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IMDbPro

Pretty Baby

  • 19781978
  • RR
  • 1h 50m
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
12K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
349
68
Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby (1978)
Watch Trailer
Play trailer2:27
1 Video
99+ Photos
Drama
A preteen girl lives as a prostitute in New Orleans in 1917.A preteen girl lives as a prostitute in New Orleans in 1917.A preteen girl lives as a prostitute in New Orleans in 1917.
IMDb RATING
6.5/10
12K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
349
68
  • Director
    • Louis Malle
  • Writers
    • Polly Platt(story)
    • Louis Malle(story)
  • Stars
    • Brooke Shields
    • Keith Carradine
    • Susan Sarandon
  • Director
    • Louis Malle
  • Writers
    • Polly Platt(story)
    • Louis Malle(story)
  • Stars
    • Brooke Shields
    • Keith Carradine
    • Susan Sarandon
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 92User reviews
    • 35Critic reviews
    • 66Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 2 wins & 6 nominations total

    Videos1

    Trailer
    Trailer 2:27
    Watch Trailer

    Photos118

    Susan Sarandon, Brooke Shields, and Keith Carradine in Pretty Baby (1978)
    Brooke Shields and Don Lutenbacher in Pretty Baby (1978)
    Brooke Shields, Louis Malle, and Frances Faye in Pretty Baby (1978)
    Brooke Shields, Keith Carradine, and Barbara Steele in Pretty Baby (1978)
    Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby (1978)
    Brooke Shields and Keith Carradine in Pretty Baby (1978)
    Susan Sarandon and Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby (1978)
    Brooke Shields and Keith Carradine in Pretty Baby (1978)
    Brooke Shields and Keith Carradine in Pretty Baby (1978)
    Susan Sarandon and Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby (1978)
    Brooke Shields and Keith Carradine in Pretty Baby (1978)
    Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby (1978)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Brooke Shields
    Brooke Shields
    • Violet
    Keith Carradine
    Keith Carradine
    • Bellocq
    Susan Sarandon
    Susan Sarandon
    • Hattie
    Frances Faye
    Frances Faye
    • Nell
    Antonio Fargas
    Antonio Fargas
    • Professor
    Matthew Anton
    • Red Top
    Diana Scarwid
    Diana Scarwid
    • Frieda
    Barbara Steele
    Barbara Steele
    • Josephine
    Seret Scott
    • Flora
    Cheryl Markowitz
    • Gussie
    Susan Manskey
    • Fanny
    Laura Zimmerman
    • Agnes
    Miz Mary
    • Odette
    Gerrit Graham
    Gerrit Graham
    • Highpockets
    Mae Mercer
    Mae Mercer
    • Mama Mosebery
    Don Hood
    Don Hood
    • Alfred Fuller
    Pat Pierre Perkins
    • Ola Mae
    • (as Pat Perkins)
    Von Eric Thomas
    • Nonny
    • Director
      • Louis Malle
    • Writers
      • Polly Platt(story) (screenplay)
      • Louis Malle(story)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields
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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Years after Brooke Shields starred in the film, she studied French Literature at Princeton University. Ironically, her 1987 senior thesis, written during her final year, was entitled "The Initiation: From Innocence to Experience: The Pre-Adolescent/Adolescent Journey in the Films of Louis Malle, Pretty Baby (1978) and Lacombe, Lucien (1974)", meaning she wrote about a film she herself had starred in.
    • Goofs
      In one scene, Violet holds a plastic doll as opposed to a composite one. Plastic dolls weren't available until the late 1940s.
    • Quotes

      Bellocq: Her father unknown, and her mother deserted the child.

      Violet: My mother's name was Hildegarde. Hildegarde Marr. M-A-R-R.

      Priest: And she was Caucasian, or other?

      Violet: She was a whore, Father.

    • Crazy credits
      The closing credits include a card that states, "With our gratitude for the priceless music of FERDINAND "JELLY ROLL" MORTON."
    • Alternate versions
      Against his own wishes UK censor James Ferman was forced to make minor edits to the original cinema version under the 1978 Protection of Children Act, and pubic hair was optically airbrushed onto a scene where Brooke Shields is sitting with her legs slightly spread so that 'the actual cleft was not visible'. A further cut was also made to remove a very brief shot of her standing up in a bath. The edits were fully waived for the 1987 video release.
    • Connections
      Edited into Chop Suey (2001)
    • Soundtracks
      Tiger Rag
      (uncredited)

      Written by Edwin B. Edwards, Nick LaRocca, Tony Sbarbaro, Henry Ragas and Larry Shields

      Performed by Antonio Fargas

    User reviews92

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Can you step outside of yourself for two hours?
    "Pretty Baby" (1978): Usually, when a controversial film comes out, the hubbub dies off in a few weeks. Later, people wonder why anyone got upset at all. In this case, I think the opposite is the case. There WAS some buzz about "Pretty Baby" when it premiered in 1978, but NOW? People would be killing the director, photographer, and screen writers in the names of Decency & Righteousness. It's a crazy world. Photographed by Sven Nykvist (Ingmar Bergman's photographer), Louis Malle directed this Polly Platt screenplay about the real life New Orleans documentary photographer E.J. Bellocq. He spent much of his career photographing those no one else would – the prostitutes of N.O. - and eventually became involved with a young girl (Brooke Shields) raised by her prostitute single mother (Susan Sarandon), to be a prostitute herself. There's an interesting push/pull to this film. It is SO beautifully photographed, and the prostitutes shown SO human, there is much warmth in the scenes, yet the facts remain difficult to accept – life was what it was, and they did what they had to do to survive in the turn-of-the-century South. This is NOT a story of tragedy (except in personal terms that have nothing to do with the profession). Most everyone went about their days in matter-of-fact acceptance of their "station" in life, and did not get ulcers. They had a roof, decent money, good food, servants, and a place to raise their "accident" children. "Pretty Baby" asks you to step outside your contemporary world and standards, and try, just for two hours, to see another point of view. It's an interesting challenge…perhaps more now than even a mere 30 years ago.
    helpful•62
    10
    • futures-1
    • Jun 5, 2006

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 5, 1978 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Niña bonita
    • Filming locations
      • Columns Hotel - 3811 St Charles Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA(brothel's interiors)
    • Production company
      • Paramount Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $5,786,368
    • Gross worldwide
      • $5,786,368
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 50 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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