Pretty Baby (1978)

Director:

Louis Malle

Writers:

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

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
Don Hood	...	Alfred Fuller
Pat Perkins	...	Ola Mae
Von Eric Thomas	...	Nonny
Sasha Holliday	...	Justine
Lisa Shames	...	Antonia
Henry Braden	...	Harry
Patrick M. Burke	...	Fanny's Customer
C.C. Courtney	...	Naval Officer
Joe Catalanotto	...	Hattie's Customer
Philip H. Sizeler	...	Senator
Don Lutenbacher	...	Violet's First Customer
Hobe May	...	Farmer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Stocker Fontelieu	...	Brothel Patron (uncredited)
Bill Holliday	...	Gussie's client (uncredited)

Directed by
Louis Malle

Writing credits
Polly Platt		(story)
Polly Platt		(screenplay)
Louis Malle		story

Produced by
Louis Malle	....	producer
Polly Platt	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Gerald Wexler

Cinematography by
Sven Nykvist

Film Editing by
Suzanne Fenn

Casting by
Gary Chason
Juliet Taylor

Production Design by
Trevor Williams

Set Decoration by
James L. Berkey		(as Jim Berkey)

Makeup Department
Dave Grayson	....	makeup artist
Charlene Johnson	....	hair stylist
Charlene Roberson	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Tony Wade	....	unit production manager
Lindsley Parsons Jr.	....	executive production manager: Paramount (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Donald Heitzer	....	assistant director (as Don Heitzer)
Toby Lovallo	....	second assistant director
John M. Poer	....	assistant director

Art Department
Mark Wade	....	property master
Richard Speed	....	carpenter's apprentice (uncredited)

Sound Department
Donald F. Johnson	....	sound mixer (as Don Johnson)
Dick Vorisek	....	sound re-recordist
Skip Godwin	....	sound engineer (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Maureen Lambray	....	special photography
Michael McGowan	....	camera operator (as Mike McGowan)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Mina Mittelman	....	costume supervisor

Editorial Department
Suzanne Baron	....	supervising editor
Ruth Blakeslee	....	assistant editor
Mateel Hoppe	....	assistant editor
Alice Miller	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Raymond Burke	....	musician: clarinet
Louis Cottrell	....	musician: clarinet
Bob Greene	....	musician: piano solo
Ferdinand 'Jelly Roll' Morton	....	composer: additional music
Kid Thomas	....	musician: trumpet
Jerry Wexler	....	music adaptor
Jerry Wexler	....	music supervisor

Transportation Department
Greg Van Dyke	....	transportation coordinator (uncredited)

Other crew
Alan Greedy	....	script supervisor
Al Rose	....	researcher
Karen Moore	....	assistant to director (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1978) (USA) (theatrical)
• Cinema International Corp. (197?) (UK) (theatrical)
• Cinema International Corporation (CIC) (1978) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Fotomat (Drive-Thru Movies) Video (1979) (USA) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• New Orleans Film Commission, The  film commission
• The New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra  additional music

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:

Christopher Reeve turned down the role of Bellocq, in order to prepare for his role in Superman (1978).

Quotes:

Bellocq: [about Violet] What will become of her now?
Nell: What's going on with you? You don't have to worry about her. She's made a lot of money. She can do as she likes.
Bellocq: She's only twelve. She's completely alone.
Nell: Bellocq, you're in love with her.
Bellocq: Don't be absurd.
Nell: I've seen it a thousand times. I am old, and I know one thing - life is very long.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Superman II (1980)

Soundtrack:

Tiger Rag

This Movie Is Based On Truth!

I'd like to point out that this movie is literally based on first hand recollections of a prostitute interviewed in Al Rose's definitive book on the subject: "Storyville", published many years ago. Anyone familiar with with the era knows that the photographer, E.J. Bellocq, was a real person who captured on glass plates forever the images of the young prostitutes of Storyville. These photographs are hauntingly beautiful in their own right, and the young Brooke Shields--as well as the beautiful Susan Sarandon--were a masterstroke of Malle to play the parts of mother and daughter prostitutes. The recollections in the book draw upon the actual fact that the mother who related the story actually took part in the deflowering of her daughter in the "House" as described, and that they went on to be a "team", a very common and desirable commodity in that day. Not mentioned-- but inferred to those who "read between the lines"-- was that the pony that young Violet casually rides in the backyard of the mansion in the beginning of the movie was actually an animal used to entertain the paying customers in "the circus" that certain women performed in ...for the"right price." Many of the photo sessions depicted in the film are loving recreations of surviving Bellocq prints. The women portraying the "girls" in the movie could have been working girls in "The District" had they lived back then. Some IMDb readers profess to be shocked by conditions in Storyville back then, but as the book recounts, it was all true, and many of the women actually did enjoy their livelyhood. It was the "bluenoses" to the rescue who saved them and the U.S. Navy from themselves, just as they would save the nation from "drink" a few years later. Although ragtime and jazz are touched on in the movie, Storyville was directly responsible for the likes of young Louis Armstrong--who ran coal from House to House--picking up the street melodies he heard and playing them on a cornet furnished to him--providentially--by the local orphanage, and for Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, pianist...and pimp...who played in only the best houses and claimed he invented the term "jazz" as applied to music after witnessing first hand all that "jassing-around" he saw in the bordellos of Storyville! Remarkeably, overlooked altogether is any mention of the composer of the tune "Pretty Baby," Professor Tony Jackson, a key figure of the Storyville saga, who should have been the character portrayed in the film but wasn't, and who was not even mentioned in the credits.

As for Bellocq himself not much is known except that he was slightly deformed and not interested in the ladies at all sexually-- the marriage to Violet merely a modern plot device--but he professed his deep fascination and reverence for them, thankfully, in other ways: his portraits. Without them, a poignant record of their lives,and that of The District, would be lost forever. All in all, the film is a wonderful paean to Bellocq, and the women he loved in his own way. I would urge all critics of this movie to seek out a copy of "Storyville, New Orleans" by Al Rose, or MOMA's "E.J. Bellocq: Storyville Portraits." They will really open yours eyes to what Louis Malle has recreated.