the title derived from the Tony Jackson song) was quite the scandal, a period piece frankly depicting child prostitution in turn of the century New Orleans. But like many provocative titles from the period (another being Richard Brooks’ Looking For Mr. Goodbar), decades of suppression has resulted in unavailability and a disappearance from modern cinematic conversations. Recently made available courtesy of the Warner Bros. Archive collection (solely on DVD) this is property begging for a more masterful restoration.
In the Red Lights district of 1917 New Orleans, legal prostitution is on the wane as a surge of conservative, religious rhetoric begins to sweep through the country. Nell (Francis Faye) owns a booming brothel in the famed Storyville district, and one of her most notable employees is Hattie (Susan Sarandon), whose twelve-year-old daughter Violet (Brooke Shields) has grown up within the house.
In the Red Lights district of 1917 New Orleans, legal prostitution is on the wane as a surge of conservative, religious rhetoric begins to sweep through the country. Nell (Francis Faye) owns a booming brothel in the famed Storyville district, and one of her most notable employees is Hattie (Susan Sarandon), whose twelve-year-old daughter Violet (Brooke Shields) has grown up within the house.
- 10/20/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
I haven't seen a newsy item excite so many cinephiles in quite a while. Talking to Allocine, Ethan Hawke has let on that a followup to the delightfully Rohmeresque films he's made with Richard Linklater and Julie Delpy, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, may be in the works. The Playlist's Simon Dang has the full video interview and has helpfully transcribed the money quote: "Well, I don't know what we're going to do but I know the three of us have been talking a lot in the last six months. All of three of us have been having similar feelings that we're ready to revisit those characters. There's nine years between the first two movies and, if we made the film next summer, it would be nine years again so we're really started thinking that would be a good thing to do. We're going to try write it this year.
- 11/23/2011
- MUBI
Maybe There's No Brokeback Mountain Or Milk, But There's Also No I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry
The fall movie season is upon us, and while we've already uncovered pretty much everything gay on TV, we haven't yet taken a look at what's gay in theaters over the next few months. But that's partly because there usually isn't enough to fill up a page, much less an entire movie preview article. Sadly, that looks to be the case this fall.
Nonetheless, with that in mind, I've dispatched a squad of AfterElton flying monkeys to poke around and see what they can find. And to make fun of the rest.
What did they learn? For starters, Betty White isn't as nice as she seems...
September
Easy A
September 17
What's it about? Nice girl gets bad rep pretending to sleep with geeky guys
What's gay? Dan Byrd plays Brandon, a gay...
The fall movie season is upon us, and while we've already uncovered pretty much everything gay on TV, we haven't yet taken a look at what's gay in theaters over the next few months. But that's partly because there usually isn't enough to fill up a page, much less an entire movie preview article. Sadly, that looks to be the case this fall.
Nonetheless, with that in mind, I've dispatched a squad of AfterElton flying monkeys to poke around and see what they can find. And to make fun of the rest.
What did they learn? For starters, Betty White isn't as nice as she seems...
September
Easy A
September 17
What's it about? Nice girl gets bad rep pretending to sleep with geeky guys
What's gay? Dan Byrd plays Brandon, a gay...
- 9/10/2010
- by Michael Jensen
- The Backlot
San Francisco, January 13, 2009 Singing sensation Terese Genecco returns to The Rrazz Room at The Hotel Nikko, 222 Mason, San Francisco CA. on Saturday, January 24th at 10:30 Pm. Her special guest, jazz singer Lea Delaria will have a solo set in the show. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased at www.therrazzroom.com or directly through ticketweb.com or at 866 468 3399. Genecco is the winner of a 2007 Backstage Bistro Award, the 2008 Mac Award (Manhattan Assoc. of Cabarets & Clubs) for Best Recording, 2008 Mac Award Nominee for Best Female Vocalist, 2006 Mac award-nominee for Best Debut Performance and Time Out New York Magazine's Top 10 Best Cabaret Shows of 2006 and 2007. These awards are for Genecco's jazz/musical creation, Drunk With Love: A Tribute To Frances Faye and Drunk With Love:the Sequel! in which Genecco paid tribute to the spirit, sound, and style of Frances Faye, the 1950's bi-sexual, nightclub icon. She won the debut vocalist category...
- 1/15/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Bruce Weber's third full-length documentary (after "Broken Noses" and "Let's Get Lost") is a film of extraordinary beauty and singular vision.
Its originality also defies classification, which might make it a difficult sell to moviegoers, though the film will attract fans of Weber's earlier work and his renowned fashion photography.
