*Borderline Spoiler* Stacey (Meg Myles) works as a burlesque dancer in a carnival. When her ex-con, (ex?)junkie, ex tries to reunite with her and start anew she tricks him out of his money and flies to New York, wearing a trench coat over her burlesque outfit. She picks up another man on the plane. Hoping to become a nightclub singer at Pepe's she is willing to use and be used by such men (and women?) to do so. Pepe (Grayson Hall), the manageress who grooms her, is portrayed as a then-stereotypical lesbian, just as the piano player is shown as effete. Arnold (Mike Keene), the club's crooked owner, has paid off his last mistress (played with some dignity by Nolia Chapman) and sees Stacey as her replacement. Laurence (Robert Yuro), his Fredo-like son, falls for her. She tries to juggle the two.
When the ex, high, knife in hand and initially intent on revenge, finds her she sees the chance to play him for a sap yet again. Get him to kill the father supposedly so they can be together, then get the son, the father's money and the ex back in jail. Why a six? This is a competently made, if unexceptional, low-budget film with a noir feel to it. The characters are sordid but not portrayed in a sleazy fashion. There are elements of titillation, the femme fatale spends a lot of time in lingerie and/or leather and the British actress Sabrina, famed in her day for her natural Barbie-like figure, appears as herself as Stacey's rival in a series of glamorous outfits.
When the ex, high, knife in hand and initially intent on revenge, finds her she sees the chance to play him for a sap yet again. Get him to kill the father supposedly so they can be together, then get the son, the father's money and the ex back in jail. Why a six? This is a competently made, if unexceptional, low-budget film with a noir feel to it. The characters are sordid but not portrayed in a sleazy fashion. There are elements of titillation, the femme fatale spends a lot of time in lingerie and/or leather and the British actress Sabrina, famed in her day for her natural Barbie-like figure, appears as herself as Stacey's rival in a series of glamorous outfits.