The Grasshopper | |
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Directed by | Jerry Paris |
Written by |
Jerry Belson Garry Marshall |
Based on | novel by Mark McShane |
Starring |
Jacqueline Bisset Jim Brown Joseph Cotten |
Music by | Billy Goldenberg |
Distributed by | National General Pictures |
Release date
|
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Running time
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98 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $2 million (US/ Canada rentals) |
The Grasshopper is a 1970 drama film directed by Jerry Paris. It stars Jacqueline Bisset, Jim Brown, and Joseph Cotten.
Christine Adams (Jacqueline Bisset), a cheerful 19-year-old from British Columbia, Canada, travels to Los Angeles to be with her fiance, who works there in a bank. When the relationship doesn't work out, she moves to Las Vegas.
She finds work as a showgirl and meets Tommy Marcott (Jim Brown), an African-American former pro football player who holds an executive position at the casino, though in truth he is only used as a "celebrity greeter." They fall in love and get married, but when Tommy gives a vicious beating on a golf course to a wealthy casino patron who had beaten and raped Christine, he is fired.
They flee Vegas, discussing the possibility that the casino patron will seek revenge, and return to Los Angeles hoping for a normal life; but Tommy is shot by an unknown assailant on a basketball court, likely the anticipated act of revenge. Christine returns to Las Vegas to work as a V.I.P. "party girl' until she is persuaded by wealthy client Morgan to return to Los Angeles to be kept as his mistress.
But Morgan is too busy to keep Christine interested in her new life, so she renews a relationship with rocker Jay Rigney, who soon has her turning tricks. The instance we witness involves a tubby older man and a cheap-looking motel room.
When Jay runs out on her, Christine drives to a rural airstrip where she promises airfield bum Elroy "some fun" with her to take her up in a plane. Elroy selects a skywriting plane, and offers to write her name in the sky. Christine breaks out a marijuana joint, which they share as Elroy writes "FUCK IT" across the sky of L.A.
The Grasshopper was released March 23, 2009 on DVD by Warner Bros. via the Warner Archive DVD-on-demand service.