Scandalous (film)

Scandalous is a 1984 British-American comedy film directed by Rob Cohen and starring Robert Hays, John Gielgud and Pamela Stephenson.^[3] Cohen said it was the film "where my career will be determined."^[4]

Scandalous
Directed by	Rob Cohen
Written by	Larry Cohen Rob Cohen John Byrum
Based on	play by Larry Cohen
Produced by	Carter DeHaven Martin C. Schute Arlene Sellers Alex Winitsky
Starring	Robert Hays John Gielgud Pamela Stephenson Jim Dale M. Emmet Walsh
Cinematography	Jack Cardiff
Edited by	Michael Bradsell
Music by	Dave Grusin
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date	20 January 1984 (1984-01-20)
Running time	92 minutes
Countries	United States United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$5 million[1]
Box office	$526,805[2]

Cast

• Robert Hays as Frank Swedlin
• John Gielgud as Uncle Willie
• Pamela Stephenson as Fiona Maxwell Sayle
• M. Emmet Walsh as Simon Reynolds
• Nancy Wood as Lindsay Manning
• Preston Lockwood as Leslie
• Conover Kennard as Francine Swedlin
• Jim Dale as Inspector Anthony Crisp

Production

The film was based on a play by Larry Cohen. He adapted the play into a screenplay and sold it. According to Cohen, "after acquiring the script, the company once again did me the favor of changing everything around and screwing everything up! I thought Scandalous was an utterly dismal movie... If you have an actor as distinguished as John Gielgud in your cast, you should at least give him some material that is worthy of his talent. I don’t think anybody liked that film, including its director."^[5]

Cohen says that when he met Stephenson "she was wearing a leather mini-dress, her hair was spiked out two feet above her head, and I had a feeling she could radiate a sense of the outrageous."^[4]

Filming locations

• Polesden Lacey, England, UK
• Great Bookham, England, UK
• Dorking, England, UK
• Surrey, England, UK
• Twickenham Film Studios, St Margarets, Twickenham, England, UK (studio)
• Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, London

Reception

The New York Times called it "a charmless caper movie that seems chiefly a pretext for the characters to keep changing their clothes."^[6]

References

1. "The Unstoppables". Spy. November 1988. p. 90.
2. Scandalous at Box Office Mojo
3. "Scandalous (1984)". BFI. Archived from the original on December 30, 2019. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
4. Chase, Chris (27 January 1984). "At the Movies (Corman sees 'Love Letters' setting trend.)". The New York Times. Section C. p. 8. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
5. Doyle, Michael (2015). Larry Cohen: The Stuff of Gods and Monsters. Bear Manor Media. pp. 87–88.
6. Maslin, Janet (20 January 1984). "Screen: 'Scandalous'". The New York Times. Section C. p. 4. Retrieved 20 March 2020.

External links

• Scandalous at IMDb
• Scandalous at Rotten Tomatoes