Plot: The tawdriest streets in Tinsel Town provide the setting for this sleazy comedy anthology, a take-off on Vice Squad.
In one tale, a mother (Trish Van DeVere) heads for Hollywood to search for her runaway daughter Lori (Robin Wright), who unfortunately has become a heroin-addicted hooker working for a ruthless pimp (Frank Gorshin).
In another tale, a greenhorn cop (Carrie Fisher) fights to put the kiddie porn studio she discovers in her own neighborhood out of business.
In the final tale, a Big Apple gangster tries to get involved in a new racket.
Director: Penelope Spheeris
Writing Credits: James J. Docherty
Cast: Ronny Cox, Frank Gorshin, Leon Isaac Kennedy, Trish Van Devere, Carrie Fisher, Evan C. Kim, Joey Travolta, H.B. Haggerty, Cec Verrell, Tom Everett, Emilia Crow & Introducing Robin Wright.
Genre: Action – Comedy
Budget: $4.800.000
Filming Locations: Los Angeles, California, USA
Filming Dates: August 19, 1985 (Start Date) | September 1985
USA Release Date: April 30, 1986 in 70 theaters
MPAA rating: R (under 17 requires an accompanying parent or adult guardian)
Runtime: 101 min
Film debut of Robin Wright
Some people are wrong when they say Robin Wright debuted in cinemas in 1987 with the movie ‘The Princess Bride’ because this supporting role as a runaway teenage girl, who gets caught in the world of pornography and prostitution, is the first feature film of Robin Wright.
Wright’s billing in ‘Hollywood Vice Squad’ is “Introducing Robin Wright”, the same that was used in ‘The Princess Bride’.
In an interview from 1993 Robin talked about this: “I didn’t know anything about the business. I thought ‘Hollywood Vice Squad’ was an escape from the soap and so far for me to play a teenage hooker. But then I did ‘The Princess Bride’ and everyone thought it was my first thing. And I didn’t want to go: “well, I did a semi porn before that”. But I had my principles even then. I would not take my clothes off in ‘Hollywood Vice Squad’. There was a fight. I ended up wearing lingerie.”
Robin Wright as teenager, drug addict and prostitute Lori Stanton
This is the story arch of Lori Stanton (Robin Wright) in the movie ‘Hollywood Vice Squad’ (1986)
Captain Jensen (Ronny Cox) meets with Pauline Stanton (Trish Van Devere), a mother who has traveled from the mid-west to search for her only runaway teenage daughter, Lori (Robin Wright).
Pauline Stanton shows Capt. Jensen a letter her daughter sent to a friend describing a man named James Walsh (Frank Gorshin), who has promised to jumpstart her show business career. Pauline says Lori does not know how to cook, clean, or do laundry, and doubts she knows how to support herself. The captain asks his staff to start a file on James Walsh, owner of Pretty Girl Escorts.
At his agency, Walsh accuses Lori Stanton of withholding her tips in order to buy heroin. He orders her to stop stealing, then placates her with a “nickel bag” of the drug.
Back in Hollywood, as Pauline Stanton walks the streets looking for her daughter, Lori takes a customer to a hotel.
Meanwhile, the captain assigns Officer Hawkins (Leon Isaac Kennedy), also known as “Hawk,” and his partner, Judy (Cec Verrell), to find Lori.
At the station, when the captain tells Pauline that Lori is working as a prostitute and is a drug addict, she is in denial.
In Chinatown, Walsh and Farber (Beau Starr) set up a trap with Daniello (Larry Mintz) to follow Lori to her appointment with Hawk’s men.
Chang (Evan C. Kim) stalls for time, making idle conversation with Lori Stanton. Stevens (Joey Travolta) sneaks in through the bathroom window, and motions to Chang to get away. Chang grabs Lori and ducks for cover. Daniello emerges from the closet, and begins shooting. When Capt. Jensen and his men kick in the door, Daniello shoots the first officer who enters. A gun battle erupts and Daniello is shot dead. Lori screams as the captain attempts to calm her.
At a hospital, Lori tells Capt. Jensen that she does not know much about Walsh’s business. When he tells Lori her mother is in the hallway, the young woman refuses to see her, but when she learns that her mother dropped everything to find her, Lori changes her mind.
