Strip Clubs and the Movies

<font size="2"> <p>The following list is by no means comprehensive. This list is a look into how Hollywood doesn't seem to understand, or want to understand, the inside of a strip club. Presently, the biggest problem is two fold:</p> <p>1) In the 1970's, the &quot;studio system&quot; collapsed. During the studio system, a director or producer would get a script. The director would then hire actors to play the roles. The actors were required to follow the script and not deviate. Presently, actors run the process. Scripts are frequently rewritten once they are purchased. A writer is even kept on set to do a rewrite if an actor doesn't feel like doing some memorizing, or doing something contrary to his/her view of the world.</p> <p>2) Presently, a lot of directors are gays. Because of this, not only has female nudity severely diminished, but male nudity has become almost as commonplace as female nudity in mainstream movies. This makes a movie about a stripper or porn star inane and pointless as an actress will tell a director that she can play the stripper or porn star without ever getting naked. The director, who has no wish to see her nude, will agree with her. The rise of the gay director coincided with not only the lack of, but also the time involved in nude scenes. In the early 1970's, nude scenes averaged seven minutes in length, with some scenes going ten or eleven minutes. By the 1980's, the nude scene had diminished to a little over a minute. In the first decade of the 21st century, a ten second rule seems to have been locked in place. Coming of age in the 1970's and developing a certain expectation has led to a lot of bitter disappointment.</p> <p>Let's look at some movies:</p> <p><b>Showgirls</b>-the most well known and controversial of the strip club movies. Elizabeth Berkely played a small town gal who wanted to take Las Vegas by storm. Once in Vegas, she had to settle for dancing in strip clubs until she got her shot at being a showgirl in a topless revue. Pros-Liz and other actresses were full frontal for extended periods of time. Cons-Liz was pretty much pissed off in every scene she was in. The characters were poorly developed and unlikeable. Showgirls is good stroke material, but that's about it.</p> <p><b>Striptease</b>-Demi Moore played a single mother stripping to afford a lawyer so she could get her kids back in a custody dispute, and along the way she gets tangled up with a disreputable politician. Pros-if you're into HUGE surgically altered hooters-this is your movie. Demi lets her puppies loose a couple of times, but I had seen the natural Demi in About Last Night and I preferred the natural Demi. Cons-this movie is poorly written, none of it makes sense. It's obvious the on scene writer made so many changes that he lost track of continuity.</p> <p><b>Dancing at the Blue Iguana-</b>A quartet of dancers work a hole in the wall strip club. This movie was highly unusual in that there wasn't a script-the actresses developed their own story lines as they went along. Pros-Darly Hannah and another hottie bared flesh. Cons: That horse faced Sandra Oh from Grey's Anatomy did nude scenes. If that don't make your dick run and hide, then you're not the least bit squeamish. Also, the story lines are depressing and the movie seems to have been filmed under flourescent light.</p> <p><b>Closer</b>-Natalie Portman played a stripper involved in a complicated relationship with a guy who loved her unconditionally. Pros-It's hard to find any. Cons-where to begin? The first is that Natalie never stripped. She was onstage several times and once in VIP, but her goodies never saw the light of day. Also, the script was disjointed and rarely made sense. Not even woth seeing if you find this movie in a 99 cent bin.</p> <p>So, that was a quartet of movies reviewed and profiled to show how Hollywood doesn't understand strip clubs. One thing the above movies have in common is that the actresses involved did their &quot;research&quot; in Scores in New York City. It might've helped had the actresses did their research in a strip club mecca-like Houston, Atlanta, or Las Vegas. Since the directors had to rely on the actresses for continuity and reality, it's obvious why the final product suffered. It would be nice to have a realistic strip club movie, but until I hit a nine figure lotto, it won't happen.</p> </font>