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Tell Others About This Page By Using This Button "THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE" (2006) (Gretchen Mol, Chris Bauer) (R) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Mild None Extreme Mild None Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Moderate None None None Heavy Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Extreme Mild Moderate Heavy Mild QUICK TAKE: Drama: A young woman becomes a 1950s pinup sensation while posing for a variety of modeling and fetish-based photos. PLOT: It's the late 1940s and 26-year-old divorcée Bettie Page (GRETCHEN MOL) has arrived in New York from Tennessee with hopes of making it big as an actress. But her vocational fate is set when she meets a New York cop and amateur photographer at Coney Island who sees her modeling abilities and suggests a new hair style that will soon become her signature look. It's not long before she's modeling alongside Maxine (CARA SEYMOUR) in various stages of undress for a room full of photographers. That eventually leads her to Irving Klaw (CHRIS BAUER) and his sister Paula (LILI TAYLOR) who run a private outfit that caters to men with certain photographic fetishes. Working with photographer John Willie (JARED HARRIS), she and Maxine end up posing in an increasingly popular series of bondage-related photos, all of which she manages to keep secret from her actor boyfriend Marvin (JONATHAN WOODWARD) who's similarly unaware of her posing for straight nude photos shot by former model Bunny Yeager (SARAH PAULSON). Yet, they haven't escaped the attention of U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver (DAVID STRATHAIRN) and his committee that's investigating obscenity and pornography, specifically focusing on the kind of work Bettie does for Irving and Paula. As she continues her work and hopes to break into acting, Bettie must balance her growing fame with her religious upbringing. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? Some may be enticed by the sexual/nudity content, but unless anyone else is a fan of someone in the cast, it doesn't seem too likely. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: R For nudity, sexual content and some language. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: GRETCHEN MOL plays a sweet and good-natured religious woman who ends up posing for various girlie magazines (including bondage-related ones). Seemingly unaware or nonchalant about how her photos are being used, she strives to find happiness and love, all while balancing her growing fame with her religious upbringing. CHRIS BAUER plays a man who runs a private outfit that caters to men with photographic fetishes. He must then deal with various legal issues regarding his line of work. LILI TAYLOR plays his sister who runs the company with him and works directly with the models, such as Bettie. She sees nothing wrong with what she does and briefly smokes. CARA SEYMOUR plays another model who poses with Bettie in various bondage photos. JARED HARRIS plays the photographer who works for Irving and Paula and briefly uses strong profanity. SARAH PAULSON plays a former model turned photographer who gets Bettie to pose nude for her. JONATHAN WOODWARD plays Bettie's actor boyfriend who's unaware of some of the types of photos for which she poses. DAVID STRATHAIRN plays a U.S. Senator whose committee is investigating pornography and particularly the sort of photos in which Bettie is involved. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this R-rated drama. Profanity consists of at least 1 "f" word, while a handful of other expletives and colorful phrases are uttered. Sexually related dialogue (some of it explicit) is present, as are various views of nude, partially nude and otherwise scantly clad women (including full frontal and rear). Women pose for various staged fetish and S&M type photos (mostly bondage) including ones showing singles, couples and threesomes (all female). It's possible all of that could be enticing for some kids to imitate, especially since it's portrayed in a playful and fun fashion. Varying degrees of bad attitudes are present, including from men who pay to gang rape a woman (implied, but not seen), a father who sexually abuses his teenage daughter (also implied) and a husband who hits his wife. Meanwhile, some characters smoke and/or drink, while there's a brief reference to heroin (comparing it to pornography). Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. For those prone to visually induced motion sickness, there's some bouncy camerawork in some home movie footage. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE We see a beer by Bettie's first husband. Various people have wine and Bettie is offered some. She says she doesn't drink, but then has some. Miscellaneous people drink and Bettie's boyfriend carries a drink. Senator Kefauver compares porn to heroin, but says the former is more dangerous. We see a beer by a minor character. BLOOD/GORE None. