Pretty Baby (film)
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| Pretty Baby | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Louis Malle |
| Produced by | Louis Malle Polly Platt (associate) |
| Written by | Polly Platt (story) Louis Malle (story) Polly Platt (screenplay) |
| Starring | Brooke Shields Keith Carradine Susan Sarandon |
| Music by | Ferdinand Morton |
| Cinematography | Sven Nykvist |
| Editing by | Suzanne Fenn |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 5, 1978 |
| Running time | 109 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Pretty Baby (1978) is an Academy Award-nominated historical fiction, dramatic film directed by Louis Malle. The screenplay was written by Polly Platt. The title is inspired by the Tony Jackson song, "Pretty Baby", which is used in the soundtrack.
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[edit] Plot summary
The film is set in 1917, during the last months of legal prostitution in Storyville, the red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana. Hattie, a prostitute at the elegant home of Madame Nell, and her 12-year-old daughter Violet are the only ones awake when photographer Ernest J. Bellocq comes by with his camera. He takes photographs of Hattie and fascinates Violet. Over the next few months, Nell arranges for the auction of Violet's virginity, Hattie marries and goes to St. Louis, abandoning Violet in the brothel. Bellocq continues to spend time with Violet, fascinated by her beauty, youth, and photogenic face. When the brothel eventually closes, Bellocq and Violet marry, ostensibly to protect her from the larger world. He is much older than she, and others question his motives in befriending her to begin with.
[edit] Main cast
- Brooke Shields .... Violet
- Keith Carradine .... Bellocq
- Susan Sarandon .... Hattie
- Frances Faye .... Nell
- Antonio Fargas .... Professor
- Matthew Anton .... Red Top
- Diana Scarwid .... Frieda
- Barbara Steele .... Josephine
- Seret Scott .... Flora
- Cheryl Markowitz .... Gussie
- Susan Manskey .... Fanny
- Laura Zimmerman .... Agnes
- Miz Mary .... Odette
- Gerrit Graham .... Highpockets
- Mae Mercer .... Mama Mosebery
[edit] Film music
ABC Records released a soundtrack of the film's ragtime score, which won an Academy Award for Original Music Score in the "Adaptation Score" category.
[edit] Awards
The film won the Technical Grand Prize at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival.[1]
[edit] Controversy
- In addition to the subject of child prostitution, some eyebrows were raised because of scenes involving a 12-year-old Brooke Shields appearing nude.[2] Because of this, the 109 minute film was edited down to 106 minutes in some releases. The unedited version of the film is now available on DVD.
- This film received an R rating in the U.S., an 18 rating in the U.K., and an R18+ rating in Australia, for nudity and sexual content.
[edit] References
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Pretty Baby". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/1965/year/1978.html. Retrieved 2009-05-21.
- ^ People.com: Pretty Brooke
[edit] External links
- Pretty Baby at the Internet Movie Database
- Pretty Baby at Allmovie
- Pretty Baby at Rotten Tomatoes
- Original Roger Ebert Review from 1978
- Original New York Times Review (Site registration required)
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