The Bitch (film)

The Bitch
Directed by Gerry O'Hara
Produced by Brent Walker
Ron Kass
Oscar Lerman
Edward Simons
Screenplay by Gerry O'Hara
Based on The Bitch (novel)
by Jackie Collins
Starring Joan Collins
Michael Coby
Kenneth Haigh
Music by Biddu
Cinematography Dennis Lewiston
Edited by Eddy Joseph
Distributed by Thorn EMI,
Hoyts Distribution (Australia)
Release date
 1979
Running time
 94 min
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Budget £450,000
Box office £11.5

The Bitch is a British film released in 1979.[1] It is a sequel to The Stud (1978), and both films were based on novels by British author Jackie Collins. Like its predecessor, the film starred her sister, Joan Collins, as Fontaine Khaled. Both films were made for a relatively small sum and made a lot of money at the box office, became cult classics and went on to do respectable business on VHS rentals as well as sales.

Jackie Collins had apparently given her sister, Joan, the rights to the books to be turned into Movies for free. After the Stud turned out to a great financial, if not cinematic success, she had anticipated writing a 3rd book in the series, also to be filmed and starring Joan. This book and film never materialised as Joan's career had now " taken off " and Jackie had gone onto even greater writing success, leaving the possibility of a Trilogy unlikely.

Plot

Following from where the Stud left off, Fontaine Khaled (Joan Collins) was unceremoniously divorced, at Christmas, by her billionaire husband after he discovered her homemade porn tape in their home. Fontaine is the owner of a trendy London disco who is now facing financial problems, and while Fontaine still leads a Jetset lifestyle she no longer enjoys the income that goes with being a Billionaires wife. At the same time, she also has to deal with the various men in her life, one of which, Nico, is actually a conman and who owes money to the mob. Fontaine Is introduced to " Feathers" a Local head of the London underworld -Mafia.

Fontaine ultimately makes a deal with Feathers, and, when the Horse Tip she receives wins and pays Big, she thinks her troubles are over, only to discover that the London mob now apparently partners in her Nighclub " Hobbo"!.

Reception

Although both The Stud and The Bitch were generally panned by critics, as being soft core porn, they captured the seventies London nightclub scene perfectly as "Saturday Night Fever" had done in the same way in the US. They were nevertheless both commercial successes and helped to revive Joan Collins' career. In 1981, her performance in The Stud/The Bitch attracted the attention of Aaron Spelling and Esther and Richard Shapiro when they were looking for an actress to play the part of Alexis Carrington in their TV series Dynasty , arguably Joan Collins greatest role.

The film was banned from local cinema screens by Tameside Council, near Manchester, at the time of its release.[2]This ban seemingly caused the films to grow in popularity and word had spread of the nude scenes by those lucky enough to see its initial run, this aided Video sales and added to the films already impressive box office.

Cast

Music

The film features a disco soundtrack, the theme song to the film performed by The Olympic Runners became a UK Top 40 hit single in August 1979.[3] The soundtrack album was released on Warwick Records and contained 20 songs featured in the film soundtrack. Songs written especially for the film are The Bitch by Olympic Runners, Pour Your Little Heart Out by Sylistics, Dancing On The Edge Of A Heartache by The Hunters, I Feel Lucky Tomight by Linda Lewis/Stylistics, Music You Are by George Chandler and Standing In The Shadows Of Love by Deborah Washington. The film score was written by Biddu. Don Black, well known for writing some of the Bond theme tunes, provided the lyrics for the main theme, The Bitch, with Biddu writing the music.

Tracks included:

References"

  1. ↑ Simon Sheridan Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema, Reynolds & Hearn Books (third edition, 2007)
  2. ↑ The 1970s Manchester Evening News, 7 May 2005. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  3. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 406. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.