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Viewers may see the purveyors and/or consumers of the pornography as having bad attitudes. It's implied that Bettie's father sexually abuses her as a teen (in one brief scene he tells her that he wants to see her and has her follow him upstairs). Bettie's first husband smacks her hard. A seemingly nice young man asks Bettie if she likes to dance and whether she'd accompany him on a double date (so that he's not the "third wheel"). She eventually agrees, but once their car goes out of the city, she knows something is up and wants out. Once they reach their destination, a small group of men is waiting there and they pay the first man for delivering Bettie to them for sex. That men tells Bettie that she knows what she's there for and tells her to get into the car, and one of the paying men complains, "I thought you said we were gonna get some tail." While we don't see anything, it's implied that they gang rape her and we later see her running through the woods at night, crying and buttoning up her top (that was showing some cleavage). That some people on the beach complain that a black photographer is taking pictures of white Bettie Page (in 1949). FRIGHTENING SCENES Bettie's first husband smacks her hard. A seemingly nice young man asks Bettie if she likes to dance, and whether she'd accompany him on a double date (so that he's not the "third wheel"). She eventually agrees, but once their car goes out of the city, she knows something is up and wants out. Once they reach their destination, a small group of men is waiting there and they pay the first man for delivering Bettie to them for sex. That men tells Bettie that she knows what she's there for and tells her to get into the car, and one of the paying men complains, "I thought you said we were gonna get some tail." While we don't see anything, it's implied that they gang rape her and we later see her running through the woods at night, crying and buttoning up her top (that was showing some cleavage). GUNS/WEAPONS None. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Get some tail" (sexual), "Nobody will give a damn," "Bitch," "You're such a square," "It's just no damn good" and "Are you crazy?" It's possible the film could inspire kids to take and/or pose for provocative and/or sexually related photos (especially in today's world of the Internet). We see young Bettie and a friend playfully doing some provocative poses outdoors. JUMP SCENES None. MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) None. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) None. PROFANITY At least 1 "f" word (used sexually), 1 "s" word, 1 slang term for sex ("get some tail"), 1 using male genitals ("c*ck"), 1 for breasts ("t*ts"), 3 damns, 1 ass (used with "hole") and 1 use of "G-damn." SEX/NUDITY We see various 1950s era "girlie" magazines in a shop where adult men and teens peek at titles such as "Titters" and others that show illustrations and photos of buxom and somewhat scantly clad women in various poses (bent over, a side view that shows a lot of bare breast - but not the front -- in a revealing top, etc.). Some sexually related story headlines are also seen and read like "How old are you sexually?" A man then asks the clerk if he has anything dealing with women's footwear and then restraints, and the clerk shows the increasingly excited man some photos of Bettie Page and another woman in some bondage type poses (bound and gagged, but no explicit nudity). But it turns out this "customer" is really a cop who's busting the shop owner for selling such photos. Senator Kefauver briefly talks about the effects of porn on youths and juveniles. Bettie's first husband puts her on his lap (both are clothed) and kisses her mouth and neck. A seemingly nice young man asks Bettie if she likes to dance, and whether she'd accompany him on a double date (so that he's not the "third wheel"). She eventually agrees, but once their car goes out of the city, she knows something is up and wants out. Once they reach their destination, a small group of men is waiting there and they pay the first man for delivering Bettie to them for sex. That men tells Bettie that she knows what she's there for and tells her to get into the car, and one of the paying men complains, "I thought you said we were gonna get some tail." While we don't see anything, it's implied that they gang rape her and we later see her running through the woods at night, crying and buttoning up her top (that was showing some cleavage). We see women in period style (late '40s) one-piece bathing suits. Bettie poses for a male photographer in a period style (late '40s or early '50s) bikini and he gives her advice about placing tissues into her top to accentuate her bust (she does, but jokingly complains about it looking lumpy). We see a model posing in lingerie that shows cleavage as well as some brief panty shots. Bettie models for many photographers at once in a small period style (1950s) bikini that shows cleavage and part of her bare butt when she turns around and follows their directions for posing. During this, one young male guy excitedly says, "I saw it. I saw beaver," with an older man saying it was a shadow. One photographer then tells her to bend over and "show us your keister" and she complies (we see more of her partial bare butt in that bikini bottom). Improvising in a small acting class (of men and women), Bettie starts to undress (stockings off, and then starting to unbutton