The Stripper

A film set in a Kansas town. Lila travels with a show. She goes on stage and sings. She is in her late thirties. She tried Hollywood once and it did not happen. The show breaks up. Her manager takes the money and goes. Lila stays in the town. It is where she was born. She goes to an old friend's house. Helen takes her in. The woman has a son. Kenny is nineteen. From there the film is a story of approach. Kenny is drawn to her. Lila does not notice at first. Then she does. The narrative does not build it as a story of seduction. Both of them are alone. There is no work in the town. Lila works in a shop and is dismissed. An old acquaintance makes her an offer. Ricky runs a nightclub. He gives her work on stage. The work is plain: a striptease. Lila accepts. From there the film is a story of decline. The town talks. Helen finds out. Kenny finds out. What the narrative is interested in is not sexuality but age: its idea is that the woman will not find other work now, and that everyone around her knows it before she does. Helen's line is hard. She protects her son and puts her friend out. The narrative proves neither of them right. There is a bus at the end. The source is William Inge's play. The production was troubled. The studio interfered with the cut, changed the order, and kept the film on the shelf for a time. It is Franklin J. Schaffner's first cinema film; he came from television. Joanne Woodward plays the part without ever begging pity. The images are black and white. Joanne Woodward, Richard Beymer, Claire Trevor and Carol Lynley are in the cast. Who it is for: anyone who likes 1960s American drama and stage adaptations. Who it is not for: anyone looking for structure; the interference in the cut shows and some transitions are broken.