The John Sayles-written The Lady in Red (1979) is a tawdry historical fiction about the eventual girlfriend (Pamela Sue Martin) of John Dillinger (Robert Conrad) and how she witnesses his getting shot to death outside a movie theatre and then becomes a one-time bank robber herself. The plot is pathetically bad and no character development for Polly Franklin, the girlfriend, ever obtains. She comes from the sticks but seems utterly suited to the big city. Why?

Sayles inserts a justified, old-style liberalism, or liberal sentiments, into the film, which targets in a big way the aggression of men toward women. Martin is fairly good as Polly but that’s all. (Conrad sleepwalks.) With nice red hair and pretty breasts, she is physically enticing. But, truth to tell, there is too much female nudity in this “feminist” picture. Sayles has nothing to be proud of. The director, Lewis Teague, did better.