23 reviews
Does not live down to its title
Unfortunately, "The Bitch" is neither campy enough nor trashy enough to live down to its sensational(istic) title. In fact, apart maybe from a pool-orgy sequence, it is rather quaint. Joan Collins' character is hardly even a bitch - she is just rich and liberated. She does get to flash her magnificent bare body, which should be enough to get a rise out of most viewers, but this film is more of a promo for disco music than anything else.
- gridoon2024
- Apr 16, 2018
- Permalink
For lovers of 1970's flashy disco junk only!
An owner of a 1970's London disco gets sexually involved with a shady medallion man who may have dangerous Mafia links.
What a pile of junk this is! But, somehow and some way, I have a soft spot for it. A guilty pleasure that should be whispered lightly and only in limited company. It is so camp that on release it probably drove drag queen rushing towards the exits.
It does - however - capture the 70's disco scene and fashions as well as the faceless hits that pumped out of them. Clear and brainless padding though they are.
This is based on a (Jackie) Collins novel that shows the imagination of a newt: discos, glamour, the mob, diamonds, dancing and guys who think they look better with a thick moustache. If you were given the task of writing a script based on clichés you couldn't do better than this.
Lead Joan Collins, only a few years before so down-on-her-luck that she was signing on the dole, takes her clothes off for about six milliseconds to reveal a pale skinny body that has seen better days, but you still would, wouldn't you?
Everyone hated discos, even the people that went to them every week. Boring places where girls danced around handbags and every girl you spoke to was "waiting for her boyfriend." A plastic imitation of a good time. Not to mention that horrible, insisting, pounding music that made any dance floor conversation impossible. If there is a hell - it must be like a 70's disco.
Yes, you are probably going to hate it. Yes, you won't see what the point it is. But it is like a bad war film about a war that you went through yourself and have the scars to prove it - it keeps you involved even though there is a million other things that you really should be doing.
What a pile of junk this is! But, somehow and some way, I have a soft spot for it. A guilty pleasure that should be whispered lightly and only in limited company. It is so camp that on release it probably drove drag queen rushing towards the exits.
It does - however - capture the 70's disco scene and fashions as well as the faceless hits that pumped out of them. Clear and brainless padding though they are.
This is based on a (Jackie) Collins novel that shows the imagination of a newt: discos, glamour, the mob, diamonds, dancing and guys who think they look better with a thick moustache. If you were given the task of writing a script based on clichés you couldn't do better than this.
Lead Joan Collins, only a few years before so down-on-her-luck that she was signing on the dole, takes her clothes off for about six milliseconds to reveal a pale skinny body that has seen better days, but you still would, wouldn't you?
Everyone hated discos, even the people that went to them every week. Boring places where girls danced around handbags and every girl you spoke to was "waiting for her boyfriend." A plastic imitation of a good time. Not to mention that horrible, insisting, pounding music that made any dance floor conversation impossible. If there is a hell - it must be like a 70's disco.
Yes, you are probably going to hate it. Yes, you won't see what the point it is. But it is like a bad war film about a war that you went through yourself and have the scars to prove it - it keeps you involved even though there is a million other things that you really should be doing.
fake jeweleery, not a crystal cabinet
hmmmm...
If you take "The Stud" as the height of the hedonistic campy and thrashy disco 70's then this is not your movie as it is a major let down.
Joan Collins revives her role as the hedonistic and sexually liberated Mrs. Fontain Khaled (read as "BITCH") is now divorced after her husband found incriminating evidence of her bonking Tony (The Stud.. if you remember) and is now doing every one in sight. She must be really bored with her sex life because in a few hours of her arrival in London she screws her driver????
And so the saga of sex and sin continues...and unfortunately the sex scenes in this movie can be summerised in one word.."AWFUL" The actors actually look so bored and lifeless it is amazing, plus there is the obligatory pool-orgy.
The only thing to ss in this movie is when the main titles roll, and as the title song comes on, we see Joan Collins without any make up (looking as pale as a milk ). As it continues she does a total make over and by the end completes looking like the BITCH she loves to play.
Worth only for die hard J.C. fans, but they may be disapointed.
