84 From '84: The Woman in Red (2024)

When a happily married family man, who would never consider an affair, meets a beautiful woman in red, he is totally infatuated and desperate to make her acquaintance. However, as he tries out various schemes to sneak out to meet her, he realizes that adultery is not quite as easy as it looks.

Cast:

• Gene Wilder as Ted Pierce
• Kelly LeBrock as Charlotte
• Gilda Radner as Ms. Milner
• Charles Grodin as Buddy
• Joseph Bologna as Joe
• Judith Ivey as Didi Pierce

1984 memories

I saw this one in the theater and don’t really recall much about it. The general plot is Gene Wilder sees Kelly LeBrock and wants to meet her, yeah, who wouldn’t. There are two scenes that are ingrained in my memory from this movie, the red dress scene and the bedroom scene.

I liked Wilder from his earlier movies like Willy Wonka, Blazing Saddles and Stir Crazy so I gave this one a shot. Plus it had Kelly LeBrock in it, who at the time was an unknown actress, but enticing enough to draw me to the movie.

In fact, The Woman in Red is LeBrock’s film debut. She plays an English model, which was her career before acting. She began modeling at the age of 16 and was feature in a Vogue Magazine at 19. Her second movie was Weird Science and she instantly became every teenage boys dream girl.

Let’s see if The Woman in Red is worth watching forty years later.

40th Anniversary Re-watch

For the most part it’s not. The red dress scene is iconic, maybe more so than the Marilyn Monroe scene it copies. Maybe…

Gene Wilder is Teddy Pierce a bored husband and ad salesman who sees Charlotte (LeBrock) in her red dress and decides he needs to meet her. The rest of the movie revolves around Teddy trying to start a relationship with Charlotte, while hiding his impending infidelity from his wife.

Teddy’s friends, Buddy and Joe, played by Charles Gordin and Joseph Bologna respectively carry a lot of the goofy humor throughout the movie. They encourage Teddy to pursue Charlotte and help him in his quest.

One of the funnier bits occurs when Buddy goes into a bar pretending to be blind. He smashes glasses at the bar, trips waiters and throws food. All while yelling for his friend to help him. It’s a funny, albeit, somewhat pointless scene done to cheer up his friend Joe.

When Teddy finally gets with the women in red they’re escapade is interrupted by her husband. After some convincing by Charlotte Teddy climbs out on the window ledge. People on the street think he is a jumper and call the fire department. The news crew show up and Teddy is on national television where his wife sees him.

Favorite Line:

Come and get it , Cowboy!

The Woman in Red is a goofy comedy one might expect from Gene Wilder. It’s not a great movie but it’s not bad either. The real saving grace is the movie only runs 86 minutes. It’s a quick watch filled with some good laughs worth watching on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

As mediocre as this movie is, the soundtrack is excellent and even won an Oscar. The soundtrack was written by Stevie Wonder and featured Dionne Warwick. Wonder’s song “I Just Called to Say I Love You” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

The Woman in Red was released on 15 Aug 1984. It snatched over $25 million on a $9 million budget.

Did you watch The Woman in Red? If so let me know your thoughts in the comments below or on X(Twitter). The main Geekster channel is @GeeksterMedia and I’m @MileHighSamurai You can also find me on Bluesky @MileHighSamurai

6/10 stars

Check out the entire 84 From ’84 movie series

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