| Whore | |
|---|---|
| File:Whore.jpg | |
| Directed by | Ken Russell |
| Produced by | Ronaldo Vasconcellos |
| Written by |
David Hines (original play) |
| Starring | Theresa Russell |
| Distributed by | Trimark Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 1991 |
| Running time | 85 min (80 min USA) |
| Language | English |
Whore is a 1991 film by British director and screenwriter Ken Russell, starring actress Theresa Russell. While not a financial success grossing only $1,008,404, the film did attract some positive notices, and generated an unrelated sequel.
Contents |
Plot summary [link]
Liz (Russell) is a Los Angeles prostitute the audience first sees attempting to get a customer on a busy downtown street near a tunnel. She addresses the audience directly on her life and problems throughout the film. When a van stops by, she gives it the brush off, recalling the last time she serviced a man in a van: it turned out there were several other men in the van, who gang-raped her and left her for dead. A passer-by (Jack Nance) helps her to the hospital, and even pays her bill there. She sends him a thank you note.
Liz isn't merely attempting to get a customer, however: she is attempting to escape her pimp, Blake (Benjamin Mouton). Blake is a well-dressed, businesslike and extremely controlling man who catches up with her at a convenience store. He demands money, and Liz has no choice but to agree — though she gives him the finger as he leaves.
As Liz stops off at a strip club for a drink, she explains how she ended up as she did: she was a small town girl, who married a violent drunk named Charlie (Frank Smith). Though they have a child together, she can no longer take it and leaves him, taking her son with her, as he's sleeping it off. She takes a job on the graveyard shift at a diner, and when a customer offers her more money to have sex with him, she decides, given her rather low pay, to take it. She does this independently for a time until she meets Blake, who takes her to LA. Though Blake does do some things for her (including getting her tattooed), he is ultimately as cruel as her husband, so she decides to escape from him.
A local homeless person / street performer named Rasta (Antonio Fargas) decides to treat Liz to a movie. Though Rasta is a bit scary (his act involves walking on broken glass), Liz agrees. At this point the scenes of Liz and Rasta at the movie are intercut with Blake explaining his life to the audience, giving the impression that Liz and Rasta are watching Blake's soliloquy.
After the movie, Liz talks to the audience about her son, whom she clearly loves, though he's now in foster care. She finally gets a customer and services him. He has a heart attack, and Liz panics, trying to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation, without success. Blake happens along then. He takes Liz's money and tries to rob the dead customer. When Liz tries to stop him, Blake tries to strangle Liz and threatens her son. Rasta comes to the rescue, killing Blake. A grateful Liz gives her thanks and walks away.
Production details [link]
Lacking large studio support, the film was produced and distributed by Trimark Pictures. The film's small shooting budget is reflected in the choppy editing and production value. Presumably to save on crew expenses, Ken Russell is listed as camera operator in production credits (under the name Alf). The original play Bondage on which the film was based was written by a writer and part time London taxi driver David Hines (b. 1945), who based it on a conversation with a local prostitute he drove. [1] Russell adapted the play to the screen as an answer to the film Pretty Woman released at around that same time.
The film was in limited distribution in U.S. movie houses, mainly due to it having received the dreaded NC-17 rating by the MPAA, did not achieve critical acclaim, and quickly moved into pay-per-view and VHS release.
In addition to its regular video release, Whore was also released on video with the title If You Can't Say It... Just See It. An unrelated direct-to-video sequel, Whore II, was released three years later in 1994, written and directed by Amos Kollek. Coincidentally, a clip from Kollek's earlier film, High Stakes, is seen in the film.
The film is rated R18 in New Zealand where it is rated R16 for the television rating.
References [link]
External links [link]
https://wn.com/Whore_(1991_film)
1991 in film
The year 1991 in film involved some significant events.
Highest-grossing films
The top ten films released in 1991 by worldwide gross are as follows:
Events
Awards
Academy Awards Golden Globe Awards
Palme d'Or (Cannes Film Festival):
Film (Iranian magazine)
Film (Persian:فیلم) is an Iranian film review magazine published for more than 30 years. The head-editor is Massoud Mehrabi.
References
External links
Film (film)
Film is a 1965 film written by Samuel Beckett, his only screenplay. It was commissioned by Barney Rosset of Grove Press. Writing began on 5 April 1963 with a first draft completed within four days. A second draft was produced by 22 May and a forty-leaf shooting script followed thereafter. It was filmed in New York in July 1964.
Beckett’s original choice for the lead – referred to only as “O” – was Charlie Chaplin, but his script never reached him. Both Beckett and the director Alan Schneider were interested in Zero Mostel and Jack MacGowran. However, the former was unavailable and the latter, who accepted at first, became unavailable due to his role in a "Hollywood epic." Beckett then suggested Buster Keaton. Schneider promptly flew to Los Angeles and persuaded Keaton to accept the role along with "a handsome fee for less than three weeks' work."James Karen, who was to have a small part in the film, also encouraged Schneider to contact Keaton.
The filmed version differs from Beckett's original script but with his approval since he was on set all the time, this being his only visit to the United States. The script printed in Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett (Faber and Faber, 1984) states:
Lubrication theory
In fluid dynamics, lubrication theory describes the flow of fluids (liquids or gases) in a geometry in which one dimension is significantly smaller than the others. An example is the flow above air hockey tables, where the thickness of the air layer beneath the puck is much smaller than the dimensions of the puck itself.
Internal flows are those where the fluid is fully bounded. Internal flow lubrication theory has many industrial applications because of its role in the design of fluid bearings. Here a key goal of lubrication theory is to determine the pressure distribution in the fluid volume, and hence the forces on the bearing components. The working fluid in this case is often termed a lubricant.
Free film lubrication theory is concerned with the case in which one of the surfaces containing the fluid is a free surface. In that case the position of the free surface is itself unknown, and one goal of lubrication theory is then to determine this. Surface tension may then be significant, or even dominant. Issues of wetting and dewetting then arise. For very thin films (thickness less than one micrometre), additional intermolecular forces, such as Van der Waals forces or disjoining forces, may become significant.
Whore (disambiguation)
Whore generally refers to a prostitute.
Whore(s) may also refer to:
