Movie

The Red-Light Sting

1984 · 100 min

A tidy, talky TV sting caper that coasts on procedural charm and mild suspense rather than grit.

Tagline: They paid $450,000 for a Whorehouse just to catch an Extortionist!
Overview: Government agent Frank Powell is determined to bring down racketeering crime lord Oliver Sully but cannot find any evidence. Powell concocts a plan to have the Justice Department buy a brothel, set up a professional call girl named Kathy Dunn as a hostess, and get the crime boss on extortion.

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How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone: tensestrength 2 of 3
cynicalstrength 2 of 3
lightstrength 1 of 3
Pacing: measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention: easy-watch, 2 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes: crime
deception
corruption
justice
power
Places: big city
workplace
Era: contemporary
Audience: adult
Form: true story
procedural
Content intensity: Gore none
Language mild
Violence mild
Sex mild

All scales, 0 to 10

Scales, 0 to 10
Scale	Value	0 to 10
Action	3
Horror	1
Humour	3
Realism	6
Romance	2
Tension	5
Darkness	4
Complexity	4
Emotional weight	3

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres: thriller, tv movie, crime
Directed by: Rod Holcomb
Written by: Rod Holcomb, Howard Berk
Starring: Farrah Fawcett, Beau Bridges, Harold Gould, Katherine Cannon, Sunny Johnson, Paul Burke, Alex Henteloff, Conrad Janis
Cinematography: Woody Omens
Runtime: 100 min
Country: United States of America
Languages: English

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The Red-Light Sting

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