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*Girls of the White Orchid*
Girls of the White Orchid
Also known as	Death Ride to Osaka
Genre	Crime; Drama;
Directed by	Jonathan Kaplan
Music by	Brad Fiedel
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Leonard Hill; Philip Mandelker;
Producer	Claude Binyon Jr.
Production location	Japan
Editor	Brent A. Schoenfeld
Running time	98 minutes
Production company	Hill/Mandelker Films
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	November 28, 1983

Girls of the White Orchid is a 1983 television film directed by Jonathan Kaplan. It is also known as Death Ride to Osaka.^[1]^[2]

Premise

An American woman becomes a prostitute in Japan.

Cast

Jennifer Jason Leigh - Carol
Thomas Byrd
Mako
Carolyn Seymour
Richard Narita
Soon-Tek Oh
Ann Jillian
Yvonne McCord
Philip Charles MacKenzie
Leslie Wing
John Hancock

Production

The film was based on a report by ABC's 20/20 show about women who go to Japan to work as entertainers but wind up as prostitutes under the control of the Yakuza. Producer Leonard Hill says NBC pressured him to cast a lead actress from an NBC show - Melinda Culea who was then on The A-Team - but he held out for Jennifer Jason Leigh. "I don't care about The A-Team" said Hill. "I may make a mediocre movie but I'm not going to make a mediocre effort."^[3] However Hill did cast two other actors in the cast who were then on NBC shows, Ann Jillian and Thomas Byrd.^[4]

The film was shot on location in Japan.^[5]

After the initial lack of success of Over the Edge (1979), Kaplan encountered difficulties in finding budget for new films, which explains why he sought direct financial support from TV producers.^[6]

Reception

One writer called it "the missing link between Kaplan's sensationalistic New World output (Night Call Nurses, The Student Teachers) and the socially conscious prestige dramas like The Accused and Immediate Family that he would make in the late '80s and early '90s."^[7]