HUSTLING (TV)
Summary
Based on Gail Sheehy's book, "Hustling" made prostitutes the sympathetic center of a story that presented the issue of sex-for-pay as a social problem with no easy solution. Shot for gritty authenticity on the streets of New York, "Hustling" questioned who were the true lawbreakers in what is revealed to be a $7-billion-a-year business.
Lee Remick stars as magazine writer Fran Morrison, a thinly disguised representation of Sheehy herself, who, while attending a public hearing on prostitution in midtown Manhattan, is inspired to write a series of articles on the subject, which she bases on face-to-face interviews with the hookers.
Paying off a $500 fine for a streetwalker named Wanda (Jill Clayburgh), Morrison befriends the woman, whi shows her the sordid details of her life. Morrison comes to realize that the pimps, johns, and owners of the hotels (where sexual transactions take place are the ones not only making the money, but also getting off scot-free, while the prostitutes make very little, service time, and are the objects of scorn and abuse.
"Hustling" which aired on ABC in 1975, went as far as a television movie could in showing the daily routine of the prostitute as a dangerous, dead-end existence.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: November 14, 1975 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:37:55
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T79:0363
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: She Made It Collection (Fay Kanin); Drama; Prostitution
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV, 1975
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Lillian Gallo … Producer
- Fay Kanin … Associate Producer, Writer
- Joseph Sargent … Director
- Gail Sheehy … Based on the book by
- Jerry Fielding … Music by
- Lee Remick … Cast, Fran Morrison
- Jill Clayburgh … Cast, Wanda
- Alex Rocco … Cast, Swifty
- Monte Markham … Cast, Orren
- Melanie Mayron … Cast, Dee Dee
- Beverly Hope Atkinson … Cast, Gizelle
- Dick O'Neill … Cast, Keogh
- Burt Young … Cast, Gustavino
- Paul Benedict … Cast, Lester Traube
- John Sylvester White … Cast, Geist
- Allan Miller … Cast, Harold Levine
- Burke Byrnes … Cast, Bus Driver
- James Andronica … Cast, Van Patrolman
- Howard Hesseman … Cast, Detective
- Cliff Pellow … Cast, Business Suit
- Stephan Nathan … Cast, Blue Jeans
- Alex Colon … Cast, Sgt. Morales
- Richard Keith … Cast, Marian Haal
- Lisa Daniels … Cast, Guest at Party
- Bernie McInerney … Cast, Manager