Stacey (film)
| Stacey | |
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| Directed by | Andy Sidaris |
| Written by | William Edgar |
| Starring |
Anne Randall Marjorie Bennett Anitra Ford |
| Music by | Don Randi |
| Distributed by | New World Pictures |
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Release date
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | |
Stacey is a 1973 exploitation film directed by Andy Sidaris. Half the budget was provided by Roger Corman for his New World Pictures the rest was raised by Sidaris. It was re-released in 1975 as Stacy and Her Gangbusters.
The film features an empowered babe in a masculinized action role. She is "a very private detective" in a crime-fighting film. This was the first attempt of Sidaris to produce a film with a female protagonist facing crime. The film thus serves as a precursor to many 1980s films, including those produced by Sidaris himself. In these films "soft" women adopt "hard" personae. It is also a precursor to 1990s softcore films where gender has little to do with a heroine's career, as by that point women's advance into the workplace was no longer an exploitable hot topic.
The protagonist is Stacey Hanson (Anne Randall), a private eye and race car driver. She is hired by aging heiress Florence Chambers (Marjorie Bennett) to investigate the close members of her family who live in her mansion. Stacey is to determine whether the members of Florence's family are worthy to be included in her will. They are three: Florence's nephew John (John Alderman), his wife Tish (Anitra Ford), and Florence's grand-niece Pamela (Cristina Raines).
As it happens, all three potential heirs have something to hide. John is a discreet homosexual, Tish is having an affair with the houseboy, and Pamela has dubious friends. Stacey uncovers some family secrets but a greater scandal is about to begin. The scheming houseboy Frank (James Westmoreland) is murdered. Stacey now has to find the identity of the murderer before he/she can kill again. Frank was sleeping with and/or blackmailing nearly all members of the family, so everyone is a suspect.
Stacey's investigation leads to a helicopter and car chase and gunplay. The murderer turns out to be Pamela who is a member of a cult reminiscent of the Manson family. She was planning to frame John and stand as the last viable heir to the family fortune.
The material from the film was reworked into another Sidaris' film, Malibu Express (1985). The role of Stacey Hanson was divided into two new characters: private detective protagonist Cody Abilene (Darby Hinton) and his girlfriend June Khnockers (Lynda Wiesmeier).
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