Red-Headed Woman

Red-Headed Woman preposterous, over-sexed trash, but wildly entertaining because of those exact reasons. Harlow finally found a niche for her explosive sexual charisma: comedy. Yes, Red-Headed Woman is a black comedy, of sorts, about a woman who sees nothing wrong about sleeping her way into the upper-echelon of society and promptly moving on to her next victim/lover when things don’t go her way. And, in the end, she doesn’t get her comeuppance or learn a lesson in morality. Only in Pre-Code Hollywood could a character like Lillian "Red" Andrews force the world into conforming to her whims and winning our sympathies.

But only Harlow, who in real-life was a traditional mama’s-girl, could invest her cheerfully amoral gold-digger with a heart and, gosh darn it, she’s kind of likeable. Even if it’s only because we can’t believe her actions, and how she doesn’t even care who she has to hurt to accomplish her goals or the consequences of her actions, so we stare mouth agape at her sociopathic, kinky social climber. It helps tremendously that Harlow always enters the frame in glamorous sex goddess mode before opening her mouth and proving to be a more oddball creature by the minute. Once she starts tossing off acidic one-liners with her bullhorn voice, it crystallizes the reason that she's considered one of the all-time great movie stars.

And, oh yeah, there’s some seriously kinky shit going on in this film. Harlow’s character gets slapped around and the only thing she can say in response is “Do it again! I LIKE IT!” For a moment Red-Headed Woman turns into a Pre-Code version of Blue Velvet. Of course such a fetishistic performance launched her into super-stardom, and thanks to Harlow playing it mostly for laughs Red-Headed Woman wills itself into being a semi-classic, albeit a trashy, crass one. Not unlike the film’s, uhh, heroine…?