Pretty Baby (1978)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The Worst Film Ever

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

Again this is one of those movies that one either loves or literally hates it cause of the subject. The acting was pretty good, seen better tho.. The set is AMAZING !!! Totaly have that vibe of those times, not that i would know how it really was lol .. but it has that thing, just has. Also in many ways it shows how prostitution ,or as today they love to call it, escorting or sex work ... was so much different, it was more human ,more down to earth , not slutty ,whoresih ,glamour like it is today. Simply it had CLASS,as the borthels as the prostitutes. As far as Brooke goes aka Violet, she was amazing, prolly her best movie ever and thats so strange consideting it was done so so long ago, but the way she acted ,her speach, facial expressions, and how she didnt seem botered at all doing and acting a kid prostitute ,is someting to be admired about for sure. As a matter a fact i bet that if this was remade 10 times with nowadays 12yo actors, non would be able to do such a great job as Brooke did! Not to say that theres no way a movie like this would be ever made in this day and age sadly , and specially not with a real 12yo playing a 12yo whore. And of course , her beauty ,cuteness ,adds to it as well, shes with out a doubt one of the prettiest child actors EVER ,if not THE. Of course, there will be people that will play the Virgin Mary here and act like they wanna puke or something , being disgusted by a movie like this and the fact that a 12yo plays a whore, and there are nude scenes of her as well. Well, if a 20yo would play a 12yo that would look funny as hell ,nor it would be able to bring the reality of it. Secondly , i dont understand whats the big deal about seing a naked 12yo?? I mean like , you guys dont have kids? You never seen them naked? You dont know that there are actually nudist families where everyone is naked including the kids and they go out and see 1000 of others and are being seen? I just dont get all the freaking out about it ... besides, i challenge everyone with those morals that has a 12yo dau or son , to check their Instagram acc ..just dont get schocked. At the end of the day , on Instagram today , you can find hundreds of young girl models even younger then 10!!! that model , some 12-13yo ,well... almost nude ,some in very very provocative clothing and poses, all done by managing companies with the amen of the parents of course, they have 10s and 100s of thousands of followers, some of the cooments are hey sexy , hey hottie , no one seemz to be bothered by that tho? They all making big $ of it. Some people even leave comments that would be like, well.. maybe you should wait with those kind of pictures, and then they get bashed by that 13yo saying to those adult persons that they are too convservative lol .. So please stop being hypocrites , this was just a movie, yes she was naked yes she played a whore ,key word ,played , yes she was exploited in those times in general , but it was just her! but these models im talking about are REAL ,and there are thousands of them ,yet no one says anything about that?? Maybe cause the same ppl that bash on this movie are too oldish now and they know even have a clue what kind of stuff is out there on social media ,because they dont use that , and when you have a 13yo telling you that you are too conservative ,you must really think twice. Specially if you are from the States, cause you guys freak too much about stuff like this,yet you are all about diversity and acceptance.

It's 1917 Storyville, New Orleans. Illiterate willful twelve year old Violet (Brooke Shields)'s mother Hattie (Susan Sarandon) gives birth to a boy. They work in a high class brothel run by drug addict Nell. Ernest J. Bellocq (Keith Carradine) pays to take up residence photographing mostly Hattie. Nell puts Violet's virginity up for auction to her customers. Violet is eager to join the business but the actual act is painful. Violet starts to work as a prostitute. Hattie marries a customer and moves to St. Louis without Violet. After getting a corporal punishment, Violet runs away and moves in with Bellocq starting a sexual relationship.Violet's gleeful willing participation in her own degradation is compelling and infuriating. The most engaging scene is the auction. It is creepy with these entranced old men. That scene should be the climax. The movie cannot get any more creepy although it does try. Bellocq is all too quick to sleep with Violet. The movie meanders in the second half. It's all very sad. Brooke Shields is exceedingly young and the movie fits the definition of child porn. There is definitely some artistic merits but I don't know if it justifies pushing open the envelop.

Brooke Shields became a household name for her performance as twelve year old Violet, a prostitute's daughter, raised in a New Orleans whorehouse. Susan Sarandon does a terrific job playing her mother, Hattie. Frances Faye is a scene stealer in her final film performance as Nell who owns and operates the whorehouse. Keith Carradine plays a photographer who takes a serious interest in the women and girls as more than objects. Brooke Shields' Violet is the pretty baby who is surrounded by sex and knows nothing else. The scenes in which Violet's innocence, youth, and virginity are exploited by Nell and the others who live there as a suitable way to make a living is disturbing. Violet's virginity is auctioned off as a commodity to the highest bidder is definitely something that would shock film audiences of 1978. Nell says "there are two things to do in New Orleans on a rainy day and I don't like to play bridge!" Is a classic film line. Violet's life in New Orleans is tragic and sad but she manages to understand and comprehend her surroundings.

Upon its release in 1978 Pretty Baby was shocking and controversial. Maybe all the controversy obscured the fact it was not a particularly good film. The film was famous for displaying a naked 12 year-old Brooke Shields. And that does indeed prove to be as uncomfortable to view as you would imagine. Yes, it's a story about child prostitution but that story surely could have been told without putting Shields on such display. And what of that story? Is it a good enough one to hold your interest and make for a compelling, entertaining film? Not really.The film is set in New Orleans in 1917. Life moved a little more slowly back then and Pretty Baby mirrors that. The whole film has a very languid feel to it. The pacing is slow bordering on glacial. The action, such as it is, centers on a brothel. Shields plays Violet, who lives in the house with her prostitute mother Hattie, played by Susan Sarandon. The film establishes the goings-on and routines of the house. Young Violet is not herself a prostitute. Yet. A photographer, Bellocq, shows up to take some portraits of the prostitutes. He also takes an interest in Violet, though certainly not in a sexual way. He actually seems quite asexual, hanging around the brothel constantly but with no interest in partaking in the goods on offer. The time inevitably comes for Violet to start selling herself. Her virginity is auctioned off to the highest bidder. She's excited, her mother's excited. Bellocq's not excited, he sees it for the disgusting spectacle that it is. But the deed is done, Violet becomes a full-fledged mini-prostitute and things unsurprisingly unravel from there.There is a potentially interesting, if very uncomfortable, story in here. But the film never really takes off. Right from the beginning it's a film desperately struggling for momentum and it's a struggle it never wins. It's just dull. The dialogue is rather forced and clunky with Sarandon and Keith Carradine, playing Bellocq, forced to spout lines which sound completely unnatural. The most natural, and probably best, performance in the film comes from the young Shields. Discomfiting nudity aside she's the best thing the film had to offer. Of course nobody puts the nudity to the side, that's the first thing people talk about when discussing the film. If it was a good film the Shields controversy would be an unfortunate distraction. As it is, it's not a very good film. The whole thing is just unfortunate.