Pretty Baby (1978)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Louis Malle

Writers:

Polly Platt (story)
Polly Platt (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

5 April 1978 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Tagline:

In 1917, in the red-light district of New Orleans, they called her "Pretty Baby"

Plot:

A pre-teen girl grows up in a house of prostitution in the Storyville section of New Orleans in 1917.

Plot Keywords:

Prostitution | Virginity | Prostitute | Auction | Photographer

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

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

Also Known As:

La petite (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Niña bonita (Argentina) (Venezuela) [es]
Güzel bebek (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
I kouklitsa tis Neas Orleanis (Greece) [el]
La pequeña (Spain) [es]
Pretty Baby (Finland) [fi]
Pretty Baby (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:16 | Australia:M (DVD rating) | Netherlands:12 | Netherlands:16 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) | Finland:K-16 (1988) | Finland:K-18 (1978) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:R | Chile:18 | France:-16 | Norway:18 (1978) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Singapore:M18

Filming Locations:

Hattiesburg, Mississippi, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

John Travolta was offered the role of Bellocq, but was forced to turn down the role due to his commitment with Grease (1978).

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.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Superman II (1980)

Soundtrack:

Pretty Baby

Beautiful, intelligent, evocative

Louis Malle did an amazing job of portraying the Storyville life (red light district), and the lives of the women caught up in it. He gets the finest work out of his cast, and demonstrates what it makes him a master filmmaker: not someone who just makes movies to impress other directors, but someone who touches an audience.

He begins and ends the film with the camera slowly closing in on the wide eyes of its child-lead, making you wonder how her life will proceed, having seen what she's seen. It makes you wonder whether marriage, in those times, was any different for a woman than prostitution. Mostly, you have to wonder how Violet could adapt to normal life, with the strange perspective she's had on it so far.

The petulance and "spoiled"ness described in the review below, are merely her childishness, to illustrate that she is an ordinary child in bizarre circumstances. For those not carried away by Shields' appearance, this made the film very poignant -- this child doesn't even know that there is any other way to live.

And the viewer can put away concerns for Shields herself: the nude scenes were done by a body-double, despite what is listed in the "trivia" section of this listing. (I know someone who later worked with the body double.)