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Dance with a Stranger

For other uses, see Dance with a Stranger (disambiguation).

Dance with a Stranger is a 1985 British film[3] directed by Mike Newell. Telling the story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain (1955), the film won critical acclaim, and aided the careers of two of its leading actors, Miranda Richardson and Rupert Everett. The screenplay was by Shelagh Delaney, author of A Taste of Honey, and was her third major screenplay. The story of Ellis has resonance in Britain because it provided part of the background to the extended national debates that led to the progressive abolition of capital punishment from 1965.

Dance with a Stranger
Film poster
Directed byMike Newell
Written byShelagh Delaney
Produced byRoger Randall-Cutler
StarringMiranda Richardson
Rupert Everett
CinematographyPeter Hannan
Music byRichard Hartley
theme song by Mari Wilson
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • 1 March 1985 (1985-03-01) (UK)
Running time
102 min.
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£1,360,000[1] or £1.5 million[2]
Box office£850,000 (UK)
$3 million (US)
$1 million (other territories)[1]

The theme song, a cover version of Peggy Lee's 1951 track "Would You Dance with a Stranger?", was performed by Mari Wilson and released as a single.

Plot

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A former nude model and prostitute, Ruth is manageress of a drinking club in London that has racing drivers as its main clients. Ruth lives in a flat above the bar with her illegitimate son Andy. Another child is in the custody of her estranged husband's family.

In the club, she meets David, an immature, young man from a well-off family who wants to succeed in motor racing but suffers from lack of money and overuse of alcohol. Ruth falls for his looks and charm, but it is a doomed relationship. Without a job, he cannot afford to marry her, and his family would never accept her. When he makes a drunken scene in the club, she is discharged from her job, which means that she is made homeless.

Desmond, a wealthy admirer, secures a flat for her and her son, but she still sees David. When she tells him she is pregnant, he does nothing about it, and she miscarries. Distraught, she goes to a house in Hampstead where she believes David is at a party. He comes out and goes with a girl to a pub. Ruth waits outside the pub, and when he emerges, she shoots him dead with four shots. She is arrested, tried and hanged.

Cast

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Reception

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The film made a comfortable profit.[1] Goldcrest Films invested £253,000 in the film and received £361,000, making them a profit of £108,000.[4]

Critical response

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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 91%, based on reviews from 11 critics.[5]

Accolades

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Mike Newell won Award of the Youth at the 1985 Cannes Film Festival for Dance with a Stranger. Miranda Richardson won Best Actress at the Evening Standard British Film Awards, and Ian Holm won Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 1985 for this and other performances.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Borne, Nigel. "Little film little profit." Sunday Times [London, England] 26 January 1986: 31. The Sunday Times Digital Archive. Web. 29 March 2014.
  2. ^ "Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s - An Information Briefing" (PDF). British Film Institute. 2005. p. 21.
  3. ^ Dobson, Michael (30 November 2006). Performing Shakespeare's Tragedies Today: The Actor's Perspective. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521671224.
  4. ^ Eberts, Jake; Illott, Terry (1990). My indecision is final. Faber and Faber. p. 656.
  5. ^ "Dance with a Stranger". Rotten Tomatoes. 1 January 1985. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
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