Joan Collins revives her role as the hedonistic and sexually liberated Mrs. Fontain Khaled (read as "BITCH") is now divorced after her husband found incriminating evidence of her bonking Tony (The Stud.. if you remember) and is now doing every one in sight. She must be really bored with her sex life because in a few hours of her arrival in London she screws her driver????
And so the saga of sex and sin continues...and unfortunately the sex scenes in this movie can be summerised in one word.."AWFUL" The actors actually look so bored and lifeless it is amazing, plus there is the obligatory pool-orgy.
The only thing to ss in this movie is when the main titles roll, and as the title song comes on, we see Joan Collins without any make up (looking as pale as a milk ). As it continues she does a total make over and by the end completes looking like the BITCH she loves to play.
Worth only for die hard J.C. fans, but they may be disapointed.
Painful and Futile
Joan Collins seems to delight in filming some of the most trashy novels written by her sister Jackie, and playing the part of the most outrageous character in the book. How else can one explain her roles in the films of "The Stud" and its sequel "The Bitch"? Viewers comments in the IMDb database for "The Stud" probably say all that really needs saying about both of them. I find watching such films is rather like attending an unwanted disco party - it is painful whilst it lasts, and after it is over, I am left to ask myself what made me waste so much time doing something so futile. In the case of "The Bitch" this analogy is particularly appropriate as the lighting for much of the film is very like what one might expect to find at a disco, and is probably equally capable of leading to a headache. However there are usually short periods of enjoyment to provide some small consolation during even the most futile party. Watching this film, the consolation for me was a very short pool party which was free of psychedelic lighting effects and was not only more restful on the eyes but also quite amusing to watch. In consideration of this I will rate the film at two out of ten, rather than giving it only the one that it really deserves.
As if 'The Stud' wasn't enough
- paul_johnr
- Sep 20, 2006
- Permalink
like watching a train wreck--a really awful, stupid, unappealing one at that!
This is not Joan Collins' worst film, nor is it even the second-worst film. No, it's probably tied for 3rd with THE STUD (both are part of the great soft-core porn duo of films she made in the late 70s). While I really don't watch skin flicks, this one really didn't show that much and I felt I had to see it simply because I love seeing her awful films of that era. They are so bad and embarrassing to watch, they are mesmerizing! The movie is based on a base book by her almost equally famous sister, Jackie (as was THE STUD). I heard some time back that they now hate each other and don't even talk--I think these movies are the reason why!. It's trashy with a little bit of skin thrown in (though not much of Joan's). Combined with horrible acting, terrible writing and uninspired direction is perhaps the most annoying and stupid theme song ever. So bad, you might want to give it a look just to say you saw Joan at the absolute lowest point in her career.
By the way, I noticed some comments said that THE STUD is a better film. Perhaps, but it's like comparing Rectal Cancer to Leprosy--neither one is appealing or something you'd want!!
By the way, I noticed some comments said that THE STUD is a better film. Perhaps, but it's like comparing Rectal Cancer to Leprosy--neither one is appealing or something you'd want!!
- planktonrules
- Mar 22, 2006
- Permalink
Joan makes it hard for us one more time
- ShadeGrenade
- Sep 30, 2010
- Permalink
THE BITCH (Gerry O'Hara, 1979) **
The sequel to THE STUD (1978), also based on a Jackie Collins novel, is more of the same - if more elaborately plotted, taking in a diamond heist, fixed horse-races and the mob! The stud this time around is the Italianite but ultra-resistible Micheal Coby and the girl with whom he shares a brief moment of bedroom bliss turns out to be working for the mob - headed by a campy turn from Ian Hendry (who seems to have just strayed in from GET CARTER [1971]).
The mix is as before: tawdry shenanigans in lush settings to (a literally dying) disco-beat. Collins again does a dry-run for what eventually became her signature role, that of Alexis Colby in the long-running TV soap opera "Dynasty". As I said, these films are bad but a fun one-time viewing nonetheless.
The mix is as before: tawdry shenanigans in lush settings to (a literally dying) disco-beat. Collins again does a dry-run for what eventually became her signature role, that of Alexis Colby in the long-running TV soap opera "Dynasty". As I said, these films are bad but a fun one-time viewing nonetheless.
