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steffan101 (2)
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This reminds me of the Bill Joel song <i>Allentown</i>, released one year after the movie.
The opening lines - "Well we're living here in Allentown / And they're closing all the factories down" - reflect the theme of industrial decline.
No doubt about it, Vicki Frederick's Iris character was tough, strong-willed - and drop-dead gorgeous!
Iris evolved as the movie unfolded. For example, her different reactions to being face-slapped by Harry (Peter Falk) on two occasions are revealing.
The first incident takes place in a motel room, soon after the the mud-wrestling scene. Emotionally distressed and leaking blood from the lip, Iris turns on Harry. She complains bitterly about the spectators who howled and hollered at the sight of four women pulling each others’ tops off in the mud. “They were laughing at me,” Iris protests angrily. Harry slaps her face before comforting her.
But the second time Harry hits Iris across the face - for sleeping with the scumbag promotor Eddie Cisco to secure the title match in Reno - she slaps him back.
So Iris has developed into a hard-nosed operator who'll do what it takes to obtain her objective. If Harry sold the mud-wrestling match to the Dolls as “a career move”, maybe he shouldn't be surprised that Iris now sees going to bed with a sleaze-ball in similar terms.
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