The Lonely Lady

The Lonely Lady
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Sasdy
Produced by	Robert R. Weston
Screenplay by	Ellen Shepard
Based on	The Lonely Lady  by Harold Robbins
Starring	Pia Zadora Lloyd Bochner Bibi Besch Joseph Cali Anthony Holland Jared Martin
Music by	Charlie Calello
Cinematography	Brian West
Editing by	Keith Palmer
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	September 30, 1983
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$5 million
Box office	$1,223,000 (USA)

The Lonely Lady is a 1983 American film, which was directed by Peter Sasdy and adapted for the screen by Ellen Shepard, who worked from the novel written by Harold Robbins. (The novel itself was believed to have been based on Robbins' memories of Jacqueline Susann.) The original music score was composed by Charlie Calello. The cast includes Pia Zadora in the title role, Lloyd Bochner, Bibi Besch, Jared Martin, and in an early film appearance, Ray Liotta. The movie was the last adaptation of one of Robbins' best selling novels before he died in 1997, and, to date, the last such adaptation of any of his works.

Plot

Jerilee Randall (Pia Zadora) is an innocent schoolgirl living in the San Fernando Valley area of California with dreams of becoming a famous screenwriter. Shortly after winning a trophy for her creative writing, she meets Walt (Kerry Shale), the son of famous screenwriter Walter Thornton (Lloyd Bochner), at a party. She goes home with him, along with some other friends, and during a late evening pool party, one of Jerilee's friends (played by Ray Liotta in one of his first roles) beats her, slaps her and then sexually assaults her with a garden hose nozzle.

Walter arrives after the assault has taken place and saves Jerilee from further attacks. A friendship, then a love affair, develops between them, and they soon marry, despite the disapproval of Jerilee's mother (Bibi Besch). The marriage begins to fall apart when Jerilee rewrites one of Walter's scripts and is told she had improved it greatly. (She had actually only added the word, "Why?")

Divorce is inevitable when Walter scorns Jerilee during an argument and accuses her of enjoying having been raped all those years ago. After the divorce, Jerilee has several love affairs while trying to get her own screenplay produced. She uses her sexual charms to pave the way to recognition, with revenge thrown in the end for good measure. Jerilee finally has a nervous breakdown in a sequence wherein she sees the callous people of her past appear as faces on the keys of her typewriter.

The film ends with Jerilee finally successful and winning a prestigious award for her screenplay of a film titled The Hold-Outs. At the live awards telecast, she admits to her ex-husband Walter Thornton that she has never learned "the meaning of self-respect". Jerilee then refuses to accept the award, and walks out of the auditorium with her newfound dignity.

Cast

• Pia Zadora as Jerilee Randall
• Lloyd Bochner as Walter Thornton
• Bibi Besch as Veronica Randall
• Joseph Cali as Vincent Dacosta
• Anthony Holland as Guy Jackson
• Jared Martin as George Ballantine
• Ray Liotta as Joe Heron
• Kerry Shale as Walt Thornton, Jr.
• Sandra Dickinson as Nancy Day
• Glory Annen Clibbery as Marion
• Lou Hirsch as Bernie

Reception

The Lonely Lady was hugely panned by critics. The film was nominated for 11 Golden Raspberry Awards and won 6: Worst Actress, Worst Director, Worst Musical Score, Worst Original Song ("The Way You Do It"), Worst Picture, and Worst Screenplay. It was also nominated for a Razzie as Worst Picture of the Decade, but lost to Mommie Dearest, and as Worst Drama of the Razzies' First 25 Years, but lost to Battlefield Earth.

Zadora won Worst New Star of the Decade for this film along with Butterfly. She was also nominated for Worst Actress of the Century, but lost to Madonna.

The movie was nominated for a Stinkers Bad Movie Awards for Worst Picture.^[1]

References

External links

• The Lonely Lady at allmovie
• The Lonely Lady at the Internet Movie Database
• The Lonely Lady at Rotten Tomatoes