The Happy Hooker is a 1975 comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 directed by Nicholas Sgarro. It was based on the novel detailing the true story of Xaviera Hollander.

Plot

A group of prostitutes are brought in to a New York police station

New York City Police Department

The New York City Police Department , established in 1845, is currently the largest municipal police force in the United States, with primary responsibilities in law enforcement and investigation within the five boroughs of New York City...

. In a series of flashbacks, the story starts with Dutch secretary of the year Xaviera Hollander (Redgrave

Lynn Redgrave

Lynn Rachel Redgrave, OBE was an English actress.A member of the well-known British family of actors, Redgrave trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962...

) moves to New York City in hopes of marrying her fiancé

Engagement

An engagement or betrothal is a promise to marry, and also the period of time between proposal and marriage which may be lengthy or trivial. During this period, a couple is said to be betrothed, affianced, engaged to be married, or simply engaged...

 Carl (Pryor

Nicholas Pryor

Nicholas Pryor is an American film and television actor.Pryor was born Nicholas David Probst in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Dorothy and J. Stanley Probst, a pharmaceutical manufacturer....

), whom she met whilst visiting her sister in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. From the minute she exits the airplane

Fixed-wing aircraft

A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...

 and he does not help her take her bags to his increasingly long morning routine getting ready and primping, Xaviera starts to become more concerned that he is not the man she thought he was on holiday. Her suspicions are confirmed when he does not tell his mother and she unwittingly tells her, which follows with his mother insulting her over dinner. Xaviera offers him a choice of her or his mother and he picks his mother.
After leaving Carl, Xaviera finds work at the Dutch Embassy as a translator and secretary. She is asked by Frenchman Yves (Aumont

Jean-Pierre Aumont

-Early life:Aumont was born Jean-Pierre Philippe Salomons in Paris, the son of Suzanne and Alexandre Salomons, owner of La Maison du Blanc . His mother's uncle was well-known stage actor Georges Berr. His father was from a Dutch Jewish family and his mother's family were French Jews...

) out on a spur of the moment date and she accepts. She quickly falls in love with him and his extravagant lifestyle as he has made a small fortune by acting as an expert consultant for large corporations and even small countries. He announces that he must leave as he has been summoned by the king of a middle eastern country and she breaks down crying. He hands her a large envelope containing cash. Although it makes her feel like a prostitute, she realizes quickly that this may be her calling in life as she loves sex and money, and starts meeting up with Yves' friends who he gave her number to.
Xaviera starts to do well as a prostitute until she is shaken down by a corrupt cop (Richard Lynch) who takes her money and tries to rape her. Instead of paying him off and continuing long term, she decides to work at a local bordello with a madam who offers her a 50/50 split. The work is great for her, but she decides that she can do better on her own, so leaves to open her own bordello ten blocks away. After a while, she is the most successful madam in New York City and buys out her former madame's business as well. The former madame decides to sell after becoming pregnant with her longtime boyfriend Fred (Janis)

Conrad Janis

Conrad Janis is an American jazz musician and also a theatre, film, and television actor. In the fall of 1953, he played eldest son Edward in the Ezio Pinza situation comedy Bonino on NBC...

. Everything is going great except for the amount of work until the police officer that offered her protection earlier sees her and instigates a raid, sending her to prison. Her attorney bails her out of jail and sets her up with a friend of his who is coming in from Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

.

Principal cast

Actor	Role
Lynn Redgrave Lynn Redgrave Lynn Rachel Redgrave, OBE was an English actress.A member of the well-known British family of actors, Redgrave trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962...	Xaviera Hollander
Jean-Pierre Aumont Jean-Pierre Aumont -Early life:Aumont was born Jean-Pierre Philippe Salomons in Paris, the son of Suzanne and Alexandre Salomons, owner of La Maison du Blanc . His mother's uncle was well-known stage actor Georges Berr. His father was from a Dutch Jewish family and his mother's family were French Jews...	Yves St. Jacques
Conrad Janis Conrad Janis Conrad Janis is an American jazz musician and also a theatre, film, and television actor. In the fall of 1953, he played eldest son Edward in the Ezio Pinza situation comedy Bonino on NBC...	Fred
Tom Poston Tom Poston Thomas Gordon "Tom" Poston was an American television and film actor. He starred on television in a career that began in 1950...	J. Arthur Conrad
Nicholas Pryor Nicholas Pryor Nicholas Pryor is an American film and television actor.Pryor was born Nicholas David Probst in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Dorothy and J. Stanley Probst, a pharmaceutical manufacturer....	Carl Gordon
Elizabeth Wilson Elizabeth Wilson Elizabeth Welter Wilson is an American actress. She was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007.-Life and career:Wilson was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the daughter of Marie Ethel and Henry Dunning Wilson, who was an insurance agent...	Mrs. Gordon
Vincent Schiavelli Vincent Schiavelli Vincent Andrew Schiavelli was an American character actor noted for his work on stage, screen, and television often described as "the man with the sad eyes." He was notable for his numerous and often critically acclaimed cameo appearances.-Early life:Schiavelli was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a...	MG

Critical reception

Vincent Canby

Vincent Canby

Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...

 of The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

enjoyed the film:

On the other hand, Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert

Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 of the Chicago Sun-Times

Chicago Sun-Times

The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...

gave it one star out of four and had this to say: