Themes: Infidelity, Midlife Crises, Nothing Goes Right
Main Cast: Gene Wilder, Charles Grodin, Joseph Bologna, Judith Ivey, Michael Huddleston
Release Year: 1984
Country: US
Run Time: 87 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
Gene Wilder's remake of this 1976 French comedy is a Hollywood version of what happens when Theodore (Wilder), an ordinary ad agency executive, is captivated by a gorgeous woman (Kelly Le Brock). The woman just happens to be standing on a grate when her skirt blows up over her waist (a scene first made famous by Marilyn Monroe in The Seven-Year Itch), and one glimpse is enough to change Theodore's whole life. Although he is married, he is willing to risk his happy relationship with his wife for a romp in the hay with the beautiful stranger. Unfortunately, even when he tracks down the object of his lust he is woefully inept at sneaking out on his wife to consummate his desire. Three of his male office mates help him as much as they can, but Ms. Milner (Gilda Radner) is really incensed when she finds out that the object of Theodore's attention is not herself. Stevie Wonder's score included his hit song "I Just Called to Say I Love You", which received an Oscar nomination. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
The Woman in Red is a 1984 romantic comedy directed by Gene Wilder and written by Jean-Loup Dabadie, Yves Robert and Wilder about a happily married man who fantasizes about having an affair with a very beautiful woman named Charlotte (Kelly Le Brock).
San Francisco ad man Teddy Pierce is amused by, then obsessed with a beautiful woman whose red dress goes whooshing over her head from a gust of wind as she crosses a grate (a la Marilyn Monroe in The Seven-Year Itch).
Teddy is happily married to DiDi, but he can't get this woman out of his mind. Encouraged by his buddies Buddy, Joe and Michael, he tries to ask her for a date but mistakenly phones Ms. Milner, a plain ad-agency employee, instead.
Teddy ultimately does become acquainted with the woman, a model named Charlotte. He begins using elaborate ruses to see her socially without his wife finding out. Meanwhile, he incurs the wrath of Ms. Milner, whom he stands up.
Events come to a head in Charlotte's high-rise apartment, where she invites Teddy into her bed. He is thrilled until her husband suddenly comes home. Teddy ends up on a ledge, where passersby below believe he is a potential suicide about to jump.