- Bunuel1976
- Aug 17, 2006
- Permalink
Polyester Poontang
One of the more obscure items in Joan Collins's filmography is a film (written, produced and directed by her eccentric second husband Anthony Newley) with the magnificent title "Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?", in which she plays a character with the equally wonderful name of Polyester Poontang, a name which I have always thought would have made a good stage name for Collins herself. "Poontang", after all, is a slang term (in America, if not in Britain) for a sexually attractive woman, whereas "polyester" denotes something artificial, a word which sums up Collins's acting at its worst.
In her heyday in the late fifties and early sixties Collins was a star of some magnitude (a fact often overlooked by her detractors), but after failing to land the lead in "Cleopatra" she took a break from acting to spend more time with her family, and on her return was unable to break back into Hollywood. Most of her films from the late sixties and seventies were low-budget British offerings of widely varying quality. At least one of them, "Quest for Love", was excellent, but the majority were anything but, with "I Don't Want to Be Born" a particularly egregious example.
And then, in the late seventies, Polyester hit on a brilliant way of revitalising her career. She would openly admit her true age (hitherto something of a movable feast) and reinvent herself as Britain's first middle-aged sex symbol, the glamorous, sexy Older Woman. Or perhaps not quite the first; her slightly older contemporary Diana Dors had been trying something similar without success, the difference being that Collins, unlike Dors, had preserved her youthful good looks well enough to make such a transformation plausible. The results were "The Stud" and its sequel "The Bitch", both based on novels by Joan's younger sister Jackie Collins. (The third Collins sister, Natasha, famously remarked "One of my sisters writes trash, the other acts in it").
In "The Stud", Joan played Fontaine Khaled, the British wife of a Middle Eastern businessman. (The character was possibly based on Soraya Khashoggi, née Sandra Daly). In its successor, Fontaine is now divorced and the owner of a trendy London nightclub (i.e. disco). Although this is a British film, the word "bitch" in the title is used in the American sense of "sexually promiscuous woman" rather than the more common British usage of "unpleasant or spiteful woman". The plot has something to do with Fontaine's financial problems, a stolen necklace, the Mafia, a horse race and a mustachioed Italian stud- the seventies being the last period in recorded history when a luxuriant moustache denoted rampant heterosexuality rather than the opposite- but none of these elements matter very much. The film-makers were less interested in them than they were in Fontaine's habit of dropping her knickers whenever there is a handsome man (or even an OK-looking man) anywhere in her vicinity.
"The Stud" and "The Bitch" were generally panned by critics, yet both were huge commercial successes, the most successful British films of the seventies apart from the Bond franchise. There is, however, an explanation for this apparent contradiction. The films are little more than soft-core porn, and in an age when porn, whether hard- or soft-core, was much less easily available than it is today, any film involving nudity and sex scenes was virtually guaranteed to be good box-office. Just as the crowds who flocked to see "Emmanuelle" did not do so to admire Sylvia Kristel's acting technique or to polish up their French, so those who flocked to see "The Bitch" had more interest in seeing Joan get her kit off than they did in those aspects of film-making (direction, plot, dialogue, acting, character development, etc.) which are normally the concern of film critics.
Which is just as well as the film is singularly lacking in all those departments. Apart from the incompetence of most of those who had a hand in making it, the film's worst sin is its pretentious tackiness; the scenes of Fontaine's apartment, the supposed luxury hotels and the supposedly high-class nightclub are all obviously intended to convey a sense of luxury and sophistication, but all they do is remind us, forcibly, of just why the seventies are best remembered as the decade that taste forgot.
Collins is the film's only star of any real fame, but even she is just as awful as any of her co-stars. Indeed, her performance is perhaps less forgivable than theirs. They give poor performances because of a basic lack of talent; she gives one because of a total lack of sincerity. It is perhaps ironic that she is best-known for playing sultry femmes fatales, because on the evidence of "The Stud", "The Bitch" and "Dynasty" (where her character Alexis Carrington was essentially Fontaine Khaled toned down to meet the more puritanical standards of prime-time television) it is not the sort of role in which she excelled. Her performance here is marked by a sort of arch, knowing irony; her attitude could not have been more clear if she had worn a t-shirt throughout bearing the slogan "Daahling, I'm really a classically-trained RADA graduate- I'm only acting in this crap because it pays the mortgage".
Collins is on record as alleging that "Can Heironymus Merkin .." was one of the factors leading to the breakdown of her marriage to Newley. This experience did not, however, dissuade her from intermingling her professional career with her marital affairs, as her third husband, Ron Kass, acted as the producer of "The Bitch". When that marriage also broke down a few years later, I am surprised that this film did not feature as an exhibit to her divorce petition. 2/10
In her heyday in the late fifties and early sixties Collins was a star of some magnitude (a fact often overlooked by her detractors), but after failing to land the lead in "Cleopatra" she took a break from acting to spend more time with her family, and on her return was unable to break back into Hollywood. Most of her films from the late sixties and seventies were low-budget British offerings of widely varying quality. At least one of them, "Quest for Love", was excellent, but the majority were anything but, with "I Don't Want to Be Born" a particularly egregious example.
And then, in the late seventies, Polyester hit on a brilliant way of revitalising her career. She would openly admit her true age (hitherto something of a movable feast) and reinvent herself as Britain's first middle-aged sex symbol, the glamorous, sexy Older Woman. Or perhaps not quite the first; her slightly older contemporary Diana Dors had been trying something similar without success, the difference being that Collins, unlike Dors, had preserved her youthful good looks well enough to make such a transformation plausible. The results were "The Stud" and its sequel "The Bitch", both based on novels by Joan's younger sister Jackie Collins. (The third Collins sister, Natasha, famously remarked "One of my sisters writes trash, the other acts in it").
In "The Stud", Joan played Fontaine Khaled, the British wife of a Middle Eastern businessman. (The character was possibly based on Soraya Khashoggi, née Sandra Daly). In its successor, Fontaine is now divorced and the owner of a trendy London nightclub (i.e. disco). Although this is a British film, the word "bitch" in the title is used in the American sense of "sexually promiscuous woman" rather than the more common British usage of "unpleasant or spiteful woman". The plot has something to do with Fontaine's financial problems, a stolen necklace, the Mafia, a horse race and a mustachioed Italian stud- the seventies being the last period in recorded history when a luxuriant moustache denoted rampant heterosexuality rather than the opposite- but none of these elements matter very much. The film-makers were less interested in them than they were in Fontaine's habit of dropping her knickers whenever there is a handsome man (or even an OK-looking man) anywhere in her vicinity.
"The Stud" and "The Bitch" were generally panned by critics, yet both were huge commercial successes, the most successful British films of the seventies apart from the Bond franchise. There is, however, an explanation for this apparent contradiction. The films are little more than soft-core porn, and in an age when porn, whether hard- or soft-core, was much less easily available than it is today, any film involving nudity and sex scenes was virtually guaranteed to be good box-office. Just as the crowds who flocked to see "Emmanuelle" did not do so to admire Sylvia Kristel's acting technique or to polish up their French, so those who flocked to see "The Bitch" had more interest in seeing Joan get her kit off than they did in those aspects of film-making (direction, plot, dialogue, acting, character development, etc.) which are normally the concern of film critics.
Which is just as well as the film is singularly lacking in all those departments. Apart from the incompetence of most of those who had a hand in making it, the film's worst sin is its pretentious tackiness; the scenes of Fontaine's apartment, the supposed luxury hotels and the supposedly high-class nightclub are all obviously intended to convey a sense of luxury and sophistication, but all they do is remind us, forcibly, of just why the seventies are best remembered as the decade that taste forgot.
Collins is the film's only star of any real fame, but even she is just as awful as any of her co-stars. Indeed, her performance is perhaps less forgivable than theirs. They give poor performances because of a basic lack of talent; she gives one because of a total lack of sincerity. It is perhaps ironic that she is best-known for playing sultry femmes fatales, because on the evidence of "The Stud", "The Bitch" and "Dynasty" (where her character Alexis Carrington was essentially Fontaine Khaled toned down to meet the more puritanical standards of prime-time television) it is not the sort of role in which she excelled. Her performance here is marked by a sort of arch, knowing irony; her attitude could not have been more clear if she had worn a t-shirt throughout bearing the slogan "Daahling, I'm really a classically-trained RADA graduate- I'm only acting in this crap because it pays the mortgage".
