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IMDbPro

Ms .45

  • 19811981
  • RR
  • 1h 20m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
11K
YOUR RATING
Zoë Lund in Ms .45 (1981)
Abel Ferrara’s (Bad Lieutenant, King Of New York) 1981 revenge thriller classic Ms. 45 follows a mute garment-district seamstress – played by the late model/actress/musician/screenwriter Zoë Lund – who after falling victim to multiple unspeakable assaults, ignites her one-woman homicidal rampage against New York City’s entire male population. Now remastered in HD from the original negative materials, Ms. 45 returns to theaters this December and debuts on DVD and Blu-ray uncut for the first time in North America.
Play trailer1:15
1 Video
94 Photos
CrimeDramaThriller
A timid and mute seamstress goes insane after being attacked and raped twice in one day, in which she takes to the streets of New York City after dark and randomly shoots men with a .45 cali... Read allA timid and mute seamstress goes insane after being attacked and raped twice in one day, in which she takes to the streets of New York City after dark and randomly shoots men with a .45 caliber pistol.A timid and mute seamstress goes insane after being attacked and raped twice in one day, in which she takes to the streets of New York City after dark and randomly shoots men with a .45 caliber pistol.
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
11K
YOUR RATING
    • Abel Ferrara(direction)
    • Nicholas St. John(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Zoë Lund
    • Bogey
    • Albert Sinkys
    • Abel Ferrara(direction)
    • Nicholas St. John(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Zoë Lund
    • Bogey
    • Albert Sinkys
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 98User reviews
    • 142Critic reviews
    • 62Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos1

    MS. 45 Trailer
    Trailer 1:15
    Watch MS. 45 Trailer

    Photos94

    Zoë Lund in Ms .45 (1981)
    Zoë Lund in Ms .45 (1981)
    Zoë Lund in Ms .45 (1981)
    Zoë Lund in Ms .45 (1981)
    Darlene Stuto in Ms .45 (1981)
    Helen McGara in Ms .45 (1981)
    Albert Sinkys in Ms .45 (1981)
    Zoë Lund in Ms .45 (1981)
    Zoë Lund in Ms .45 (1981)
    Zoë Lund in Ms .45 (1981)
    Zoë Lund in Ms .45 (1981)
    Ms .45 (1981)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Zoë Lund
    Zoë Lund
    • Thana
    • (as Zoë Tamerlis)
    Bogey
    • Phil
    Albert Sinkys
    • Albert
    Darlene Stuto
    • Laurie
    Helen McGara
    • Carol
    Nike Zachmanoglou
    • Pamela
    Abel Ferrara
    Abel Ferrara
    • 1st Rapist
    • (as Jimmy Laine)
    Peter Yellen
    • Burglar
    Editta Sherman
    • Mrs. Nasone
    Vincent Gruppi
    • Heckler on Corner
    Stanley Timms
    • Pimp
    Faith Peters
    • Prostitute
    Lawrence Zavaglia
    • Arab
    Alex Jachno
    • Chauffeur
    Jack Thibeau
    Jack Thibeau
    • Man in Bar
    Jayne Kennedy
    Jayne Kennedy
    • Seamstress
    Wayne Caro
    • Office Boy
    Mariana Tripaldi
    • Buyer
      • Abel Ferrara(direction)
      • Nicholas St. John(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Zoë Lund was only 17 years old when this movie was filmed.
    • Goofs
      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.
    • Quotes

      Albert: Hello, Bobby.

      Party Host: And Sister?

      Albert: Thana.

      Party Host: That's a charming name. Is that Greek?

      Albert: It's Greek to you, Bobby.

