everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Crappy film

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

"Lipstick" focuses on Chris (Margaux Hemingway), a Los Angeles model working for a lipstick company, who ends up being brutalized and raped in her apartment by her little sister's deranged music teacher/avant-garde composer (Chris Sarandon). After a feisty attorney (Anne Bancroft) fails to get a conviction, Chris takes is later forced to take matters into her own hands.Decried as one of the worst films of the '70s, "Lipstick" has been condemned as everything from exploitative trash to a shameless vehicle for the Hemingway sisters. I'm going to play the devil's advocate here and say that, while, yes, the film does edge into the territory of the exploitation film (think 1973's "Thriller"), and yes, a lot of the legal jargon is dumbed down and the script set-up is at times completely arbitrary, this is not nearly as terrible a film as many would lead you to believe.Lamont Johnson, who previously directed the superb Patty Duke thriller "You'll Like My Mother" in 1972, is behind the camera here, and the film is very stylishly shot. 1970s Los Angeles colors every frame, and the camera work is flashy and slick. Pacing is a bit of an issue here, as the film does have a bizarre narrative trajectory—it rises and falls, rises and falls, and the conclusion is a bit abrupt, which is indicative of the script needing some work. Margaux Hemingway and little sister Mariel play on screen siblings very nicely, both demonstrating considerably acting capability. Sarandon is at times a bit overacting here, but is reprehensible enough. Anne Bancroft plays the no- nonsense attorney perfectly, while Perry King appears briefly in a relatively pointless role as Hemingway's boyfriend/photographer.The film's second-to-last scene is the real dynamite here, and the reason it's remembered above anything else, although it again is a bit awkwardly paced, and seems to arrive too late to the party. Overall though, "Lipstick" is not as awful of a film as so many have painted it to be. It's no masterpiece, but it is a mildly thrilling, entertaining revenge film, and Margaux Hemingway and Bancroft's performances lend it some serious backbone. 7/10.

Lipstick was just released on DVD and the remastered print in its original widescreen format greatly improves the viewing experience. I had an old VHS copy which was full screen and a bad transfer at that. This DVD release is clear, crisp and has great audio for a 1976 film.I won't rehash the story but will comment on the film itself. The stark depiction of rape on screen was a new thing in 1976 and I think most people were uncomfortable with the subject matter. The film is well produced and it give you a great look back at LA circa 1976. The performances are somewhat uneven but for her first film Margaux gives a pretty good performance, especially in the rape and courtroom scenes. She was a beautiful women who's memory is forever on film. The striking thing about this film is that 35 years later our legal system and the way it treats women has not changed much, most rapes still go unreported and few perps are convicted.The movie has its flaws but it never fails to entertain and it is much better than most films released today. I recommend this film for it's polished glossy feel, gritty realism, courtroom drama and dramatic conclusion. The film holds up well and other than the disco music at the beginning it could just as well be a story told today.Don't listen to the haters on here, rent it or buy it, it's worth having in your collection.

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.

******SPOILERS****** Even though the movie "Lipstick" was laughed and snickered at back in 1976 as a cheap exploitation flick about a serious subject by the critics back then. The movie holds up surprisingly well after some 30 years since it's release. Looking back we see that the film was far ahead of it's time from the way it told it's story without trying to sugar coat it. Even the ending was very, if not that realistic, uplifting for everyone in the movie and the audience with the exception of the unfortunate rapist. The movie makers of "Lipstick" chose to make the rape victim not that much of a sympathetic person as you normally would expect a movie about a rape victim. That was to show the audience that even a top fashion model who's used to exposing her body to the public and is anything but a Mother Teresa in her social life has as much right as a Cloister Nun to say no when she's put upon by someone and should have the same protection from the law and court system as well.Margaux Hemingway, Chris McCormick, is a top world fashion model who's little sister Kathy, Mariel Hemingway, is infatuated with her music teacher Gordon Stuart, Chris Sarandon. Kathy wants her big sister to hear a sample of Gordon's music and see what she thinks of it. Gordon meets Chris at a photo-shoot on the beach and she tells him to come to her apartment the next afternoon to hear a sample of his music. The next day when Gordon arrives he finds Chris scantily clothed, she just came out of the shower, and anything but shy about her appearance. Gordon thinking that Chris is easy and loose and from the photos in her apartment of her with a number of movie stars and other well known personalities feels that she made out with all of them so why not with him. Before you know it Gordon with very little urging on his part brutally attacks and rapes her.As Gordon has Chris tied down on her bed her sister Kathy enters the apartment and sees what's happening and gets sicken by it. Even though at the time it looked like Chris was not fighting Gordon off, she was too exhausted by then, Kathy believed her sister when she told her that he raped her. There's also the question about Gordon's music which Chris was anything but found off. I think that his music was as brutal to Chris' ears as his raping her was brutal to her body. That negative opinion of his musical talent on Chris' part somehow made Gordon feel insulted and set him off.Chris hurt and humiliated as well as having to have her little sister Kathy see what happened to her goes to woman advocate lawyer Caria Bondi, Anne Bancroft, to help in the state's case against the man who raped her Gordon Stuart. Caria is more then honest with Chris by telling her that if the case against Gordon is prosecuted by the state that Chris can expect to be raped all over again by Gordon's lawyer but this time in public not in private like she was raped by Gordon; and even after all that the odds of getting Gordon convicted is 98% against her. Chris took the case to court and Caria's prediction turns out to be sadly true. Gordon is found innocent of raping Chris. Honestly brutal movie not only about rape but what the stigma of what rape does to it's victims and just how hard it is to prosecute and convict an accused rapist in a court of law. Even though the movie has a very contrived ending when the rapist who got away with raping Chris and later also rapes her sister Kathy getting just whats coming to him. This happens when an enraged Chris blasts him to kingdom come with her trusty shotgun. Later in the movie her lawyer Claria Bondi evens thing out in court by getting Chris off for shooting him on a temporary insanity plea. The Movie "Lipstick" made it's point far better then most movies before or since about the same subject without being any more downbeat and pessimistic then it had to be.