History Film / TheLonelyLady

* HugeGuyTinyGirl: The 6'3" Jared Martin (who played George Ballantine) practically had to get on his elbows to kiss the 5'0" Pia Zadora (for comparison, it's the scene featured in the page image; note how much the hero's hunched down). Worse, there's a shower-sex scene between these two in which the much-larger Martin seems on the verge of squashing Zadora into the corner of the tiny stall.

* AdvertisedExtra: There's a character named Carla Maria Peroni (Carla Romanelli), who gets to appear in the poster of the film alongside Jerilee and the other main characters. She ends up only appearing in one scene as a LipstickLesbian who hits on Jerilee (and it's implied that she sleeps with) before never showing up again.

* BrainlessBeauty: Jerilee (who apparently has to learn the same lesson over and over and over again) and the bimbo girlfriend of Walter's agent.

* BreakTheCutie[=/=]CorruptTheCutie: The whole premise of the movie. Subverted in the end, however, as Jerilee gets over her SanitySlippage, and at the "Awards Presentation Ceremony" she gives everyone present a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech, swears off ever working in Hollywood again, and storms out.

* CastingCouch: TheMovie (as the quote on PrecisionFStrike shows) -- Jerilee has to sleep with an untold number of men (and a couple of women) to get ''anywhere'' in Hollywood.

* CrapsackWorld: Okay, Hollywood is well-known to be not the greatest work environment in the world, but even so this film's depiction of it as being full of sexually exploitative (if not outright abusive) {{jerkass}}es comes across as ''way'' over the top.
* DullSurprise: Plenty, particularly from Pia Zadora. In her case, it's perhaps most blatant when Walter not only brings up her rape -- almost certainly the most traumatic experience of her life until that point -- but actually accuses her of ''enjoying it'', and she barely even reacts.

* InformedAbility: Unsurprisingly, Jerilee's writing ability -- after all, this movie was the best the real screenwriters could come up with. We're never told a single thing about any of Jerilee's work except for some vague praise for her short stories and the title of her final filmed screenplay ("The Holdouts.")

* NeverMyFault: After being told that her daughter has suffered a full-on nervous breakdown, the first reaction of Jerilee's mother is to say that there's no history of mental illness on her side of the family, so it must be something she picked up from her father.

* OnlySaneMan: A variant. Jerilee is presented as the only person in Hollywood who is there for [[DoingItForTheArt the noble purpose of having her Art accepted on its own merits]] without sacrificing her personal integrity for success...except that when presented with the opportunity to compromise herself in order to climb the ladder, she does so pretty much immediately and continues doing so for the rest of the film. This is meant as a Searing Indictment of the way Hollywood treats women, but Jerilee barely puts up an objection, usually surrendering with only a blank stare and a shrug.

* PrecisionFStrike: "I don't suppose I'm the only one who's had to fuck her way to the top." Which Jerilee says right in the middle of being awarded (and refusing) her not-Oscar.

Notable as Creator/RayLiotta's film debut, although he probably [[OldShame hopes nobody remembers]].

** There are two characters named George, though they have nothing to do with each other and have no scenes together. Would it have been that hard to rename one of the Georges?

** Most bizarre aversion ever. During "The Awards" at the end of the film, one of the other best screenplay nominees also has the oh-so-common name of Jerilee. For no apparent reason. The second Jerilee could have been named ''anything'' else and impacted the story not a iota. No one in-universe, not even the main character, remarks upon the coincidence, and it only serves to give the audience a moment of doubting their own sanity: have they been mistaken about the heroine's surname all this time? Did she get remarried yet again without our knowing? Is it a continuity error? Nope!

Creator/RayLiotta's film debut, although he probably hopes no one [[OldShame remembers]].

* TheEighties: Though the film presumably takes place over the course of ten to fifteen years and seems to open in the late 1960s when Jerilee is a teenager, the hairstyles, fashions, and other trappings are firmly 1983.

Infamous 1983 Creator/PiaZadora vehicle, [[AdaptationDisplacement based on a novel]] by Harold Robbins. It has appeared on many lists of the "Worst Movies Ever" since its release and was a huge UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward winner.

* DawsonCasting: Pia Zadora plays Jerilee from teenager to adult. Zadora is a petite 5' (1.5 m), which might make you think that she could pass for a much younger character. Unfortunately, that 5' is ''all'' woman, and the costumers resorted to concealing her curves in oversized sailor dresses and ''Series/PunkyBrewster'' overalls no one over the age of 10 would be caught dead in. This is coupled with a full face of very adult-looking make-up. The effect is...unsettling, particularly when the 30-year-old woman playing an 18-year-old character dressed like a 10-year-old child starts smooching a 60-year-old man.

* HeroicBSOD: Twice for Jerilee: the first after the garden hose incident, the second after she finds out Vinnie was just using her and has a nervous breakdown. The latter is preceded by one of the most [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEFXG0mPVRs unintentionally hilarious freak-outs]] ever caught on film.

* GratuitousRape: With Creator/RayLiotta in powder blue underpants and (of all things) a garden hose. What makes it even more bizarrely offensive is that aside from Walter angrily accusing her of enjoying it during an argument much later on, it has virtually no relevance to the rest of the story. Creator/RogerEbert was justifiably not happy.

* GratuitousRape: With Creator/RayLiotta in powder blue underpants and (of all things) a garden hose. What makes it even more bizarrely offensive is that aside from Walter angrily accusing her of enjoying it during an argument much later on, it has virtually no relevance to the rest of the story.

* TheEighties: Though the film presumably takes place over the course of ten to fifteen years and seems to open in the late 1960s when Jerilee is a teenager, the hairstyles, fashions, and other trappings are firmly 1983.

* {{Fanservice}}: This movie sells itself on the fact that Pia Zadora is nude in approximately every third scene...but it also seems to believe the audience is turned on by seeing the heroine get sexually used and abused. The movie clearly, albeit {{narm}}tastically, portrays her being emotionally scarred by this.

* StraightGay: Guy Jackson is openly gay, but not at all stereotypical.

* DawsonCasting: Jerilee is played by the same actress from age 16 to age 30. Bizarrely, when trying to present its lead as a teen, the movie does so by putting her in pigtails and sailor dresses, which only makes her look like a 30-year-old playing a 16-year-old playing a 10-year-old.