The Woman Chaser


The Woman Chaser is a 1999 film directed by Robinson Devor and starring Patrick Warburton, Ron Morgan, Emily Newman, Paul Malevich, and Marilyn Rising. The screenplay is based on the novel of the same name by Charles Willeford.

Synopsis

Set in 1950s Los Angeles, Richard Hudson is a shrewd car dealer who moves from San Francisco and sets up a used-car dealership. Tiring of this job, he turns the lot over to an assistant Bill and starts writing his first film, The Man Who Got Away. It turns out to be an uncommercial picture, chronicling the story of a truck driver who goes berserk, runs over a little girl and dies fending off a platoon of police officers.
In making his film, Richard enlists the help of his father-in-law, Leo, a washed-up former film director whose notable possession is a Rouault painting of a clown. Through Leo, Richard pitches his idea to the Man, the chief executive of Mammoth Pictures who green-lights the project. Conflict inevitably arises when Richard's obsession for making the movie his way clashes with the Man. Other kooky characters include Richard's mother, a former ballerina who lures her hirsute lug of a son into a comically eccentric pas de deux ; Richard's sexually curious stepsister, Becky, who seduces him, and his secretary, Laura, whom he impregnates with a boorish indifference.

Cast

The Woman Chaser premiered at the 1999 New York Film Festival and went on to play at top film festivals including Sundance, South By South West, Florida, Seattle, Stockholm and Athens winning several special jury and audience awards.
On Jun 14, 2000, it was released in theater. The film had theatrical distribution in major U.S. cities and played on Sundance Channel and Showtime, becoming a cult movie.
In 2015 a redux version of the film was released with half the music replaced by original score written by Hollywood film and television composer, Jeff McDonough. All the music in the film is now original, half being written by original composer Daniele Luppi, and half written and scored by Jeff McDonough. This is the updated version available on all film streaming services.