Pretty Baby

Omg Brook Shields, New Orleans and prostitution all in one movie! This is a must see! The grittiness of the movie! The sexual naughtiness of a brothel in New Orleans. Then the child predator betrayed as a concerned gentleman! It has it all! The storyline is pretty baby!

This movie always gets me! It’s very sad and has me thinking about it for like a week! Brooke Shields has always been an amazing actress despite all the animosity. Yes it’s awful that she was nude at that age and she had to kiss a grown man but like she said, things were different back then. This movie will definitely make you cry and think about things way differently.

Very few movies are truly works of art. This is one of them. There are no explosions that throw bodies through the air, no sensational car crashes, no severed human limbs. Rather there is a plot that unfolds on its own good time, well drawn characters, excellently written dialogue, perfect atmosphere, and gorgeous photography.Still, I understand why some might find the film objectionable. There is nudity, even nudity of a pubescent girl. There is open talk of sex. And some quasi moralists are more offended by that than by graphic violence. Sex, of course, is part of life and is legal, but it must not be shown or suggested very clearly. Murder, on the other hand, is illegal but is shown every night on TV with little protest from the moralists.The acting here is seamless. Susan Sarandon gives her best performance, as does Brook Shields. But the performance that I found most startling was that of the bordello madame.There was an area of New Orleans called Storyville, for some 20 years, where prostitution was confined, ending about World War I. That much of the plot is true. And the photographer Bellocq existed; some of his art has survived. But he didn't look anything like the character in this film, or so we are led to believe from descriptions of him.I cannot recommend this movie highly enough. There is nothing I've seen like it. It is truly an art film.

Great movies, like great literature, are capable of evoking a definite atmosphere, that of the time and setting of the story, the plot of which, then, almost loses significance. The atmosphere in this case is that of New Orleans at the turn of last century - a slight anachronism here sets the story in 1917 to match the timing of the closure of Storyville, New Orleans's red light district, located roughly between Rampart and Robeson, Iberville and St. Louis, of which nothing remains today. That atmosphere is well expressed by the music, especially that of the pianist in the movie, who is modeled after Jelly Roll Morton, a pioneer jazz pianist and composer, and plays his compositions. For the curious listener, I have listed here some of the works by Jelly Roll and when they get played in the movie:3:30 - 4:45, Winin's Boy Blues #15:05 - 7:21, Tiger's Rag, from the typical NO repertory, including the tiger's roar24:35 - 25:00, Jelly Roll26:11 - 27:12, Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say #130:10 - 31:30, Winin' Boy Blues #238:39 - 43:20, (composing of ) King Porter Stomp, in the background when the Susan Sarandon character poses half-naked for the photographer54:46 - 56:35, (Original Jelly Roll?) Blues, with clarinet and bass1:47:15 - 1:49:15 BluesWe can add to this the sweet, though perhaps already outdated by 1917, music played by the New Orleans Ragtime Orchestra, with the nice Creole clarinet of Louis Cottrell, who used to play in the Preservation Hall.It is impossible to underestimate the importance of New Orleans in the world of culture, since it can be stated, as Jelly Roll Morton did, that it was for the musical world what Florence of the 14th and 15th century was for the visual arts. The fact that such culture flourished in whorehouses instead at the courts of princes is thus just a reflection of the cultural level of racist American society - which should be proud of its lupanars - which has prevented its own great culture to be accepted by its puritanical obsession, which led to the disaster of prohibition and the present overfilling of prisons for acts, such as possessing marijuana, which are not criminal in most of the civilized world.Beside the music, there are great moments in this movie. Brooke Shields, besides being pretty, has an interesting role, oscillating between her behavior as a future [prostitute] and that of an immature girl, with a lot of innocence - which incidentally is to be found among all those ladies certainly despised by the pseudo-moralistic mainstream, that same one which seems so popular these days in the US. The Madam looks like a true character, a worn out woman with distinguished manners who keeps up with absinthe and cocaine (not without some humor, as when she says: "there are only two things you can do in a rainy day, and I don't like playing cards!"). And I am sure that the character of the distinguished photographer existed in reality, since I remember having seen an exhibition of pictures of such ladies taken in New Orleans at that time (in spite of the howling of some who wanted to label it degrading and censor it). Add to this the great photography, and the intelligence of Louis Malle, who has always used Jazz in a respectful way, as in "Elevator to the Gallows" with the music of Miles Davis and "Murmur of Heart" with that of Charlie Parker - the latter exploring an even more controversial subject than "Pretty Baby", that of an incest with the mother, in a poetic way.The only reason I am not giving this movie five stars is because I would have loved to see more of the Jelly Roll Morton character. One has almost to strain his/her ear to listen to his composing of the masterpiece "King Porter Stomp" while the photographer tries to take pictures of Hattie (Susan Sarandon). Perhaps some viewers may prefer Sarandon's naked tits over Morton's playing, but that's not my case!But on the whole this is a great movie and is to be recommended heartily to everybody, perhaps especially to Americans who generally know close to nothing of the great culture which has been created in the very places their society has systematically despised, by people which are still often considered as an inferior "race" (whatever that means).

I have seen recent controversy about Ms. Shields posing for a photos as a young 10 year old for a photographer named Mr. Gross, for the parent company of "Playboy". They did not appear in that magazine but in a sub magazine they made. They mentioned this movie in one of the articles. Where was I, under a rock when this came out? Out of disbelief I watched the movie. The movie was poorly filmed and edited, poor acting and most of all, they couldn't tell the story without showing a 12 year old girl in the nude. I don't know how this was not labeled as child porn and it's release restricted. Although Ms. Shields was the innocent in being placed in this position and did an amazing job acting out scenes about a subject matter she should know nothing about, I can't help but think under our current laws and escalating child trafficking problems this movie should be heavily censored or just plain retired. I have been left with nothing but a deep sense of sadness at it's conclusion.

The subject matter is obviously for adults only and most adults would find it offensive.. the acting was good but it was made at the time when this type of movie was accepted

I saw this movie on TV many years ago and liked it so I got the Blu-Ray, good story and good acting. They did a great job remastering this movie, the Blu-Ray video is sharp and clear. I did not know this movie had nudity in it since I saw the TV version many years ago.

Great movie actually. However it was still cut. Bathtub scene was butchered.