The Notorious Bettie Page Movie Review 2006

The ultimate 50s fetish pinup, Bettie (Mol) is a sweet, religious Southern gal with a rocky past (bad childhood, bad men), who comes to the Big Apple to be an actress. She can't act, but Bettie looks great--dark hair, curvy body, come-hither smile, and an open sexuality that soon has her doing nude photo shoots. After Bettie meets the Klaws, Irving (Bauer) and his sister Paula (Taylor), she becomes a sensation in the specialty market of leather and bondage. This being the 50s, morality soon wags a disapproving finger when Senator Estes Kefauver (Strathairn) convenes his indecency hearings and Bettie gets caught in the crossfire. Mol is charming but Bettie remains a cipher.

Distribution

HBO, 1100 Ave. of the Americas, New York, NY 10036, Phone: (212)512-7400, Fax: (212)512-7498, URL: http://www.hbo.com, Remarks: Online sales through www.store.hbo.com

Running time 91 minutes.
Originally from United States.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Period Piece: 1950s, Dream Girls, Sex & Sexuality, Shutterbugs, Biopics: Showbiz, Sexual Abuse, Bad Dads

Screenplay

Mary Harron, Guinevere Turner

Cast

Gretchen Mol, Chris Bauer, Jared Harris, Sarah Paulson, Cara Seymour, Lili Taylor, David Strathairn, John Cullum, Matt McGrath, Austin Pendleton, Norman Reedus, Dallas Roberts, Victor Slezak, Tara Subkoff, Kevin Carroll, Ann Dowd, Michael Gaston, Jefferson Mays, Peter McRobbie, Jonathan M. Woodward

Cinematography

W. Mott Hupfel

Director

Mary Harron

Music

Mark Suozzo

Other

Brian Miksis, Tricia Cooke, Thomas Ambrose, John Dunn, Gideon Ponte

Producer

Pamela Koffler, Katie Roumel, Christine Vachon, Picturehouse, HBO Films, Killer Films, John Wells, Picturehouse