CHICAGO JOE AND THE SHOWGIRL

UK, 1989, 103 minutes, Colour.
Kiefer Sutherland, Emily Lloyd, Patsy Kensit.
Directed by Bernard Rose.

Chicago Joe and the Showgirl is based on a true story from World War Two Britain. It concerns the only American soldier to be executed in England during the war. (Comparisons might be made with the story of Leonski in Melbourne, 1942, in Philippe Mora's Death of a Soldier.)

The film was written by David Yallop and directed by Bernard Rose (Paper House). Kiefer Sutherland is ambiguous as the innocent/guilty deserter who gets caught up with a stripper and goes on a violent spree in London 1944. However, the film belongs to Emily Lloyd (Wish You Were Here, Cookie, In Country) as the completely amoral, thrill seeking young woman who lives in her fantasies. Lloyd is most persuasive.

The film re-creates the atmosphere of England during the war - but in a stylised way, contributing to the sense of fantasy and the world in which the two main characters live. Real fantasy sequences are inserted - but it is only at the end when we realise that the names we have known each character by are not their real names and that Ricky is not a lieutenant but really a deserter from Boston with a wife and child and that Georgina is really a stripper named Betty Jones.

Some of the scenes are particularly vivid - and the murder sequences are quite powerful, especially given the callous behaviour and attitudes portrayed so expertly by Emily Lloyd.

The film was not particularly popular - but is a very interesting portrait of characters who are influenced by gangster films (and one can think of They Live By Night, Gun Crazy, Bonnie and Clyde).

1.The impact of the film, interest, entertainment? A true story?

2.The tradition of gangster movies and the glamorising of gangsters? The film genre of young people going on violent sprees? Crime, criminal personalities, law and retribution?

3.The re-creation of London 1944, names and dates? Hammersmith Station and its environs, the streets, the markets, cinema? Homes? The British countryside in the darkness of war? The blend of the stylised and the real - in the bombings and the fires, in the theatricality of the fantasies of the protagonists?

4.The title: the fantasy of each, Chicago Joe as a name for Ricky - whose real name was Kurt? Georgina as the showgirl, talking of film screen tests, but really a stripper named Betty Jones? The fantasy of the names they gave to each other? The irony of the title? The importance of the blend of realism and fantasy - but the audience discovering finally that everything is fantasy? Not just the glamour?

5.The film based on a true story, the real stories, the dates? The Boston deserter and his family? The stripper? Unmasked - and the execution of the private, the imprisonment of the actress?

6.The introduction: Georgina, the crowd, the premiere, her dress, the newsreel commentary? Her fans? Her turning and looking at her adoring fans? The final irony that she was imagining all this? Georgina at home, her mother? The talk about gangster films being real and musicals being unreal? Lennie and the black market? Her watching Ricky? The introduction, the date, his not turning up till late? The truck? Exciting her imagination, wanting to be a gangster's moll? Riding, talking, imagining him ripping off the fur for her? The different clothes for each of them in her fantasy? Her talk of gangsters - it seeming a dream? Later amoral? Her excitement and hopes?

7.Ricky, seeing him with Lennie, the black market? His uniform? His talk, Chicago Joe, stories about Chicago? His going out with Georgina, the truck, the ride? His appearance as a gangster? Talking about doing dangerous things?

8.The contrast with Ricky and Joyce, the nice English girl, her parents, Ricky visiting and his good manners, talking about being a Catholic and going to Mass? In love with Joyce? Talking about marriage? His return to her house covered in blood, his story, their washing his clothes? Her discovering the condoms and talking about fidelity and love? Her declaration of love, her hopes? Her arrest - and her face spotlit in dismay as he was taken away?

9.Georgina and her love for the movies? Going to see Double Indemnity, Barbara Stanwyck as the femme fatale, Fred MacMurray? corrupted by her, yet killing her? Georgina's discussions about the film? Her watching it with rapt attention? Joyce and Ricky watching it, but kissing? The further dates, the gift of the nylons? Her devotion to him - and her egging him on for excitement?

10.Ricky being persuaded to prove himself to Georgina? Her urging him, the fur? The nylons? His robbing the taxi driver, having to explain that it was a hold-up, smashing it through the shop window? The fur - and the encounter with Violet, her getting a lift, their being nice to her, the chat, the changing of the tyre, her holding the torch, the awkward attempts to kill her? Georgina and her dissatisfaction, the ambiguity of her conversation, egging Ricky on? The brutal attempts at killing Violet, battering her, smothering, strangling? Throwing her into the water? The aftermath and Ricky and his awkwardness, Georgina and her satisfaction? The night together? Her rash, going to the doctor - and being treated? The condoms? Her continuing to urge Ricky on, flaunting her fur? The taxi driver, Ricky shooting him, his long death, Georgina completely callous but light-hearted, looking at his photos, commenting on him? Throwing the body in the ditch? Ricky spending the night with her? His nightmares?

11.Ricky, his facing the truth, going to confession? The arrest? The interrogations, his plain-spokenness, admitting the truth, the background of his life, deserter? His final press conference as people crowded around - blaming Georgina?

12.Georgina, the arrest, the interrogation, her plausible stories, seeming innocent? Told about Ricky confessing, her malice, blaming him? In the spotlight, ashamed? Discovering that this was her moment of glory - relishing the spotlight, imagining herself as a star?

13.The overall effect of the film, portrait of psychopathic people, each egging the other on? The particular brutality of the deaths? Amoral people - and their paying the penalty?