The Stud is a 1978 British drama film directed by Quentin Masters and starring Joan Collins and Oliver Tobias. It is based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Collins's younger sister Jackie Collins.

The Stud
Theatrical Release Poster
Directed byQuentin Masters
Written byDave Humphries
Christopher Stagg
Based onThe Stud (novel)
by Jackie Collins
Produced byRon Kass
StarringJoan Collins
Oliver Tobias
Sue Lloyd
Walter Gotell
CinematographyPeter Hannan
Music byBiddu (original score)
Various (soundtrack)
Production
companies
Artoc Films
Stud Productions
Distributed byBrent Walker Film Distributing
Release dates
  • 30 April 1978 (1978-04-30) (UK)
  • 28 September 1979 (1979-09-28) (U.S.)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$600,000
Box office$20 million

Plot

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Fontaine Khaled (Joan Collins) is the London wife of a wealthy Arab businessman. She spends his money on her nightclub, Hobo, and her rather hedonistic partying lifestyle. She hires a handsome manager, Tony (Oliver Tobias), to run her club, but it is understood that his job security is dependent on his satisfying her nymphomaniac demands. Tony loses interest in Fontaine, as she treats him like a plaything, and turns his attention to her young stepdaughter Alexandra Khaled (Emma Jacobs), who uses him to get back at Fontaine after she discovers a video tape of Fontaine and Tony having sex in the Khaleds' private elevator, cheating on her father. Fontaine then dumps Tony and is divorced by her husband for adultery.

Cast

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Additional footage involving disco dancing was added for the US release. This footage involved members of the UK dance troupe Legs & Co., appearing (uncredited) as discotheque patrons.

Production notes

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  • Joan had asked her sister Jackie for the film rights for free and Jackie agreed whilst contributing to the screenplay.
  • Joan met producer Brent Walker at the Cannes Film Festival in 1977. He became excited by the project as it was proposed as a British alternative to Saturday Night Fever.
  • Both Joan Collins's husband, Ron Kass, and Jackie Collins's husband, Oscar Lerman, also acted as producers on the project.
  • Joan Collins said she was drunk during the orgy scene.[1]

Soundtrack

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A successful soundtrack album was released on Ronco Records to tie-in with the film. The album contained twenty tracks, including original material penned by Biddu specifically for the film, as well as a number of major British chart hits which were licensed for use in the film. The majority of the tracks were disco flavoured, although some non-disco tracks were also included. The album rose to number 2 on the UK albums chart, kept off the top spot by the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack album.[2]

Soundtrack album track list:

Side one

Side two

Release

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Box office

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Made for $600,000, the film grossed over $20,000,000 internationally.[3] The film was one of the most popular movies of 1978 at the British box office.[4] It did not perform well in the United States, which Brent Walker blamed on American International Pictures' handling of the film, including the "slapdash dubbing" of the British lead actors' voices.[5]

Legacy

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The film helped to revitalise Joan Collins's career. The Stud and its sequel The Bitch helped her to be cast as Alexis Colby in Dynasty.[6] However, Tobias later claimed that his part in the film led to typecasting and ruined his career.

References

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  1. ^ "An audience with Joan Collins: A simply riotous chat with her friend Piers Morgan". www.you.co.uk. 3 January 2021. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  2. ^ "Week ending 27-05-1978". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
  3. ^ Gritten, David (26 November 1979). "Imperfect Past Behind Her, Joan Collins Says She Likes Turning Homebody". People. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  4. ^ Harper, Sue (2011). British Film Culture in the 1970s: The Boundaries of Pleasure: The Boundaries of Pleasure. Edinburgh University Press. p. 273. ISBN 9780748654260.
  5. ^ "Simons Blames Bad Dub Job Of AIP For U.S. Flub On 'Stud'". Variety. 25 June 1980. p. 6. Retrieved 2 December 2023 – via Internet Archive.
  6. ^ Thorpe, Vanessa (13 June 2021). "Jackie Collins: the reality of life in Joan's shadow". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 5 October 2024.

Bibliography

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  • Simon Sheridan Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema, Titan Books (fourth edition, 2011)
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