The Lady in Red (1979)

The Lady in Red: Directed by Lewis Teague. With Pamela Sue Martin, Robert Conrad, Louise Fletcher, Robert Hogan. A naive farm girl’s life turns upside down after being in the wrong place at the wrong time. She moves to Chicago and becomes trapped in a vicious cycle of prostitution and crime.

“Clearly a product of the Corman School, Saylesu0026#39;s first major screenplay shows that he already knew how to tell a great story from an interesting angle, something he has never forgotten how to do.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDirector Teague keeps the pace rattling along, and hammers the message home fast (he was an occasional assistant to Sam Fuller, of course).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe plotu0026#39;s quite straightforward, and all the better so – this packs something of the punch of the 30u0026#39;s classic gangster films, but with distinctly 70u0026#39;s sensibilities to violence.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhere the film becomes more interesting than your average low-budget u0026#39;gangster-exploiteru0026#39;, however, is in the telling of the story through her eyes, rather than his (a distinctly 70u0026#39;s approach). Yet itu0026#39;s wonderfully ambiguous, on reflection, as to whether the film champions her willingness to break away and start acting for herself (sheu0026#39;s a great strong character), or whether she just goes from one woman in peril situation to the other (which is the plot, basically).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIu0026#39;ve probably over-analyzed it already, but if youu0026#39;ve got a spare hour and a half on your hands, give it a chance. A classic of its kind.”