''Chicago Joe and the Showgirl'' is a 1990 British

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Bernard Rose and written by

David Yallop David Anthony Yallop (27 January 1937 – 23 August 2018) was a British author who wrote chiefly about unsolved crimes. In the 1970s, he contributed scripts for a number of BBC comedy shows. In the same decade he also wrote 10 episodes for the I ...

, starring Kiefer Sutherland and

Emily Lloyd Emily Alice Lloyd-Pack (born 29 September 1970), known as Emily Lloyd, is an English actress. At the age of 16, she starred in her debut and breakthrough role in the 1987 film ''Wish You Were Here'', for which she received critical acclaim an ...

. The film was inspired by the real-life Hulten/Jones murder case of 1944, otherwise known as the

Cleft Chin Murder The cleft chin murder was a killing which occurred as part of a string of crimes during 1944, and was mentioned in George Orwell's essay " Decline of the English Murder". It became known as the "cleft chin murder" because the murder victim, George ...

Plot

In the film, Karl Hulten ( Kiefer Sutherland) is an American GI who is stalking the black market of London after stealing an army truck and going AWOL. There he meets up with Betty Jones (

), a stripper with a deluded fantasy world view formed by watching a steady stream of Hollywood film noir and gangster pictures. Seeing Karl, who claims he is Chicago Joe doing advance work in London for encroaching Chicago gangsters, Betty takes the opportunity to set her fantasies to life as she connives Karl into a spree of petty crimes. With luck on their side, the spree keeps escalating, until Betty urges Karl to commit the ultimate crime: murder.

Cast

* Kiefer Sutherland as Karl Hulten *

as Betty Jones *

Liz Fraser Elizabeth Joan Winch (14 August 1930 – 6 September 2018), known professionally as Liz Fraser, was a British film actress, best known for being cast in provocative comedy roles. Early life Fraser was born in Southwark, London. Her year of bi ...

as Mrs. Evans *

John Lahr John Henry Lahr (born July 12, 1941) is an American theater critic and writer. From 1992 to 2013, he was a staff writer and the senior drama critic at ''The New Yorker''. He has written more than twenty books related to theater. Lahr has been ca ...

as Radio commentator *

Harry Fowler Henry James Fowler, MBE (10 December 1926 – 4 January 2012) was an English character actor in film and television. Over a career lasting more than six decades, he made nearly 200 appearances on screen. Personal life Fowler was born in Lambe ...

as Morry * Keith Allen as Lenny Bexley *

Patsy Kensit Patricia Jude Kensit (born 4 March 1968) is an English actress and was the lead singer of the pop band Eighth Wonder in the 1980s. Beginning her career as a child actor, Kensit gained attention when she acted in a string of commercials for Bir ...

as Joyce Cook * Angela Morant as Customer

References

External links

* * * {{Bernard Rose 1990 films 1990 crime films 1990s historical films British crime films British historical films British World War II films 1990s English-language films Working Title Films films Films shot at Pinewood Studios Films set in the 1940s Films set in London British neo-noir films Films directed by Bernard Rose (director) Films produced by Tim Bevan Films scored by Shirley Walker Films scored by Hans Zimmer PolyGram Filmed Entertainment films 1990s British films