Pretty Baby

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Pretty Baby

R,

1978,

1h 49m,

Drama

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Watchlist

69%

26 Reviews

Tomatometer

58%

5,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

69%

Tomatometer

26 Reviews

58%

Popcornmeter

5,000+ Ratings

Hattie (Susan Sarandon), a New Orleans hooker, meets a photographer named Bellocq (Keith Carradine) at her brothel one night and, after he photographs her, he befriends her 12-year-old daughter, Violet (Brooke Shields). When Violet is brought on as a working girl by her mother's madam and Hattie skips town to get married, Violet quickly loses her innocence and focuses on reuniting with Bellocq. But a life with Bellocq is compromised for Violet after her mother returns to town.

Judith Martin

Washington Post

Feb 1, 2018

It takes a robust and humorous approach to life in a brothel, where the work done is less important than the community spirit; and "naughty" would be a far better word to describe the sex scenes, while the rest is decidedly nice.

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Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Feb 1, 2018

3/4

Louis Malle's Pretty Baby is a pleasant surprise: After all the controversy and scandal surrounding its production, it turns out to be a good-hearted, good-looking, quietly elegiac movie.

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Variety Staff

Variety

Mar 26, 2009

The story highlights are confined within a narrow range of ho-hum dramatization.

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Nicholas Bell

IONCINEMA.com

Oct 20, 2020

3.5/5

As compelling as it is humane.

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Bernard Drew

Gannett News Service

Nov 1, 2019

Weak on every level.

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Eleanor M. Gates

Sojourner

Aug 14, 2019

In a large sense, Pretty Baby's style makes its own statements; yet the aesthetic appeal of what we are shown remains strangely inconsistent with much of the film's content.

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Hagrid L

Jan 29, 2019

VHS release thumbs up. Disc version is secretly censored.

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Louis Malle

Director

Brooke Shields

Violet

Keith Carradine

Bellocq

Susan Sarandon

Hattie

Frances Faye

Nell

Antonio Fargas

Professor

Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Violet Gets Married

1:49

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Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Can I Stay Here?

2:12

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Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Hattie Takes Violet Away

2:10

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Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Prepping Violet

2:01

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Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Bidding on Violet

2:11

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Pretty Baby: Official Clip - I Want to Be Respectable

2:07

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Pretty Baby: Official Clip - The Girls at the Lake

2:08

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Pretty Baby: Official Clip - We're Going to Be Married

2:13

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Pretty Baby: Official Clip - Violet, You Alright?

1:39

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Synopsis

Hattie (Susan Sarandon), a New Orleans hooker, meets a photographer named Bellocq (Keith Carradine) at her brothel one night and, after he photographs her, he befriends her 12-year-old daughter, Violet (Brooke Shields). When Violet is brought on as a working girl by her mother's madam and Hattie skips town to get married, Violet quickly loses her innocence and focuses on reuniting with Bellocq. But a life with Bellocq is compromised for Violet after her mother returns to town.

Director: Louis Malle
Producer: Louis Malle
Screenwriter: Polly Platt
Production Co: Paramount Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 5, 1978, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 1, 2012
Runtime: 1h 49m

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