Chicago Joe and the Showgirl (1990) ‹ Bits

Chicago Joe and the Showgirl

Movie Review

1990 | R
Reviewed May 26, 2008
Rating: 5 stars

This is probably a film only Kiefer Sutherland fans have heard of—which is a pity, because it’s a damn fine crime thriller that deserves a bigger audience. Based on the true story of the Cleft Chin Murder, the story takes place in 1945 London, where an army deserter and a small-time showgirl hook up and wreak havoc as they attempt to impress each other with their criminal daring. It’s like Bonnie and Clyde in reverse: instead of committing the crimes and then bragging about them, these two try to coast by on their made-up stories of past exploits, only to wind up in deep trouble when their bluffs are called.

There is nothing more entertaining than watching delusional people come face-to-face with reality—or maybe I’m the only one who thinks so. Either way, I found this movie immensely entertaining, both as a true-crime thriller and as a study of fantasy vs. fact. The whole movie, in fact, feels like a film-within-a-film, staged on indoor sound sets that at certain points reminded me of the sets in Gone with the Wind. Kiefer Sutherland does a fine job as the G.I. “gangster” who meets his match in the sociopathic showgirl; his reactions as his bluffs are called and he’s forced to commit himself to committing crimes are simultaneously hilarious, sexy, and tragic. Emily Lloyd, whom I can’t recall having seen in anything else before, hits on just the right mix of criminal amorality, teenage boredom, and borderline idiocy as the sleazy showgirl (damn, I cannot stop alliterating that word!). Patsy Kensit (as the G.I’s naive young love interest) kind of baffles me—I get the impression she’s a terrible actress, but the roles she picks are so perfectly suited for her kind of terribleness that it’s really hard to tell. Whatever—it works. It all works, in fact, well enough that I’m kind of pissed that I’d never heard of this movie before. Think of all the years I could have been recommending it to my sociopathic gangster pals!