her shirt), but her male instructor stops her from continuing. From a distance, we see a female model posing topless. Bettie poses in a bikini in the woods for a young male photographer. Talk then gets around to her posing topless and she decides to (we see her bare breasts). He excitedly then asks if she can take off her bottom as well and she willingly complies (we see full frontal nudity), but he tells her she has to "hide that" (pointing to her crotch) and says they could get in trouble and be arrested if she shows too much. She then turns and we see her bare butt as well as additional views of her bare breasts. We see a montage of "girlie" magazine covers (no nudity) including article headlines such as "Rugged sex." We hear the titles of bondage magazines such as "Bound in Rubber" and "Pleasure Parade" and there's talk of bondage photos. We see Bettie in lingerie and high heels during a photo shoot. Irving then complains, "Something's peeking out" and has Paula give Bettie another pair of panties to wear. After a movie audition, a male producer comes on to Bettie but she manages to leave in a polite fashion. We see a model dressed up in bondage-related attire (leather, heels, a riding crop, etc.) and doing various sexy poses while showing cleavage. We see Maxine tied to a chair in a bondage photo with Bettie (with both dressed in standard bondage-related attire -- corsets, boots, etc.) for a male client who's there watching. We see home movies of Bettie, Maxine and another woman making a three-way bondage film (with one tied up and gagged, faked spanking, and all wearing period style undergarments that show cleavage). A man states that a bondage film elicits lust and lascivious thoughts. We see Bettie playfully sashaying about while posing in a bikini. We see Bettie on the beach in a bikini that shows cleavage. Bettie poses topless for a female photographer (we see many views) and then does so fully nude, but due to the positioning of her body we don't see full nudity. We see another bondage film featuring Bettie and another woman in chains, with some fake spanking and the sight of the other woman in a metal cone-type bra. We see Bettie tied up with a bondage-type ball in her mouth as she waits to do a photo shoot. John sings an old military song that includes a sexual use of the "f" word as well as "t*ts." Bettie shows cleavage. We see Bettie posing nude and see her bare breasts as well as the side of her bare butt. There's brief talk of Playboy magazine. Senator Kefauver compares porn to heroin, but says the former is more dangerous. During a hearing, there's talk of bondage and sexual deviants. We see footage from one of Bettie's bondage films where she's crawling on all fours while bound to a steel rod. A miscellaneous father testifies at a hearing about finding his son dead and nude, bound and hung in a position similar to that seen in one of Bettie's photos (and the father says there was some sex angle to it). Bettie shows some cleavage. We see a close-up of Bettie in her bra as she's getting dressed. SMOKING Bettie's first husband smokes several times, her boyfriend and Paula each smoke at least once, while a number of minor and miscellaneous characters smoke in various scenes. TENSE FAMILY SCENES It's implied that Bettie's father sexually abuses her as a teen (in one brief scene he tells her that he wants to see her and has her follow him upstairs). Bettie's first husband smacks her hard. During a family dinner back home, there's mention of Bettie's father abandoning the family. A miscellaneous father testifies at a hearing about finding his son dead and nude, bound and hung in a position similar to that seen in one of Bettie's photos (and the father says there was some sex angle to it). TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT The historical accuracy of and/or any artistic license taken with the real life story. Pornography and the subcategory of fetish material including bondage and S&M, as well as how the government reacts to that industry, etc. It's possible the film could inspire kids to take and/or pose for provocative and/or sexually related photos (especially in today's world of the Internet). There's talk that Bettie's mother won't let her date as a teen. That some people on the beach complain that a black photographer is taking pictures of white Bettie Page (in 1949). We hear that Bettie would have been her school's valedictorian had she not skipped a class for acting (she ending up #2 and thus didn't get a scholarship to Vanderbilt). About the bondage photos, Paula rhetorically asks so what if the customers want something different as long as it makes them happy. When Bettie comments about being religious, John wonders what Jesus would think of what she's doing (posing nude and in fetish photos). Once Bettie's actor boyfriend realizes she does bondage photos, he says it's disgusting and abnormal. Bettie being a born again Christian after her career in porn. VIOLENCE Bettie's first husband smacks her hard. It's implied that a group of men pay for and then gang rape Bettie (we later see her running through the woods at night, crying and buttoning up her top). Reviewed April 7, 2006 / Posted April 21, 2006

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