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Rambling Rose
In the Deep South of the 1930s, Rose is taken in by the Hillyer family to serve as housemaid so that she can avoid falling into a life of prostitution. Her appearence and personality is such that all men fall for her, and she knows it. She can't help herself from getting into trouble with men.
1991 · Directed by Martha Coolidge · 112 min · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 6 frames
Tagline
Innocence has never been so seductive.
Plot
Glennville, Georgia 1971: Buddy Hillyer returns to his former family home and reflects on his youth during the Great Depression, when Rose came to live with his family to escape her miserable life in Birmingham, where she was being forced into prostitution. The Hillyers are an eccentric family who take Rose in as a domestic servant. Rose quickly begins to admire Mrs. Hillyer, who is working on her master's thesis and who she learns was orphaned at a young age, just as Rose had been. Rose also develops a crush on the paternal and warm Mr. Hillyer. The three Hillyer children and Mr. Hillyer become aware of this while Mrs. Hillyer remains oblivious. Because she is hard of hearing (she carries an early kind of hearing aid), she misses some of the byplay.
Eventually, Rose kisses Mr. Hillyer, who at first responds to her advances and then becomes angry and rebuffs her. Buddy witnesses Rose and Mr. Hillyer kissing, and later, when Rose gets into his bed to talk to him at night, he repeatedly tries and eventually is allowed to fondle her breast just as his father had done while he was kissing Rose. Eventually, to satisfy his curiosity, Rose allows 13-year-old Buddy to perform manual sex on her. Afterwards, she is apologetic and upset and begs him not to tell anyone.
The Hillyers begin to disagree about Rose's presence in their lives. Mr. Hillyer worries that Rose is too promiscuous when she goes to town and will cause them problems, but Mrs. Hillyer sees her promiscuity as her way of trying to obtain love and attention.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Calder Willingham
- Cinematography: Johnny E. Jensen
- Edited by: Steven Cohen
- Music: Elmer Bernstein
- Production design: John Vallone
- Produced by: Renny Harlin
Cast
- Laura Dern as Rose
- Robert Duvall as Mr. Hillyer
- Diane Ladd as Mrs. Hillyer
- Lukas Haas as Willcox "Buddy" Hillyer
- John Heard as Older Willcox "Buddy" Hillyer
- Kevin Conway as Dr. Martinson
- Robert John Burke as Dave Wilkie
- Lisa Jakub as Frances "Dolly" Hillyer
- Evan Lockwood as Warren "Waski" Hillyer
- Matthew Sutherland as Billy
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Seven Arts Pictures, Carolco Pictures
- Budget: $7,500,000
- Box office: $6,266,621
- Themes: seduction, georgia, host family, great depression, coming of age, young woman, troubled teen, promiscuous woman, depression era, first love
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