Customer Reviews

Chastity

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an amazing piece of work solely for the opening piece which goes on and on and is a fascinating psychadelic shoot of a 22-year old Cher running on the beach.....there is still a bit of who she "was" before she became "Cher" - and it is touching and jarring. The quick dish on this film as most fans know is that it was Sonny's attempt (he wrote, produced and directed and scored - quite beautifully) to make Cher an actress. This is also where their daughter got her name - not a great legacy but the film has it's merits. The film flopped they lost the $ they invested and...thank god...because they were forced to go on the nightclub circuit and become the 70's "Sonny & Cher". Disturbing, however, to myself and those who have seen my copy - is how crass and shallow the character Cher plays reveals herself to be, scene after scene. Cher has said in many interviews how she developed "SBT" - smart mouthed bitch - to protect her as she grew up. This film takes that to a high. For Cher fans - this is next to Moonstruck as a purchase - because you can see her vulnerability and her "Cherness" at such an early strage - in some scenes it is staggering. The film never really goes anywhere which in some points is the idea Sonny was trying to convey; however it is in an odd way - eye candy - like a sour ball you can't stop sucking on. The soundtrack = seriously folks - is brilliant. Rhino Records released Sonny's unlistenable solo LP - THIS soundtrack should be released. The single "Chastity's Song (Band Of Thieves)" didn't chart - but it is magnificent - as is Cher's vocal treatment. There are 2 versions of this film - one that has Cher indulging in a lesbian one nighter and the "G" that cuts that out - oh they also cut out when she smokes a joint. I hope this is the uncut version. This is very amazing and for this price anyone who loves Cher for an iota should check this out. Besides anything - it is a hoot! Cher Bless You All!

This is Cher's PURPLE RAIN - sort of a semibiography that lets Cher play herself struggling through some hard times. She plays the lead character who runs the whole movie from one situation to the next until we finally get to see what she is running from in a pretty effective final breakdown sequence. It was a flop on its release, and it's still pretty much a midnight worthy cult film without too much you could call great cinema. But it is a peak at pre-plastic surgery Cher, and surprisingly you get the idea that yes there is a star in there.

I was disappointed that all you get is a widescreen transfer of the film and a trailer. Mono soundtrack too. But the curious will be vindicated, and yes this is at least the R-rated version since there are a couple of fleeting scenes of Cher in the buff. But no sex scenes to be found.

CHASTITY will not be everyone's cup of tea, but it is an interesting film. Not as bad as some would lead you to believe. It's about a troubled girl who runs away, and just keeps going. The music is very strong. There are some really funny lines as well. And it's a total trip! The price is pretty low as well.

i wanted so bad to see this movie when it opened in dallas texas where i was living when it opened in 1969. however it was rated R at the time and i was only 16. in those days they carded kids at theaters so i never got to see it. as the years went by i tried time and again to see it. never could find it on the shelves of video stores. i had heard cher and sonny both talk about how bad this movie was. i have read reviews from people who saw it and called it bad. i am here to say.. it ain't so bad. its a big try by sonny bono to make cher a movie star. it did not work. i think for several rwasons. one he was too close to the subject matter and to cher herself.two, he backed away from what ideas he had orginally for this movie in fear it would be too controversial. i had no trouble watching this movie. i liked it. i got the end idea of what he was trying to say and do. i think the movie has alot to say on a deep level. it deals with a subject matter that sonny was very brave to bring up at the time. cher lights up the screen. she gives a good performance for her 1st time out in doing drama. she needed a better director and a screen writer.. sonny.. who would stick to his guns on what he was trying to say. i liked the film. i did not think it as great. but it was good. i am very happy i bought this movie. after all these years i finally got to judge for myself whether or not it was as bad as its producer said it was. i say no it was not. i say good try sonny bono.

"What's wrong with Chastity?" was the tagline for the film, and, ultimately, that is more than correct. CHASTITY was designed as a starring vehicle for Cherilyn Sarkisian Bono, and only succeeds on the level of showing potential. Most of Cher's performance in this, her first film, consists of acting sullen and spouting smart-alec lines to her costars. There are moments where the glimmer of the actress she would become shine through, but she was young and inexperienced. My best guess is that she is supposed to be a rebel, a free spirit of the Sixties. The story and screenplay was written by hubby Sonny Bono, and he did indeed have a good story to tell: Toward the end of the film, Cher has some moments which could have been quite powerful if written well. If Sonny had enlisted the help of another writer, someone with solid screenplay experience, CHASITIY could have been much better. The film was directed by Alessio de Paola, who has no other film credits at all, so it may have been a pseudonym for Sonny. Conjecture. Sonny did compose a nice title tune for Cher to sing, and his themes are orchestrated and performed by New Orleans legends Harold Battiste and Mac Rebennack (pre-Dr. John). All in all, CHASTITY is an interesting experiment.

The MGM DVD is uncut, the original R rated film shown in theatres, in 1.85 to 1 widescreen, and also contains a teaser trailer. The print shows some dirt and grain, but not enough to be distracting. The sound is crisp and clean, and the music comes through nicely.

