Hussy (1980)

Helen Mirren's career spans four decades and includes starring roles in the long-running series Prime Suspect, the recent HBO miniseries 'Elizabeth I', and such films as 'Gosford Park'; 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, & Her Lover'; 'Excalibur'; 'The Mosquito Coast'; and 'The Long Good Friday'.

Twice an Academy Award nominee, Mirren also has received The American Society of Film Critics Award, BAFTA awards, Emmy awards, Golden Globe awards and many others.

In HUSSY Mirren gives a smoldering performance as Beaty, a hostess and prostitute in a posh London nightclub working to support her young son. Beaty falls for Emory, a mysterious American (John Shea) who works at the club and who has a "murkier past than his guileless looks suggest" (VARIETY). Although Beaty finds herself brought deep into the criminal underworld, she realizes Emory may be her best chance to escape her destiny.

Shot in London in 1980, HUSSY features cabaret and dance club scenes that "re-create well the seedy, druggy atmosphere of British nightclubs of the period" (RADIO TIMES UK). Product Description

An Astonishingly Bad Film: Destined for Cult Status

This relic from 1980, a soft porn disco melodrama about hookers working a seedy British nightclub, is destined for cult status. Helen Mirren portrays a prostitute raising a small child, with no cliché left unmolested. Standard soap opera stuff, sprinkled with dreadful "musical" numbers at the night club, containing just enough nudity to make the enterprise bearable. This film is full of unintentional laughs, many from the ultra-cheesy fashions and conventions of the era. However, it is almost worth watching just to hear Helen Mirren repeat the line, "Make love to me!" at random intervals whenever some gratuitous nudity is in order.

The quality of the DVD transfer is barely adequate and is presented in full screen format. For fans of Helen Mirren and bad films only, this film is a rare instance where the two converge.

August 2, 2006

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