Woodyanders Brassy, shrewd, and resourceful Dutch lady Xaviera Hollander (a marvelously sexy and vibrant performance by Lynn Redgrave, who looks absolutely ravishing) comes to America and becomes a much sought after call girl. Pretty soon Xaviera is the highly successful madam of a posh New York City bordello that provides assorted "services" to a diverse array of clients. Director Nicholas Sgarro and writer William Richert do a good job of maintaining an engagingly breezy'n'easy tone throughout and neatly peg the whole anything-goes swinging 70's zeitgeist, but crucially fail to depict the various kinky sexual fetishes in a more appropriately daring and explicit manner. There's precious little nudity and the sex is disappointingly mild and inoffensive stuff, but the prevalent good-natured sensibility and several funny moments (for example, Xaviera does a hysterical reverse striptease while reciting a business report for some pervy CEO!) ensure that this picture still passes muster as a perfectly engaging diversion. Moreover, the cast have a field day with their colorful roles: Redgrave positively glows with her radiant portrayal of the clever and headstrong Xaviera, Jean-Pierre Aumont is likewise a charming treat as suave French high roller Yves St. Jacques, Lovelady Powell does well as classy no-nonsense madam Madelaine, plus there are nifty bits by Nicholas Pryor as Xariera's meek, narcissistic fiancé Carl Gordon, Conrad James as wormy sleazeball Fred, Richard Lynch as a bullying cop, George Dzundza and Kenneth Tiger as a couple of bumbling businessmen, Vincent Schiavelli as a stoned pot-smoking music guru and Anita Morris as the sassy Mary Smith. Richard C. Kratina's glossy cinematography gives the movie an attractive polished look. Don Elliott's lush and funky score hits the right-on groovy spot. Comes close to scoring a bull's eye, but falls a tad short because of its rather frustrating and unnecessary use of restraint and an overall tastefulness that negates the seamier aspects of the sordid subject matter.

preppy-3 Purportedly this is supposed to be a film version of Xavier Hollander's X rated book. What you get is a PG version of it! Seriously--what were they thinking? A good strong R rated version of her book could have been made but this one wimps out completely. There's no sex and no nudity (unless you count a shot of a guys butt as nudity). It's sanitized to the point where you could have gotten Julie Andrews to do it! There's talk about sex but it's hardly explicit and certainly not enough to warrant an R rating. Even worse it's pretty dull. Hard to believe that a movie about a woman who was a prostitute could be dull--but it is! Lynn Redgrave gives a very good performance (that's why i give this a 3) but that's not enough to recommend this. The sequels were much more explicit (and more fun). Not worth anyone's time.

Joseph P. Ulibas The Happy Hooker (1975) was loosely based upon the best seller about of the era's most popular and successful madam's. Lynn Redgrave stars as the happy one. But the film is just bad in all aspects. It fails at being an "adult" comedy and it fails at being a biography. I wouldn't even catagorize it in the "trying too hard" section because it didn't even do that. Boring stuff that deserves to be buried. May it never see the light of day. By the way, this movie ruined my tastes for sundaes and banana splits. Don't watch this one. The sequels are a lot better than this one. That's not saying much either because they're both bad.Followed by "Happy Hooker Goes to Washington" and "Happy Hooker Goes to Hollywood". Too tame and way too lame.Not recommended.F

scorpio-x Well, there's not much smut to be had here. Not much humor, really, either. So what does this film have to recommend it? Well, Lynn Redgrave wears a series of smashing early-70s outfits--floppy hats, go-go boots, backless evening gowns, big-sleeved minidresses... and the other hookers have some fresh attire as well (some charming negligees, lavender disco dresses, etc.). And some of the scenes of her tricks are mildly amusing (although many inadvertently so), particularly the one where she does a reverse striptease while reciting a business report. Still, it starts off excruciatingly slow and you can see what plot twists there are coming a mile away with bludgeoning sticks in hand. And the party scenes in the brothel aren't nearly as much fun as you'd expect, considering as the 70s was a golden era for movie party scenes and this is supposedly a whorehouse. Not worth watching, really, although it is worth flipping back and forth to if there's not much else on.