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.

Plot

Set in Los Angeles in 1960, 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 unnamed 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's. 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

Release

The Woman Chaser premiered at the 1999 New York Film Festival and went on to play at top film festivals including the Sundance Film Festival, South By Southwest, the Florida Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival, Stockholm Film Festival, and Athens Film Festival. On June 16, 2000, it was given a limited theatrical release in North America. It was also broadcast on the Sundance Channel and Showtime, becoming a cult movie. The film went unreleased on DVD for many years due to music rights issues. In 2014, the film was released digitally with half of the music replaced by an original score written by Hollywood film and television composer, Jeff McDonough. All the music in the film is now original, with the other half being written by original composer Daniele Luppi. This updated version is available on film streaming services.

Reception

Clay Smith of The Austin Chronicle wrote, "The Woman Chaser is far from being a hollow genre exercise. At once hilarious, jagged, and nostalgic in all the best ways, The Woman Chaser is a refreshing breath of smoke-tinged, deadpan air. " Merle Bertrand of Film Threat called it "by turns ludicrously funny...and vaguely disturbing". Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "For all of Warburton’s prowess and Devor’s energy and zeal, The Woman Chaser lacks the slam-bang style and authority of Samuel Fuller’s Shock Corridor and The Naked Kiss, two films that The Woman Chaser brings immediately to mind. The Woman Chaser is very much a first film, but a venturesome start for Devor as well as a splendid launch for Warburton." On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Woman Chaser has an approval rating of 71% based on 14 reviews.

Awards

SXSW Film Festival, 2000 Florida Film Festival, 2000 Sundance Film Festival, 2000 Golden Trailer Awards, 2001