S * T * A * R * R * I * N * G
Dom
DeLuise
Suzanne
Pleshette
Jerry Reed
Ossie Davis
Luis Avalos, Marc Lawrence,
Dick Davalos, Alfie Wise, Bill McCutcheon,
Sydney Lassick, Barney Martin, Pat McCormick,
Sid Gould, Carol DeLuise, Peter DeLuise, David DeLuise,
Mike Falco, Crispin Tyrone Jackson, Michael DeLuise
Year:
1979
Name: Louise Webster, a
policewoman
Music: Patrick Williams
Song: "Hot Stuff,"
produced, composed and performed by Jerry Reed
Screenwriters: Michael
Kane, Donald E. Westlake
Director: Dom DeLuise
Producers: Mort Engelberg,
Paul Maslansky
Studio: Columbia Pictures
"Dom [DeLuise] and I both went to the High School of the Performing Arts, although we graduated a few years apart," Pleshette says. "By the time I got there, he was already a legend. Everybody talked about the crazy things he and another kid named Herbie Gardner had done." (Gardner would later be known as the author of the Broadway comedy A THOUSAND CLOWNS.)"I'd always wanted to work with Dom," continues Pleshette. "I'd heard so many nutty stories about him—it was almost as if I knew him. But by the time he was hitting his stride in pictures, I was pretty much tied up [with The Bob Newhart Show]."
But after the series ended, and after completing a TV movie (KATE BLISS AND THE TICKER TAPE KID), she read the script of HOT STUFF. "An undercover policewoman, especially in a wild comedy like this one, would be easy to stereotype," Pleshette recalls. "But here was a lady with guts, sex appeal, and a wicked sense of humor."
Pleshette spent considerable time with Miami policewomen and modeled her character after what she describes as their "remarkable blend of police professionalism and femininity." She also points out that the old days when policewomen performed mostly clerical tasks are gone and buried. Since women can go places—and gain acceptance—where men can't, they have become vital in undercover work.
"Dom runs a loose, easy, open set on which everyone is free to express themselves and contribute ideas. He is as crazy as they said he was in high school," Pleshette says. "But every director should be so crazy and we'd all have more fun—including the audience. He's as free of hang-ups and inhibitions as a child. And he'll try anything, even at the risk of falling on his backside.
"After THE BOB NEWHART SHOW,I thought I would never work with people I enjoyed being with so much," Pleshette concludes. "HOT STUFF proved me wrong."
"Joining DeLuise are Jerry Reed and Suzanne Pleshette, the latter making her first feature film in a number of years. . . . Pleshette DOESN'T HAVE MUCH TO DO." —VARIETY
". . . SEXY Pleshette . . ." —HBO'S GUIDE TO MOVIES ON VIDEOCASSETTE AND CABLE TV
Suzanne
Pleshette's Feature Films
The Secret Career of Suzanne Pleshette
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