The Stud (film)

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The Stud
Thestud.jpg
Theatrical Release Poster
Directed byQuentin Masters
Written byDave Humphries
Christopher Stagg
Based on The Stud (novel)
by Jackie Collins
Produced by Ron Kass
Starring Joan Collins
Oliver Tobias
Sue Lloyd
Walter Gotell
Cinematography Peter Hannan
Music by Biddu (original score)
Various (soundtrack)
Production
companies
Artoc Films
Stud Productions
Distributed by Brent Walker Film Distributing
Release dates
  • 30 April 1978 (1978-04-30)(UK)
  • 28 September 1979 (1979-09-28)(U.S.)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,200,000 [1] or £350,000 [2] [3] or £550,000 [4]
Box office$20 million

The Stud is a 1978 British drama film directed by Quentin Masters and starring Joan Collins and Oliver Tobias. It is based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Collins's younger sister Jackie Collins.

Contents

Plot

Fontaine Khaled (Joan Collins) is the London wife of a wealthy Arab businessman. She spends his money on her nightclub, Hobo, and her rather hedonistic partying lifestyle. She hires a handsome manager, Tony (Oliver Tobias), to run her club, but it is understood that his job security is dependent on his satisfying her nymphomaniac demands. Tony loses interest in Fontaine, as she treats him like a plaything, and turns his attention to her young stepdaughter Alexandra Khaled (Emma Jacobs), who uses him to get back at Fontaine after she discovers a video tape of Fontaine and Tony having sex in the Khaleds' private elevator, cheating on her father. Fontaine then dumps Tony and is divorced by her husband for adultery.

Cast

Additional footage involving disco dancing was added for the US release. This footage involved members of the UK dance troupe Legs & Co., appearing (uncredited) as discotheque patrons.

Production notes

Joan had asked her sister Jackie for the film rights for free and Jackie agreed whilst contributing to the screenplay. Joan met George Alfred Walker, who established Brent Walker, at the Cannes Film Festival in 1977 while promoting Empire of the Ants. He became excited by the project as it was proposed as a British alternative to Saturday Night Fever . [5]

Both Joan Collins's husband, Ron Kass, and Jackie Collins's husband, Oscar Lerman, also acted as producers on the project.

Filming started November 1977. [1] The night club scenes were shot at Tramp, a nighclub run by Collin' brother in law, Oscar Lerman. [4]

Joan Collins said she was drunk during the orgy scene. [6]

The marketing budget was the same as the budget to make the film. [2]

Soundtrack

A successful soundtrack album was released on Ronco Records to tie-in with the film. The album contained twenty tracks, including original material penned by Biddu specifically for the film, as well as a number of major British chart hits which were licensed for use in the film. The majority of the tracks were disco flavoured, although some non-disco tracks were also included. The album rose to number 2 on the UK albums chart, kept off the top spot by the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack album. [7]

Soundtrack album track list:

Side one

  1. The Biddu Orchestra "The Stud"
  2. Michael Zager Band "Let's All Chant"
  3. Samantha Sang "Emotion"
  4. The Real Thing "Let's Go Disco"
  5. Baccara "Sorry, I'm a Lady"
  6. Rod Stewart "You Wear It Well"
  7. Odyssey "Native New Yorker"
  8. K.C. and the Sunshine Band "That's the Way (I Like It)"
  9. Linda Lewis "It's Good"
  10. Space "Deliverance"

Side two

  1. Leo Sayer "Moonlighting"
  2. Tina Charles "Fire Down Below"
  3. Manfred Mann's Earth Band "Davy's on the Road Again"
  4. 10cc "I'm Not in Love"
  5. Rose Royce "Car Wash"
  6. David Soul "Silver Lady"
  7. Goldie "Making Up Again"
  8. Patti Smith Group "Because The Night"
  9. Bill Fredericks "Almost"
  10. Heatwave The Groove Line"

Release

Box office

The film grossed over $20,000,000 internationally. [8] The film was one of the most popular movies of 1978 at the British box office. [9]

Released in March 1978 the film made back its cost by June. [1] Brent Walker claimed that within ten days the film earned £550,000 at the British box office. It also claimed the soundtrack had sold £640,000 worth of albums and Stud cosmetic merchandising brought in £100,000. [3] By May 1978 it was reported The Stud had earned £1 million at the British box office. [10] By May 1979 it was reported the film had earned $2.5 million in the UK and an equivlaent amount around the world. [11]

The movie did not perform well in the United States, which Brent Walker blamed on American International Pictures' handling of the film, including the "slapdash dubbing" of the British lead actors' voices. [1]

Legacy

The film helped to revitalise Joan Collins's career. The Stud and its sequel The Bitch helped her to be cast as Alexis Colby in Dynasty . [12] However, Tobias later claimed that his part in the film led to typecasting and ruined his career.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Simons Blames Bad Dub Job Of AIP For U.S. Flub On 'Stud'". Variety . 25 June 1980. p. 6. Retrieved 2 December 2023 via Internet Archive.
  2. 1 2 "How Joan Collins and the Stud made two and two make five". Financial Times. 15 June 1978. p. 17.
  3. 1 2 "People". Evening Standard. 26 April 1978. p. 5.
  4. 1 2 "Dennis Barker on Monday". The Guardian. 19 December 1977. p. 11.
  5. Joan, Collins (1997). Second act. p. 179-183.
  6. "An audience with Joan Collins: A simply riotous chat with her friend Piers Morgan". www.you.co.uk. 3 January 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  7. "Week ending 27-05-1978". Official Charts Company . Retrieved 16 August 2011.
  8. Gritten, David (26 November 1979). "Imperfect Past Behind Her, Joan Collins Says She Likes Turning Homebody". People . Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  9. Harper, Sue (2011). British Film Culture in the 1970s: The Boundaries of Pleasure: The Boundaries of Pleasure. Edinburgh University Press. p. 273. ISBN   9780748654260.
  10. "Shadow boxing at Brent Walker". Manchester Evening News. 19 May 1978. p. 63.
  11. "Brent Walker clinches big film deals". Manchester Evening News. 25 May 1979. p. 22.
  12. Thorpe, Vanessa (13 June 2021). "Jackie Collins: the reality of life in Joan's shadow". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved 5 October 2024.

Bibliography