Collins is on record as alleging that "Can Heironymus Merkin .." was one of the factors leading to the breakdown of her marriage to Newley. This experience did not, however, dissuade her from intermingling her professional career with her marital affairs, as her third husband, Ron Kass, acted as the producer of "The Bitch". When that marriage also broke down a few years later, I am surprised that this film did not feature as an exhibit to her divorce petition. 2/10
- JamesHitchcock
- Feb 22, 2012
- Permalink
No matter what you call her, Fontaynne is just Alexis pre-fall of 1981.
- mark.waltz
- Aug 6, 2022
- Permalink
There's a lot wrong, but Joan Collins more than makes up for it
Looking back nearly 30 years, there's so much wrong with The Bitch that it's almost impossible to comprehend how it was so successful at the UK Box Office. With its sister film The Stud (1978), it was one of the most successful UK films of the decade (of the two, The Bitch outstripped The Stud). Both films were panned by the critics. The acting is mostly dire and the script is laughable. The plot is so wafer-thin and ludicrous (a Mafia plot involving a dodgy Greek businessman, a ring and a fixed horse race, based around a Mayfair disco) that you begin to wonder how it made so much money.
One thing redeems it all - Joan Collins. She is just amazing, a stunning performance considering the lameness of all around her. The famous, extraordinary "chaffeur cap" seduction & striptease scene is for me possibly the best seduction scene in the whole of cinema. It never ceases to entertain. And considering that Joan Collins was 45 when she made this, it deserves a high mark for that alone.
One thing redeems it all - Joan Collins. She is just amazing, a stunning performance considering the lameness of all around her. The famous, extraordinary "chaffeur cap" seduction & striptease scene is for me possibly the best seduction scene in the whole of cinema. It never ceases to entertain. And considering that Joan Collins was 45 when she made this, it deserves a high mark for that alone.
- fontaine-khaled
- May 11, 2007
- Permalink
70's Jet Set trash film
"The Bitch" is one of countless exploitation films dealing with the sex lives of the "jet set" crowd, (today they are known as the '1 percenters.) This film offers a tawdry look into a very decadent lifestyle, led by people with no real morals or concern for anything other than their own pleasure. Days are filled with shopping sprees at Cartier and fashion shows, and nights are spent at tacky London discos, or bed hopping. The wealthy circle is rather small, so it seems like everyone has already slept with everyone else, and everybody knows everyone's secrets. Joan Collins is admittedly very good as Fontaine Khaled, the forty-something socialite who made her financial stake by marrying an Arab billionaire, who foolishly gave her everything she could want, before he discovered her extra marital affairs, and quickly divorced her. In this film, a sequel to "The Stud," which is a better film, Fontaine must use her own "skills" to survive. And survive she does, quite well actually.
This is super-trash on the highest level. We have violent mob bosses, nude swimming pool orgies, sex with the chauffeur, fixed horse races, jewel smuggling and endless discotheque scenes. And there is an endless display of thick mustaches, thick ties, and thick Euro accents. In fact "The Bitch" might just be the most "70's movie" ever made. Is it good? It is a bit uneven. Some might be put off by the lengthy dance sequences, while fans of the disco era styles and "Saturday Night Fever" will be entranced. "The Bitch," if nothing else, is supremely entertaining, and at times, fascinating. Of course it is all fantasy, but somehow we know that there are people who actually live like this, and this film provides a window into that World. Collins is a lot of fun here too. The first film, "The Stud" was somewhat of a commentary on how the working class are used and exploited by the upper class, and it condemns their decadent lifestyle. This sequel however, forgets all of that, and just embraces that lifestyle, and wallows in the decadence. The moral? There is none..other than "every man (or woman) for themselves, and the one who ends up with the most toys wins..
Update Sept. 2020 The advent of Bluray technology is allowing us to see these old, neglected films, restored to their original glory. Suddenly a movie that looked cheap, ugly and incompetent, suddenly looks gorgeous. This film's restoration is truly a revelation. "The Bitch" suddenly looks like a polished Hollywood movie with high production values. Everything looks stunning, from the neon color-saturated discos to the smoky casinos. The home of Fontaine Khalad is a 70's art-deco dream, with it's gleaming chrome, mirrors and zebra rugs. Even the scenes in the English countryside become poetically beautiful..even the soundtrack has been amped up, and those fun disco songs are given life...what a difference from those old, muddy transfers from Thorne-EMI video! Both this film and it's "brother" film, "The Stud," need to be seen in their restored glory, before they are properly judged.