I have seen this film a few times and agree it's not exactly Oscar-quality material, but that has nothing to do with the performances by Cher and the other actors (who do a pretty good job with mediocre lines). Nor is this movie a series of hippie cliches like so many of the other rebellious-flower-child films of its time. The main problem with this film is that we are accustomed to liking Cher when she appears on TV, on stage, and in movie roles, the more so in view of all of her stage and screen work that eventually followed this movie. However, the runaway girl "Chastity" is a distinctly un-likable, un-nice piece of work who ends up insulting or harming everyone who shows her the least bit of niceness. From the initial scenes you get the impression that the character has suffered some kind of past bad experience that left her distrustful and unable to connect with people, but this isn't explained until the very end of the picture and then the question is just left hanging. The viewer isn't sure whether Chastity's repeated hostility towards people who seem to be genuinely kind or at least, pretty benign (like the young nerdy and probably virginal guy who is clearly uncomfortable on his first visit to a bordello) is because she sees some kind of dark manipulative motive under their niceness, or only because of her own demons. Also, while Cher does a decent job of acting, she looks too tall and mature in this movie to carry off the idea of a naive, childlike teen. Linda Blair would have done this type of movie so much better a few years later, simply because of her younger look.

It's a shame that this movie only ran 83 minutes as it does seem to be, in parts, a sensitive portrayal of a runaway fleeing a bad homelife, and probably was true to the life of many young people who bum around the country finding themselves. Which also raises the question - where are all the other street kids and runaways? Cher seems to exist in a vacuum in that regard. I wish it had run an extra half hour and some of the characters, such as the law student Eddie and the bordello owner, had been more fully explored. I would guess that budget constraints may have put the kibosh on doing more with the movie but I can see where it was trying to go and it's by no means as horrible a trip as some would have you believe. Worth seeing if you are a fan of Cher or of hippie road movies.

I decided to purchase this movie from Amazon.com for two reasons: (1) I started watching it on This-tv and never finished watching because it was late at night and I fell asleep.(2) I saw this movie in a store and it was one of a six movie package showcasing Cher's talent, and the price was high and I knew out of the six movies I would only watch two. So I purchased this movie so I could continue watching the movie. It was a pretty good movie, but I was left scratching my head at the end. I like B- movies and this is a B-movie, so if you like Cher you might like this movie, and if you are a B-movie fan like myself. Also if you like movies from the end of the 1960's you may like this.

Cher is indeed a troubled runaway, stealing money at gas stations and refusing to share beds with a lonesome truckdriver. She runs all the way to Mexico where she reports the car stolen she took herself and stays at a bordello with a lesbian hostess. There's a nice law student she stays with when she can't find anyplace else she likes and she tears up his furniture. It seems to me jealous Sonny is plotting this tale so Cher can't succeed in her love affairs anyplace. Will she be hit by a truck? You decide. Yes if you coudn't stand the movie and no if you loved it.

She was born in a wagon of a travelin' show, her mama used to dance for the money they'd throw... Yes, it's pre-nose-job Cher in her absolutely wretched dramatic debut, as a sullen and surly hitchhiking runaway with a heart of pressed tin. With her grating voice and punk-ass demeanor, she can often be misconstrued as acting, but do not be fooled - she is simply a marionette in the hands of producer Sonny "Svengali" Bono (whom one can also presume was also the never-heard-of-before and never-heard-from-again director de Paola). Chastity is a disturbed young woman who hits the road to escape her dreary, unhappy life, and finds more dreariness and unhappiness. In this turgid and lugubrious script, she takes her anger out on men by picking them up, leading them on and then "not letting them get anything." She works as a prostitute without ever having to give up "the goods," and winds up in a Mexican whorehouse for a lesbian madam who would like Chastity to be something more than an employee. With a creepy introspective/philosophical voiceover narrative by Cher, it is hippie-age BS and you can definitely see her *Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves* period looming on the horizon. Chastity is perplexing in a way that is peculiarly unintriguing, and despite all her woes, she is supremely unsympathetic. Her eventual confession of being abused as a child may have been shocking in 1969, but in retrospect, it is entirely predictable. There are some who will dig deeply to find some merit to this film, but it should strictly be taken as what it is: pure camp - meaning, of course, that's it's hysterically funny while it tries desperately to be serious. Would *you* name *your* child after this? "Chastity...pick her up if you dare." Indeed.

Cher, in 1969, looks very 2009 here, only the 60s vintage cars and the lame styles on everyone else in this film give it away as an exploitation vehicle from the flower power era. Cher has one expression here: blank. She is very unhappy about something, her family, I guess. She's a runaway, but with street smarts, or so she thinks. There's a soundtrack here, but it's very unobtrusive, which is too bad because some more Cher tunes is just what this vintage howler needs to bring it alive.

The film itself isn't so great, but it is much more compelling than the Sonny & Cher film from the same era, "Good Times." Perhaps that's because Sonny stays behind the camera in this one, allowing Cher to be the camera's focal point throughout the entire film. Cher shows her greatness here: Despite a fairly weak script, her performance is compelling and holds up to repeat viewings.

I'm very excited that this is coming to dvd soon.