A fashion model(notable for a popular lipstick campaign)is sexually assaulted and humiliated by her sister's disturbed music teacher. The rape is as degrading as can be with Chris Sarandan's cold-blooded sociopath, Gordon Stewart, enjoying every minute of his despicable work. With Chris(Margaux Hemingway) bound to bedposts, her sister Cathy(Mariel Hemingway) finds him over her body in a sexual position. Perry King has a minor early role as Chris' boyfriend Steven, who works at the advertising agency for which she models. Anne Bancroft is Chris' lawyer, Carla, who prepares her for a difficult trial.Chris' image is on trial and her career could be detrimentally effected. As expected the trial becomes a circus and Chris herself is cast in a disparaging light because of her profession. The most grueling scene involves poor Cathy having to testify on her sister's behalf and the questioning gets rather squirm-inducing. Eventually, the defense attorney is able to grind Cathy into a corner in what she actually saw/heard, and, in particular, grills her on Chris' behavior(sexual activity). The trial implicates Chris for how she prepares for modeling shoots and this damages the case against Gordon. With all the masterful work Carla is able to accomplish in turning Gordon into a nervy, bumbling mess on the stand, the flawed testimony of Cathy lends him the much needed support to get out of his sticky situation.The trial takes up the middle of the film and is certain to leave a bad taste in the mouths of many viewers. The modeling begins to fall apart as Chris is unable to bring the same kind of heat she once had before the rape. Losing her job due to bad press, the sisters decide to return home to Colorado..but, Gordon isn't through, this time Cathy is chosen for sodomy. Life is actually improved for Gordon since the trial, as he has produced a laser-synthesizer show for his class of students, and in a chance encounter with Cathy, he decides to rape her, too. Yeah, it just so happens that in the same building that Chris is performing for her final model shoot, Gordon has a hall for his work.To be perfectly honest, LIPSTICK is the kind of film that will probably require a shower after it is over because of just how repulsive Mr. Stewart is. I think the filmmakers went too far with the stalk-and-rape of Cathy, and had already previously made the point quite clear how inhuman this guy is. Reiterating how monstrous he is through the sodomy of Cathy(at least, it isn't elaborated in detail)just provokes what we already feel. If anything, I can not fault those who will find this movie distasteful and sick. It preaches from the pulpit regarding the failure of our court system to serve proper justice to rapist scum. I have to say that my favorable rating goes to the excellent performances of the cast. While I'm familiar obviously with Mariel Hemingway, this is the first film I've seen with her sister Margaux who left quite an impression. To her credit, Margaux undergoes quite a bit of harassment and the mistreatment and rape is especially hard to watch. Getting away from that, I thought this woman was positively stunning..I ponder why she never had a more lucrative career, considering she had the looks and her acting isn't a liability. Young Mariel already proves here the potential for future success and her witness stand testimony is practically punishing to endure..seeing that this girl is the one for which the innocence or guilt of Gordon hinges on. And, the fear on her face as Gordon pursues her, finding little escape as many of the doors are locked, is chilling. Sarandon is superb as the creep in a performance that gets under the skin. One really disturbing scene has Gordon taunting Chris with his skin-crawling synth music over the phone whilst buck-naked. The ending more than satisfies our thirst for blood after all Gordon has put these girls thru.

This is another lurid entry into the misbegotten "rape-revenge" genre, but it manages to be even more sleazy than usual because it was backed by a major studio and it features two of Ernest Hemingway's granddaughters (only one of whom was talented), sisters Margeaux and Mariel Hemingway.The late model-actress (or, more accurately, model-bad actress)Margeaux Hemingway plays an, um, model (at least she doesn't stretch herself too much) who lets her younger sister's middle-school music teacher (Chris Sarandon) into her house to listen to his weird avante-garde music. Unfortunately, he turns out to be a frustrated psycho (aren't all middle-school music teachers?)who flies into a rage when she ignores him to take a phone call. So he ties her to the bed and violently sodomizes her(!) in a highly exploitative scene that involves Margeaux being butt-naked and tied up for nearly ten minutes (Strangely, Mariel Hemingway ended up in exactly the same position some years later at the end of the otherwise much better Dorothy Stratten bio "Star 80"). In the meantime, her younger sister walks in, but she isn't quite sure what she saw. Just like in real-life, the police and the courts are pretty ineffectual, but their portrayal here is still pretty over the top. (Is it normal police procedure to ask a rape victim if she had been defecated on?!). Without giving too much away, Sarandon's character (who even for a middle-school music teacher is ridiculously evil) sets his sights on the younger Mariel and has to face the wrath of the vengeful Margeaux.Margeaux Hemingway was not much of an actress and she has one of the most annoying voices in the history of cinema. She's horribly unconvincing both as a rape victim and a vigilante. Even in her first role, Mariel Hemingway is far better as the troubled teen who isn't sure if she saw her favorite teacher raping her sister or her slutty sister seducing him. Chris Sarandon is also pretty good, and he no doubt had a hard time living this role down, but he would go on to "The Sentinel" and "Fright Night". I somehow missed this sleazy piece of trash back in the 70's (but I guess I was only seven at the time), but I saw it recently completely by accident while trying to find an even more obscure (and much better) Italian film with the same name. This is NOT good by a long shot but it is memorably sleazy.

I've never heard or seen what the late Margaux Hemingway thought of her decision to star in this classic Dino Delaurentis "anything for a buck" hack fest, but I'd guess it's regret.If you subtract the horribly slapped together courtroom denouement, tighten up the sometimes hackneyed, over-melodramatic, cliché-ridden script, you're left with a harsh examination of rape and the judicial realities (circa 1976 anyway) of the crime's aftermath.Providing the movie was of a slightly higher grade (it's really not THAT bad a film if you look at it strictly in a technical sense), an established actress who was put through the paces Margaux is here would probably garner an Oscar nomination (think Jodie Foster's performance as a hard-edged working-class girl in "The Accused" --- was that any less graphic and sleazy?). Unfortunately, it's much easier to beat up (no pun intended) on a model with no acting experience.Frankly, I've never thought Margaux's delivery here was bad --- it's natural, and her exchanges with her sister Mariel are believable and touching. Chris Sarandon, though suitably hateful, brings a creepy realism to his wacko music teacher/rapist role, and Anne Bancroft is solid as usual.The biggest problem I've had with this film is it's unequivocal equation of electronic/avant-garde music with a deviant, unbalanced mind. Given that postulate, behind every sex offender therein lies a complete catalog of Tangerine Dream, John Cage, and Hawkwind.

It is hard to make an unbiased judgment on a film like this that had such an impact on me at such a young age. This is with out a doubt the worst kind of exploitation film. I was unfortunate enough to see this film for the first time in my youth, Iwill never forget it. I thought it was the most horrible movie ever made. I then saw it again earlier this year and was once again horrified.I am not a zealot or one to say what others should and should not see but I did take great offense to the way in which something as horrible as rape was dealt with in this movie. I love lowbrow cinema but this is just plain nasty. Rent some Rus Myer instead.