    • Alternate versions
      The British video release, on Warner's Maverick Director's label, was cut by 1m 42s by the BBFC. Early copies of this version, released in 1997, were accidentally mastered with the uncut version. These were quickly recalled and replaced with the BBFC approved version, but some uncut copies were sold - they can be identified by the code on the spine of the tape (082897). The cuts were made to the rape scenes and to a shot of Thana severing a dead man's arm with a bread knife. The use of a set of nunchakus was also removed.
    • Connections
      Featured in Sneak Previews: Halloween II, Priest of Love, Chanel Solitaire, The Watcher in the Woods (1981)
    • Soundtracks
      Ms. 45 Dance Party
      Written by Joe Delia and Artie Kaplan

      Performed by Joe Delia and Artie Kaplan

    User reviews98

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    Death Wish meet Repulsion in this Abel Ferrara near-great of cold-blooded murder
    Thana (not Hannah as one might mistake to hear) hasn't had a good lot in life. She doesn't have really any family or friends, she works for pittance as a clothing workshop, and can't speak as a mute. She's also very attractive, and one day walking home she's pulled into an alley and raped by a man in a mask. She staggers home, bewildered by the whole thing, but before she can get her bearings she comes upon *another* man, in her apartment before she got home, who was in the midst of theft. He instead decides to go ahead for the rape. Twice in one day? Fat chance of that - she finally takes her moment, and Thana hits the guy to the ground and then with an iron kills him.

    From then on the film takes its beat as something of a quandary, but a truly fascinating one: this isn't quite an exploitation flick, but it's not really a vigilante action-revenge picture like Death Wish, and yet it has hints of both. It's like Abel Ferrara and his writer St. John took the revenge element of Death Wish, of taking it to the street to rid the scum, but took it also to another level like in Polanski's Repulsion. Here Thana isn't some expert at self-defense, and shouldn't be as good as she is with the .45 she pulls off of the rapist #2. But she is good at getting her chance to kill people, and she does, even if they haven't really done anything to her (one of the more curiously ambiguous scenes is when Thana meets a guy at a bar, he keeps rambling outside about strangling his cat, she's about to shoot and it doesn't fire, he takes the gun and instead of shooting her shoots himself)

    True, not all of the acting Ferrara is able to gather up totally works; some of them, like two actors playing a pimp and a prostitute (even for one scene) falls flat as believable streetwise (better is Thana's boss, a creep who wants to have his way with her but hides it under a thin veneer of professionalism and care). And it may also be true that Ferrara's film paints men- hell, just most people- as jerks or losers or total dogs, and really who will miss them when they're gone? It's that part of it that makes it an exploitation flick, especially in that one sequence at night when Thana goes out and kills the most amount of people (a whole group of gang-bangers in the park, an Arab and his chauffeur in a limo, the cat strangler). And as part of tugging at the weakest of heart strings, there's a neighbor who has a little dog and (gasp) will the dog make it through the end of the film?

    A lot of this is pulp, but it's well directed and given a score that is fresh and cool in an early NY 80's sort of way. And when we do take it most seriously it's when looking right into Thana's face and her eyes, which start off terrified and dazed and a little in a surreal mindset (watch when she is surrounded by (over) concerned co-workers, or when she's in the bathroom and sees a hand near her breast that isn't there), and soon turns cold and bloodless. It's almost a symbolic kind of turn, hence even the name Thana which dates back to Greek mythology. This isn't someone to root for, which is what mucks up the traditional angle of a B-movie. Instead Ferrara is after something a lot deeper. Ms. 45 is action and a bit of horror (dismembered body anyone?) but it's also a sad tale of a girl without any hope, who is going crazier by the day and dresses out in black like a spider out on the prowl.

    It's got some bad-ass dimensions of drama, and a rather wicked climax involving slow-motion and Ms. 45 herself going in her maniac mode in a nun costume, and is mostly marred by a few sub-par supporting performances (albeit a very low-budget indie from NYC) and a few little unsatisfying scenes.
    helpful•17
    5
    • Quinoa1984
    • May 3, 2010

    FAQ1

    • What are the differences between the R-Rated Version and the Unrated Version?

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 24, 1981 (United States)
      • United States
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • 40 Pell Street, corner of Mott Street and Pell Street, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production company
      • Navaron Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 20 minutes
      • Color
      • Mono

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