| Lady Beware | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Karen Arthur |
| Written by | Charles Zev Cohen Susan Miller |
| Produced by | Tony Scotti Lawrence Taylor-Mortoff |
| Starring | Diane Lane Michael Woods Cotter Smith |
| Cinematography | Tom Neuwirth |
| Edited by | Roy Watts |
| Music by | Craig Safan |
| Distributed by | Scotti Brothers Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3 million[1] |
| Box office | $169,600[2] |
Lady Beware is a 1987 Americanthriller film directed byKaren Arthur and starringDiane Lane, Michael Woods andCotter Smith. It was filmed on location in and aroundPittsburgh.
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Katya Yarno is a window dresser forHorne's department store who specializes in displays with sexy, slightly kinky themes. Surrounded by the equipment of her trade—mannequins and lingerie—Katya lives in a loft apartment in downtownPittsburgh. She spends her evenings taking her bath by candlelight and thinking up new and more provocative window displays. Katya soon becomes the obsession of Jack Price, a handsome (and married)psychopath. Jack proceeds to stalk Katya and makes her life a living hell. Tired of being harassed, Katya decides to give Jack a taste of his own medicine.
Arthur began working onLady Beware in the late '70s, shortly after the success of her second feature,The Mafu Cage, which screened at Cannes, landed her a four-picture deal atUniversal.[3][4] Universal, however, ended up rejecting the project, which ended up having "100 homes, 17 drafts, and eight writers," as Arthur toldThe Los Angeles Times in 1986 ahead of the film's release.[5] "The purse-holders are men, and they attempted to makeLady Beware into a violent picture," Arthur added. "I'm not interested in making a picture where a woman gets beat up. I want to show how a lady deals with this kind of insidious violence. A policeman can't help."[5]
The film was shot on location inPittsburgh during the summer of 1986 afterScotti Brothers Entertainment agreed to finance and distribute it.[5][6] The budget was reportedly under $2 million.[7]Lady Beware's 28 days of shooting took place primarily in the city's North Side and downtown neighborhoods.[8]
Lady Beware was released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1988 byInternational Video Entertainment. A second VHS release was put out in 1991 by Avid Home Entertainment.
Lady Beware was released on two soundtrack albums.
The 27 track complete and original music score by Craig Safan[9][10] on Dragon's Domain Records 2020.
The 9 track original motion picture soundtrack[11] including 5 tracks from the original music score by Craig Safan, 3 tracks by David Hallyday and a track by Abe E LaMarca available on all music formats on Scotti Bros Records 1987.
Arthur did not approve of the film's final cut, which she said was re-edited by the producers to appeal to the exploitation crowd. "[Some distributors asked for] more sex, so they took outtakes of Diane Lane standing there naked and incorporated them into the film," she told theLos Angeles Times ahead of the film's release. "To me, that's exploitative. They printed up negatives where I never said print. I, as a female director, would never exploit a woman's body and use it as a turn-on." Arthur added that she did not remove her name from the film because she thought it would be unfair to the actors, who can't remove their names from the final product.[12]
A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements of the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Film and Television