The Pleasure Girls is a 1965 British drama film directed by Gerry O'Hara and starring Francesca Annis, Ian McShane and Klaus Kinski.[3]
Plot
When Sally moves to London to pursue a modelling career, she moves in with Angela and Dee and discovers the world of the carefree "bachelor girl" in the Swinging London of the 1960s. Over one weekend – filled with parties, blossoming friendships, and romantic encounters with Keith and Nikko – the vivacious women learn about life's pleasures and pains.
Cast
- Francesca Annis as Sally
- Ian McShane as Keith Dexter
- Klaus Kinski as Nikko Stalmar
- Tony Tanner as Paddy
- Mark Eden as Prinny
- Suzanna Leigh as Dee
- Anneke Wills as Angela
- Rosemary Nicols as Marion
- Carol Cleveland as Ella
- Peter Diamond as Rat-Face
- Tony Doonan as Reilly
- Colleen Fitzpatrick as Cobber
- Hugh Futcher as Pablo
- Hal Hamilton as Peter 'E'-Type
- Jonathan Hansen as Ivor
- Yvonne Antrobus as waitress
- David Graham as 1st gambler
- Julian Holloway as hanger-on
- Brian Cant as man in pub (uncredited)
Production
The film was based on a script by Gerry O'Hara. Film producer Raymond Stross liked the dialogue of one of O'Hara's other scripts and asked to read anything else the writer-director had. Stross suggested O'Hara write something set in Chelsea, so he wrote his script "A Time and a Place", which became The Pleasure Girls.
In a 2010 interview O'Hara said: "Probably our biggest star was Klaus Kinski, who got £900 for 10 days work in the film, just before he went off to appear in Dr. Zhivago. The entire shoot was only 20 days. It was shot in a house in Kensington; we didn’t have the money for a studio. Plus, it made the whole thing that much more realistic. Michael Reed shot it; he was very fast, very good. ... I hated the title, and I hated the title music. It had nothing to do with the film! But they didn’t consult me about it, so that’s what happened. Still, I think the movie is rather good."[2]
Release
Critical reception
On the film's release Kine Weekly said: "This is very nearly a very good film, but it lacks the essential fullness of construction. However with the aid of a title that promises more than the story provides, it should please quite a large public. ... Points of appeal: sex, pretty girls, saucy title and quota ticket".[4]
Variety reviewed the film as "Slim, superficial yarn about young femme problems amid the bight lights; familiar situations, but some fair budding talent and occasional crisp direction of a routine pic".[5]
Sight and Sound wrote: "The London portrayed here is in transition and full of contradictions; we're on the cusp of the permissive Swinging 60s, and there are new freedoms for bachelor girls sharing a flat. At the same time, the old hierarchies are still in place – 'nice' girls don't have sex before marriage. ... It's a fascinating social document and is less dated than might be expected. Some of the dialogue may now grate a little but there is menace and intensity to the storytelling."[6]
Leslie Halliwell said: "The road to ruin sixties style, hackneyed but quite well observed."[7]
David Parkinson in The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "This attempt to show the problems facing a young model in the Swinging Sixties is an exasperating effort from writer/director Gerry O'Hara, who seems to think that incessant references to sexual freedom are enough to sustain a paper-thin story about the ever-changing relationships of Francesca Annis and her flatmates. The script strains every sinew to be gear and fab."[8]
Home media
The film was published in dual format edition (containing both DVD & Blu-ray on the one disc) by the BFI.[9] It was released as part of the "Flipside" strand. It was produced in an alternative export cut (Blu-ray only) and export version scenes (DVD only).[9]
References
- ^ John Hamilton, Beasts in the Cellar: The Exploitation Film Career of Tony Tenser, Fab Press, 2005 p 42
- ^ a b Dixon, Wheeler Winston (3 December 2010). "Working Within the System: An Interview with Gerry O'Hara". Screening the Past.
- ^ "The Pleasure Girls". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
- ^ "The Pleasure Girls". Kine Weekly. 576 (3009): 17. 3 June 1965.
- ^ "The Pleasure Girls". Variety. 239 (2): 6. 2 June 1965.
- ^ Macnab, Geoffrey (July 2010). "The Pleasure Girls". Sight and Sound. 20 (7): 89.
- ^ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 804. ISBN 0-586-08894-6.
- ^ Parkinson, David (2017). Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. p. 726. ISBN 9780992936440.
- ^ a b Cinedelica release news story BFI and Flipside to release The Pleasure Girls (1965) on dual-format disc,
