re: What's the consensus on "Cuties"?

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Was there this much controversy over Pretty Baby, with Brooke Shields playing a 12 year old prostitute in 1978?

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There was controversy, but we didn't have the internet. I don't remember it playing in the local theaters. As conservative as Baton Rouge was, I doubt it played here. It made Brooke Shields a famous child model and got her in the door for her teen acting roles. It was a movie people whispered about with some shock.

The critics reviewed it like any other movie. They saw it as historic subject matter. I'm pretty sure that it played on HBO or Showtime. It wasn't "banned" for the most part. I think it came out on VHS and DVD, I know you can pay to stream it.

I met the author of the history of Storyville that they claimed to use as the historic reference. He was pissed about the film, mostly because they got so much wrong. Plus centering it around a child made his history book look bad.