Lumières rouges

This TV film, about an attorney trying to nab a crooked kingpin by purchasing a House of Ill Repute, was appropriately ignored upon its debut and today is hardly recalled. It must have dampened Farrah Fawcett's spirit to slip this dumb thing in between her off-Broadway show "Extremities" and the landmark TV drama "The Burning Bed". She was trying so hard at this point to change Hollywood's flossy image of her that anticipating reactions to "The Burning Bed" must have been nerve-wracking. "The Red-Light Sting" gets off to a wan start, but does improve by the third act. Still, it's just cop-drama nonsense, offering nothing new or exciting, while all of Fawcett's best work lay just ahead of her. Good supporting cast includes Beau Bridges, Sunny Johnson in her final film appearance, Paul Burke from "Valley of the Dolls", and Alex Henteloff who memorably co-starred with Fawcett years earlier in the "Night of the Strangler" episode of "Charlie's Angels".