This is super-trash on the highest level. We have violent mob bosses, nude swimming pool orgies, sex with the chauffeur, fixed horse races, jewel smuggling and endless discotheque scenes. And there is an endless display of thick mustaches, thick ties, and thick Euro accents. In fact "The Bitch" might just be the most "70's movie" ever made. Is it good? It is a bit uneven. Some might be put off by the lengthy dance sequences, while fans of the disco era styles and "Saturday Night Fever" will be entranced. "The Bitch," if nothing else, is supremely entertaining, and at times, fascinating. Of course it is all fantasy, but somehow we know that there are people who actually live like this, and this film provides a window into that World. Collins is a lot of fun here too. The first film, "The Stud" was somewhat of a commentary on how the working class are used and exploited by the upper class, and it condemns their decadent lifestyle. This sequel however, forgets all of that, and just embraces that lifestyle, and wallows in the decadence. The moral? There is none..other than "every man (or woman) for themselves, and the one who ends up with the most toys wins..
Update Sept. 2020 The advent of Bluray technology is allowing us to see these old, neglected films, restored to their original glory. Suddenly a movie that looked cheap, ugly and incompetent, suddenly looks gorgeous. This film's restoration is truly a revelation. "The Bitch" suddenly looks like a polished Hollywood movie with high production values. Everything looks stunning, from the neon color-saturated discos to the smoky casinos. The home of Fontaine Khalad is a 70's art-deco dream, with it's gleaming chrome, mirrors and zebra rugs. Even the scenes in the English countryside become poetically beautiful..even the soundtrack has been amped up, and those fun disco songs are given life...what a difference from those old, muddy transfers from Thorne-EMI video! Both this film and it's "brother" film, "The Stud," need to be seen in their restored glory, before they are properly judged.
Slow and repetitive
- Leofwine_draca
- Jun 30, 2017
- Permalink
All this Bitching and Joaning isn't helping anything.....
- Poseidon-3
- Nov 21, 2006
- Permalink
I can't even write the name of this movie
- BandSAboutMovies
- Sep 5, 2022
- Permalink
The Bitch is back.
Joan Collins returns as middle-aged, sex-mad uber-bitch Fontaine Khaled in the inevitable sequel to The Stud, which sees her becoming involved with a hustler named Nico (Antonio Cantafora), who is trying to raise money to pay off his debts to the mob. But Nico isn't the only one with financial problems: Fontaine is also feeling the pinch, her divorce leaving her far less affluent and her London disco Hobo failing to pull in the crowds.
If you enjoyed the tacky disco-era smut that was The Stud, there's a very good chance that you'll enjoy The Bitch as well, this sequel delivering the same heady concoction of swinging sex, melodrama, and crazy dance floor action, all accompanied by a throbbing soundtrack of '70s smashers (including Leo Sayer, Real Thing, Blondie, and The Three Degrees).
Fontaine has nookie with every man she meets (sporting black basque, stockings and suspenders and chauffeur cap to seduce her driver), there's a swimming pool orgy scene (yes, another one!), Nico screws a mystery woman who turns out to be working for the mob, and Ian Hendry turns up as British gangster who wants Nico to pay off his debts by doing a small favour for him.
It's all instantly forgettable trash, as one might expect from a film based on a Jackie Collins novel, but it's fun for the duration.
If you enjoyed the tacky disco-era smut that was The Stud, there's a very good chance that you'll enjoy The Bitch as well, this sequel delivering the same heady concoction of swinging sex, melodrama, and crazy dance floor action, all accompanied by a throbbing soundtrack of '70s smashers (including Leo Sayer, Real Thing, Blondie, and The Three Degrees).
Fontaine has nookie with every man she meets (sporting black basque, stockings and suspenders and chauffeur cap to seduce her driver), there's a swimming pool orgy scene (yes, another one!), Nico screws a mystery woman who turns out to be working for the mob, and Ian Hendry turns up as British gangster who wants Nico to pay off his debts by doing a small favour for him.
