The Ladies Club

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Infobox film | name = The Ladies Club | image = Ladies_Club_poster.jpg | caption = | director = Janet Greek | producer = {{ubl|Paul Mason|Nick J. Mileti}} | based_on = {{based on|''The Ladies Club''|Casey Bishop and<br/> Betty Black}} | screenplay = Fran Lewis Ebeling<br>Paul Mason | narrator = | starring = {{Plainlist| * Karen Austin * Diana Scarwid * Christine Belford }} | music = Lalo Schifrin | cinematography = | editing = Marion Segal<br>Randall Torno | distributor = New Line Cinema | released = {{Film date|1986|4}} | runtime = 85 mins | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = }} '''''The Ladies Club''''' is a 1986 American rape and revenge film directed by Janet Greek (under the pseudonym A.K. Allen),<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/99289024/?terms=%22the+ladies+club%22+%22janet+greek%22|title=11 Apr 1986, Page 35 - Detroit Free Press at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-26}}</ref> and starring Karen Austin, Diana Scarwid, Christine Belford and Bruce Davison. It follows a Los Angeles policewoman who, after being raped, bands together with other rape victims, forming a group that collectively begin hunting rapists. The script by Fran Lewis Ebeling and Paul Mason was based on Casey Bishop and Betty Black's novel, ''The Sisterhood''.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/130903647/?terms=%22the+ladies+club%22+%22A.K.+Allen%22|title=17 Apr 1986, Page 54 - The Des Moines Register at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-26}}</ref>

==Plot== Joan Taylor is a Los Angeles policewoman who gets gang-raped by a trio of burglars in her own house. When the three rapists get caught, go to trial and are acquitted due to a legal technicality, Joan goes to women's support meetings. There, she forms an alliance with a resident doctor Constance Lewis, whose daughter was raped and killed by a sex offender, as well as a few other rape victims. Joan takes charge of the group and leads them out to abduct and surgically castrate rapists who have gotten away with the crime. But each of the ladies' personal problems soon get in the way.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091370/plotsummary?ref_=tt_stry_pl|title=The Ladies Club (1986)|work=IMDb|accessdate=28 June 2015}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

==Cast== {{Cast list| *Karen Austin as Joan Taylor *Diana Scarwid as Lucy Bricker *Christine Belford as Constance Lewis *Bruce Davison as Richard Harrison *Shera Danese as Eva *Beverly Todd as Georgiane *Marilyn Kagan as Rosalie *Kit McDonough as Carol *Arliss Howard as Ed Bricker *Randee Heller as Harriet *Paul Carafotes as Eddie *Nicholas Worth as Jack Dwyer *Scott Lincoln as Pete Campanella *Largo Woodruff as Terry *James LeGros as Jesse *Elizabeth Arlen as Rochelle *Carol Baxter as Jill *Tina Lifford as Patty *James Avery as Joe *Nicholas Guest as Larry }}

== Release and reception == Greek had her name listed as "A.K. Allen" due to complaints over the way the finished film was marketed. Lead actress Karen Austin also complained about New Line's advertisements: "I think the way the film is being marketed is tacky," she said, referring to taglines like "Men who attack women have two big problems. The Ladies Club is about to remove them both."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/182476620/?terms=%22the+ladies+club%22+%22A.K.+Allen%22|title=19 Apr 1986, Page 11 - Courier-Post at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-26}}</ref>

Critical reception for the film was mixed, with critics praising the film for its feminist slant but criticizing it for its flat tone.<ref name=":1" /> At the time of its release, film critic Carrie Rickey dubbed the film "the first feminist exploitation movie."<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/image/169316593/?terms=%22the+ladies+club%22+%22A.K.+Allen%22|title=11 Apr 1986, Page 128 - The Philadelphia Inquirer at Newspapers.com|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-26}}</ref> "It corrects the twisted relationship between the viewer and viewed," she noted.<ref name=":2" />

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{IMDb title|0091370}} *{{rotten-tomatoes|ladies_club}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladies Club}} Category:1986 films Category:American rape and revenge films Category:1986 drama films Category:Films scored by Lalo Schifrin Category:Films directed by Janet Greek Category:1986 English-language films Category:1986 American films Category:English-language drama films