Editing Dance with a Stranger

{{other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2012}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Dance with a Stranger
| image = Dance with a Stranger.jpg
| caption = Film poster
| director = [[Mike Newell (director)|Mike Newell]]
| producer = Roger Randall-Cutler
| writer = [[Shelagh Delaney]]
| starring = [[Miranda Richardson]]<br />[[Rupert Everett]]
| music = [[Richard Hartley (composer)|Richard Hartley]]<br>theme song by [[Mari Wilson]]
| cinematography = [[Peter Hannan (cinematographer)|Peter Hannan]]
| editing =
| studio = [[Goldcrest Films|Goldcrest Films International]]
| distributor = [[20th Century Fox]]
| released = {{Film date|1985|03|1|UK|df=yes}}
| runtime = 102 min.
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =£1,360,000<ref name="nigel">Borne, Nigel. "Little film little profit." Sunday Times [London, England] 26 January 1986: 31. The Sunday Times Digital Archive. Web. 29 March 2014.</ref> or £1.5 million<ref name="org">{{cite web|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-back-to-the-future-the-fall-and-rise-of-the-british-film-industry-in-the-1980s.pdf|page=21|title=Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s - An Information Briefing|website=British Film Institute|date=2005}}</ref>
| gross = £850,000 (UK)<br>$3 million (US)<br>$1 million (other territories)<ref name="nigel"/>
}}
'''''Dance with a Stranger'''''  is a 1985 British film<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pgDxuexxEloC&q=dance+with+a+stranger+film+tragedy&pg=PA71|title=Performing Shakespeare's Tragedies Today: The Actor's Perspective|first=Michael|last=Dobson|date=30 November 2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521671224}}</ref> directed by [[Mike Newell (director)|Mike Newell]]. Telling the story of [[Ruth Ellis]], the last woman to be hanged in Britain (1955), the film won critical acclaim, and aided the careers of two of its leading actors, [[Miranda Richardson]] and [[Rupert Everett]]. The screenplay was by [[Shelagh Delaney]], author of ''[[A Taste of Honey]]'', and was her third major screenplay. The story of Ellis has resonance in Britain because it provided part of the background to the extended national debates that led to the progressive abolition of capital punishment from 1965.

The theme song, a cover version of [[Peggy Lee]]'s 1951 track "Would You Dance with a Stranger?", was performed by [[Mari Wilson]] and released as a single.

==Plot==
A former nude model and prostitute, Ruth is manageress of a drinking club in London that has racing drivers as its main clients. Ruth lives in a flat above the bar with her illegitimate son Andy. Another child is in the custody of her estranged husband's family.

In the club, she meets David, an immature, young man from a well-off family who wants to succeed in motor racing but suffers from lack of money and overuse of alcohol. Ruth falls for his looks and charm, but it is a doomed relationship. Without a job, he cannot afford to marry her, and his family would never accept her. When he makes a drunken scene in the club, she is discharged from her job, which means that she is made homeless.

Desmond, a wealthy admirer, secures a flat for her and her son, but she still sees David. When she tells him she is pregnant, he does nothing about it, and she miscarries. Distraught, she goes to a house in Hampstead where she believes David is at a party. He comes out and goes with a girl to a pub. Ruth waits outside the pub, and when he emerges, she shoots him dead with four shots. She is arrested, tried and hanged.

==Cast==
* [[Miranda Richardson]] as [[Ruth Ellis]]
* [[Rupert Everett]] as David Blakely
* [[Ian Holm]] as Desmond Cussen
* [[Stratford Johns]] as Morrie Conley 
* [[Joanne Whalley]] as Christine 
* [[Tom Chadbon]] as Anthony Findlater 
* Jane Bertish as Carole Findlater 
* [[David Troughton]] as Cliff Davis 
* [[Tracy Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort|Tracy Louise Ward]] as Girl with Blakeley
* Matthew Carroll as Andy 
* [[Lesley Manville]] as Maryanne 
* David Beale as Man in Little Club
* Charon Bourke as Ballroom Singer

==Reception==
The film made a comfortable profit.<ref name="nigel"/> [[Goldcrest Films]] invested £253,000 in the film and received £361,000, making them a profit of £108,000.<ref>{{Cite book|title=My indecision is final|first1=Jake|last1= Eberts |first2=Terry|last2=Illott|year=1990 |publisher=Faber and Faber|page=656}}</ref>

===Critical response===
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 91%, based on reviews from 11 critics.<ref>{{Cite web |url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dance_with_a_stranger/ |title= Dance with a Stranger |date=1985-01-01 |website= [[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date= 2020-06-11}}</ref>

===Accolades===
{{Anchor|Awards|Accolades}}
Mike Newell won Award of the Youth at the [[1985 Cannes Film Festival]] for ''Dance with a Stranger''. Miranda Richardson won Best Actress at the [[Evening Standard British Film Awards]], and Ian Holm won [[Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 1985]] for this and other performances.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|0088987}}
* {{Mojo title|dancewithastranger}}

{{Mike Newell}}
{{Shelagh Delaney}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dance With A Stranger}}
[[Category:1985 films]]
[[Category:1985 drama films]]
[[Category:British prison drama films]]
[[Category:Biographical films about criminals]]
[[Category:Films about capital punishment]]
[[Category:Women in prison films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Mike Newell]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1950s]]
[[Category:Cultural depictions of Ruth Ellis]]
[[Category:1980s English-language films]]
[[Category:1980s prison drama films]]
[[Category:1980s British films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Richard Hartley (composer)]]
[[Category:English-language crime films]]


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