It's all instantly forgettable trash, as one might expect from a film based on a Jackie Collins novel, but it's fun for the duration.
- BA_Harrison
- Jun 5, 2018
- Permalink
70s Nostalgiafest!
This film is really a load of tosh and a waste of Joan Collins' considerable acting talents - BUT - if you grew up in the 1970s you will have a certain nostalgic affection for it. I remember very well the iconic nightclub "Regine's" on which Fontaine Khaled's disco was based - even with the same squared dance-floor - and the fashions with lots of bright colours, flashy jewellery and designers such as Yuki.
The dialogue is absolutely appalling and the delivery by most of the actors stilted to say the least.
If you "suspend disbelief" and take this film for what it is; a piece of nostalgic, escapist fluff; then you are in for quite an enjoyable way of passing an evening - AND you'll enjoy all the 70s disco music!
The dialogue is absolutely appalling and the delivery by most of the actors stilted to say the least.
If you "suspend disbelief" and take this film for what it is; a piece of nostalgic, escapist fluff; then you are in for quite an enjoyable way of passing an evening - AND you'll enjoy all the 70s disco music!
- sallyroberts
- Sep 8, 2006
- Permalink
Not a bad movie!
This movie begins where The Stud left off. Fontaine is down and out, but she has plans to get back on her feet again. She is an interesting character; rather complex and obviously driven by sexual desire. Maybe this desire is about pleasure, maybe it is about being in control of her life. She is a very determined woman who goes after what she wants with everything she has. This movie is worth seeing if you like Joan Collins (she is in top form!) or really strange and not very good movies. I happen to like all sorts of movies. I find lots of bad ones enjoyable! Joan Collins gets to wear a lot of excellent ensembles and she plays a very good bitch! There are some good scenes, but the intro music is really quite terrible. I was embarrassed for it. Other than that I think you should watch it with an open mind and revel in how random a movie can be.
Disco Queens - OK Britsploitation
A critical flop with both fans and critics. In the last few decades it has built up a fanbase and become a bit of a cult movie.
The plot is pretty incomprehensible with Nico smuggling a diamond to pay off a gambling debt to some hardened criminals and Joan Collins being the woman he has a fling with.
The film came hot on the platform heels of the "discoploitation" subgenre with the pinnacle being Saturday Night Fever and some true oddities like Disco Godfather. There are some truly appalling disco scenes that do not capture the glamour and feature largely unprofessional and unchoreographed dance scenes. Even worse the nightclub scenes take up aroun ten minutes of the film which has an already short runtime; obvious filler.
Joan Collins looks great. One of the eye popping scenes is her in a red and black basque which was used for the poster art. The sex scenes are brief with Joan keeping her clothes on for most of it and even a swinger scene in a mansion feels a bit limp.
This film isn't a total mess. Nice photography, great locations and set pieces, a bit of campy dialogue and some good looking actors who can actually act make for a decent night in with a few beers. Ignore the low review scores, fans of exploitation films have always known what's good.
Joan Collins was maligned for this film as her starpower was fading by the time she did The Stud. Ironically this sequel was a factor in showing the world she was still a sex symbol and an icon at 45 and I'm sure lead to her being cast in Dallas.
The Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber features a soft print, most likely from film deterioration, clear sound and the commentary track is a hoot.
The plot is pretty incomprehensible with Nico smuggling a diamond to pay off a gambling debt to some hardened criminals and Joan Collins being the woman he has a fling with.
The film came hot on the platform heels of the "discoploitation" subgenre with the pinnacle being Saturday Night Fever and some true oddities like Disco Godfather. There are some truly appalling disco scenes that do not capture the glamour and feature largely unprofessional and unchoreographed dance scenes. Even worse the nightclub scenes take up aroun ten minutes of the film which has an already short runtime; obvious filler.
Joan Collins looks great. One of the eye popping scenes is her in a red and black basque which was used for the poster art. The sex scenes are brief with Joan keeping her clothes on for most of it and even a swinger scene in a mansion feels a bit limp.
This film isn't a total mess. Nice photography, great locations and set pieces, a bit of campy dialogue and some good looking actors who can actually act make for a decent night in with a few beers. Ignore the low review scores, fans of exploitation films have always known what's good.
