Lynn Redgrave and the 70's. This film is quite the cliché. If anyone wants to look back at the early 70's for research, this is a film to see.
Xaviera Hollander was the beginning of the exposure of modern day Madame in a so-called clean American world. This movie tells of how she got there, what she did once she was there and why. Whether one agrees with that lifestyle or not, this is quite interesting to say the least. I would guess that "The Mayflower Madame" Sydney Biddle Barrows and Hedi Fleiss got their ques from Miss Hollander.
But what get me about THIS film is that -- it's a pretty much a Hollywood mainstream telling of the tale. Of course, it would have been obviously for this film to go the X rated 70's route....but it did not. It tells the tale deftly, but it tells the tale. This is not a titillating romp as the title suggests and I think a lot of guys renting this film will be very disappointed.
"The Happy Hooker" plays like a 70's soap opera. Over dramatized, lotsa 70's funky fashion, make up and hair, stiff acting but acting just enough to maybe keep you interested in the tale. It is about the "tale" more than anything else in this version.
(Some spoilers) Miss Hollander is a woman who falls in love and is invited to America to marry but upon coming here, she learns that he's a momma's boy. She is then thrust in a country she knows little about, gets into many hateful situations and falls into being a call girl in a house with an understanding, but tired, Madame. How does she get happy? well, Xaviera buys out this Madame when an opportunity presents itself and off she goes.
While this has all the elements of being a tawdry sex romp with lots of "t" and "a" and sex, it's NOT played that way.
What you do see is the "difference" in the types of Hookers of the 70's..at least, the difference as Miss Hollander sees it: the street hookers versus the house hookers. You can tell that Miss Hollander felt that house hookers were more elite than street hookers..that was until they met face to face and found out they were all doing the same thing.
It is a film of the 70's, and this spawned a few "Happy Hooker" sequels that aren't as good (and that's not saying much) as this one. But the wonderful Lynn Redgrave does a nice job of playing one of America's best known Madame for a mainstream audience.
If you're a Lynn Redgrave fan, you might enjoy this one. If you're a fan of the early 70's fashions/attitudes and when New York was crummy, you might like this film. If you're a pornography fan looking for titillation...this is DEFINATELY not the film for you.
Xaviera Hollander was the beginning of the exposure of modern day Madame in a so-called clean American world. This movie tells of how she got there, what she did once she was there and why. Whether one agrees with that lifestyle or not, this is quite interesting to say the least. I would guess that "The Mayflower Madame" Sydney Biddle Barrows and Hedi Fleiss got their ques from Miss Hollander.
But what get me about THIS film is that -- it's a pretty much a Hollywood mainstream telling of the tale. Of course, it would have been obviously for this film to go the X rated 70's route....but it did not. It tells the tale deftly, but it tells the tale. This is not a titillating romp as the title suggests and I think a lot of guys renting this film will be very disappointed.
"The Happy Hooker" plays like a 70's soap opera. Over dramatized, lotsa 70's funky fashion, make up and hair, stiff acting but acting just enough to maybe keep you interested in the tale. It is about the "tale" more than anything else in this version.
(Some spoilers) Miss Hollander is a woman who falls in love and is invited to America to marry but upon coming here, she learns that he's a momma's boy. She is then thrust in a country she knows little about, gets into many hateful situations and falls into being a call girl in a house with an understanding, but tired, Madame. How does she get happy? well, Xaviera buys out this Madame when an opportunity presents itself and off she goes.
While this has all the elements of being a tawdry sex romp with lots of "t" and "a" and sex, it's NOT played that way.
What you do see is the "difference" in the types of Hookers of the 70's..at least, the difference as Miss Hollander sees it: the street hookers versus the house hookers. You can tell that Miss Hollander felt that house hookers were more elite than street hookers..that was until they met face to face and found out they were all doing the same thing.
It is a film of the 70's, and this spawned a few "Happy Hooker" sequels that aren't as good (and that's not saying much) as this one. But the wonderful Lynn Redgrave does a nice job of playing one of America's best known Madame for a mainstream audience.
If you're a Lynn Redgrave fan, you might enjoy this one. If you're a fan of the early 70's fashions/attitudes and when New York was crummy, you might like this film. If you're a pornography fan looking for titillation...this is DEFINATELY not the film for you.