"Chop Suey" is about why an artist creates -- the various influences, obsessions and loves that compel him to work. Weber's 1999 monograph "The Chop Suey Club" featured pictures (many nude) of model Peter Johnson, and fans of that book might expect the film to be a live-action recapping of those modeling sessions. The striking Johnson is featured prominently, but the film is something different, something more. Weber redefines "Chop Suey" to mean all the bits and pieces of life that go into creating a sensibility and an aesthetic.
The film was projected from video at the San Francisco International Film Festival (Weber and his producers have yet to strike a 35-mm print) and uses as sources a variety of film and video stocks. Yet it has a cohesive, consistent look. It's as if we're viewing an artist's scrapbook, and we see the color, form and motion that informs his work.
The movie is a swirl of music, models, celebrities, artists and art. A good portion is dedicated to the late singer Frances Faye. Her lover, Teri Shepherd, reminisces about Faye, and Weber shows clips of her appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and other variety shows and concerts. It's clear that he admires the freedom and exuberance with which she lived her life and sang her music.
The Fletcher family, who became friends of Weber's when he photographed their son Christian, a professional surfer, for Interview magazine, brings fearless and aggressive energy to the screen, and we see the attraction they hold for Weber, even as they discuss the dark side of all that masculine daring. (Christian's drug use caused the family intense pain.)
Weber discusses his photo collection and the photographers who've affected him: Larry Clark, Alfred Stieglitz, the Westons, David Bailey, George Platt Lynes. Displaying a picture of Alain Delon and Luchino Visconti, he explains that for him, the picture is about the photographer being in love with his subjects, a theme he comes back to repeatedly.
Explaining his notorious shots of Johnson frolicking in the shower with other young men, Weber talks about his loneliness as an adolescent and his sense of unease with his own body: "We sometimes photograph things we can never be."
Weber's earlier films and photos often featured a tension between the innocent and the erotic. In "Chop Suey", Weber makes the erotic innocent. This is a stunning film.
CHOP SUEY
Just Blue Films
Producer: Nan Bush
Director: Bruce Weber
Screenwriter: Bruce Weber, Maribeth Edmonds
Directors of photography: Lance Accord,
Douglas Cooper, Jim Fealy
Music: John Leftwich
Costume designer: William Ivey Long
Editor: Angelo Corrao
Black and white and color/stereo
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Its originality also defies classification, which might make it a difficult sell to moviegoers, though the film will attract fans of Weber's earlier work and his renowned fashion photography.
"Chop Suey" is about why an artist creates -- the various influences, obsessions and loves that compel him to work. Weber's 1999 monograph "The Chop Suey Club" featured pictures (many nude) of model Peter Johnson, and fans of that book might expect the film to be a live-action recapping of those modeling sessions. The striking Johnson is featured prominently, but the film is something different, something more. Weber redefines "Chop Suey" to mean all the bits and pieces of life that go into creating a sensibility and an aesthetic.
The film was projected from video at the San Francisco International Film Festival (Weber and his producers have yet to strike a 35-mm print) and uses as sources a variety of film and video stocks. Yet it has a cohesive, consistent look. It's as if we're viewing an artist's scrapbook, and we see the color, form and motion that informs his work.
The movie is a swirl of music, models, celebrities, artists and art. A good portion is dedicated to the late singer Frances Faye. Her lover, Teri Shepherd, reminisces about Faye, and Weber shows clips of her appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and other variety shows and concerts. It's clear that he admires the freedom and exuberance with which she lived her life and sang her music.
The Fletcher family, who became friends of Weber's when he photographed their son Christian, a professional surfer, for Interview magazine, brings fearless and aggressive energy to the screen, and we see the attraction they hold for Weber, even as they discuss the dark side of all that masculine daring. (Christian's drug use caused the family intense pain.)
Weber discusses his photo collection and the photographers who've affected him: Larry Clark, Alfred Stieglitz, the Westons, David Bailey, George Platt Lynes. Displaying a picture of Alain Delon and Luchino Visconti, he explains that for him, the picture is about the photographer being in love with his subjects, a theme he comes back to repeatedly.
Explaining his notorious shots of Johnson frolicking in the shower with other young men, Weber talks about his loneliness as an adolescent and his sense of unease with his own body: "We sometimes photograph things we can never be."
Weber's earlier films and photos often featured a tension between the innocent and the erotic. In "Chop Suey", Weber makes the erotic innocent. This is a stunning film.
CHOP SUEY
Just Blue Films
Producer: Nan Bush
Director: Bruce Weber
Screenwriter: Bruce Weber, Maribeth Edmonds
Directors of photography: Lance Accord,
Douglas Cooper, Jim Fealy
Music: John Leftwich
Costume designer: William Ivey Long
Editor: Angelo Corrao
Black and white and color/stereo
Running time -- 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.