Joan Collins was maligned for this film as her starpower was fading by the time she did The Stud. Ironically this sequel was a factor in showing the world she was still a sex symbol and an icon at 45 and I'm sure lead to her being cast in Dallas.
The Blu-Ray from Kino Lorber features a soft print, most likely from film deterioration, clear sound and the commentary track is a hoot.
- ninjaalexs
- Jan 26, 2022
- Permalink
A waste of time
Though I searched high and low, I couldn't find a copy of Joan Collins' previous movie, "The Stud", so I had to settle for watching this sequel. After watching the movie, I no longer have any desire to find the original film. Though sequels are typically bad, this movie was so bad that I simply could not picture "The Stud" being better. It's a shoddily made movie at times - some of the dialogue was obviously dubbed over in post- production. What's even worse is the story - more than a third into the movie, I was asking myself, "Just what is the point of this movie?" I asked myself that same question in the closing minutes of the movie! If you feel you can look over the pointless story and are just looking for trash, the movie still disappoints. Except for one mildly erotic sequence taking place at an indoor pool, the sporadic nude/sex sequences aren't the least bit enticing. If you want to see Joan Collins in a trashy movie, you'd be better of watching "Empire of the Ants".
"The Stud" is much better.
Joan Collins continues her pleasure-seeking habits in this awful movie. The film is rather confusing at times and even Joan has no idea what is going on. The DISCO soundtrack and lights get on your nerves after a while. "The Bitch" is also based on the trashy novel by Jackie Collins (Joan's sister). This is a really bad career move Joan...
Much Worse Than The Stud
The Bitch (1979)
1/2 (out of 4)
Fontaine Khaled (Joan Collins) is now on her own, making her way through various lovers while also trying to run a disco. Before long her love life starts to get complicated and she also has to deal with some Mafia types trying to get in on her business.
THE STUD was a really bad movie that thankfully reached some cult moments and it was a low-budget film that became a huge hit at the box office. Sadly, when a film makes money a sequel is bound to follow and here we are with THE BITCH. Was it a good idea to make the film? Well, it at least makes the awful THE STUD look much better in comparison.
Usually I list the various problems with a film but in the case of this one I'll just say that everything is a problem. Well, there was one good thing. The film at least looked very professional. Director Gerry O'Hara at least manages to give you a good looking movie but, to be honest, that doesn't make it any more entertaining. There are some pretty bad performances scattered throughout the film, there's some bad editing and I'd even argue that it doesn't live up to the original.
The film doesn't reach the same sleazy level as the original, although it does try to copy some of the original film's elements. The orgy sequence from the first movie was trashy but the one here is just lame. Yes, the one here contains more nudity but by the time it happens most viewers will already be asleep. We're given another title track and a very bad one at that. Collins isn't nearly as bitchy as the first film and all of the characters are a complete bore.
1/2 (out of 4)
Fontaine Khaled (Joan Collins) is now on her own, making her way through various lovers while also trying to run a disco. Before long her love life starts to get complicated and she also has to deal with some Mafia types trying to get in on her business.
THE STUD was a really bad movie that thankfully reached some cult moments and it was a low-budget film that became a huge hit at the box office. Sadly, when a film makes money a sequel is bound to follow and here we are with THE BITCH. Was it a good idea to make the film? Well, it at least makes the awful THE STUD look much better in comparison.
Usually I list the various problems with a film but in the case of this one I'll just say that everything is a problem. Well, there was one good thing. The film at least looked very professional. Director Gerry O'Hara at least manages to give you a good looking movie but, to be honest, that doesn't make it any more entertaining. There are some pretty bad performances scattered throughout the film, there's some bad editing and I'd even argue that it doesn't live up to the original.
The film doesn't reach the same sleazy level as the original, although it does try to copy some of the original film's elements. The orgy sequence from the first movie was trashy but the one here is just lame. Yes, the one here contains more nudity but by the time it happens most viewers will already be asleep. We're given another title track and a very bad one at that. Collins isn't nearly as bitchy as the first film and all of the characters are a complete bore.
- Michael_Elliott
- Jul 7, 2017
- Permalink