Stripper

I recently watched Stripper (1985) on Hulu. The "docuseries" follows a couple of ladies and their backstories as they prepare for the first-ever International G-String Tournament in Las Vegas. It delves into their troubles, motivations, and obstacles they face as strippers competing for the grand prize.

Directed by Jerome Gray (Traxx), the film features a vibrant cast of 80s strippers, capturing the era with fun hair, attire, and terminology. The interviews are well-executed, providing the audience with an intimate view of each character. The setup of the characters and their preparation is perfect, and the topless dance sequences are entertaining. While it's known that the contest was created for the film, the term "docuseries" might be a stretch, yet the realness of the girls adds great anticipation for the contest.

Unfortunately, the contest itself feels rushed. It would have been better to showcase more of the contestants who didn't win and provide a comprehensive overview of the scoring and related dramatics. The ending dances are fantastic, but the final reviews and conclusion feel rushed and somewhat unfulfilling. However, it's enjoyable to witness Vegas during this era.

In conclusion, Stripper is a fun docuseries that falls short of greatness but is worth watching once. I would score this a 5.5/10.

I remember when this video hit the old time Mom & Pop video stores in the mid 80s. It had a big promotion, large posters on the walls. Places that would not carry the harder sex videos carried these, or, if you were too embarrassed to go into the "back room", you could still rent this from the front. That's primarily it with this video. It was marketed that way and the box made it look like sleaze. Various strippers are shown and, as filler, we get to see the bahind the scenes of their lives. If it was JUST stripping, it wouldnt qualify as a hoity-toity "documentary" and would have been in that fabled back room. A Stripper's Convention was put together obviously by the video producers (It's a "First Annual"...c'mon ) as an excuse to have a grand stripoff at the end. It's a good look at where stripping was at back then. This was just before "Gentlemen's Clubs" became little more then steroid and silicone driven hard-body gynecology lessons. The ladies are pretty, the dancing may seem a little tame by "Showgirls" standards (which it would make a good double-feature with, call it the "Fast-Forward Film Festival").

I get the feeling the producers had seen "Rocky" recently.

Cinemax put this into their late night, dirty movie lineup a decade or so ago, and it sounded interesting so I watched it. Definately memorable, I've thought a lot about it since, recommended it to people, and no I don't remember much of the naked women (they would strip down to a G-string, I recall.)

Instead it was great to see people in one of the less-well-regarded professions, eagerly competing to be "the best!" for different personal reasons, not the least of which was to just be the best. A lot of planning, and psyching up, and working out, and along the way telling life stories.

One asks her boss, the night club owner, for a few days off to be in the contest. Maybe he didn't realize that she would be a much better draw after being a "world class contestant", because he said no. She had to quit to go, and the viewer wonders how that will work out when the contest is over.

Whether it's titallating is up to you. A memorable sequence is the dancer who hired a personal trainer, got up early every morning, put on a sweat suit, and did a long distance run/job to tone up and slim down. Lot of pounding the pavement, boring exercising, not really too stimulating for the viewer, right?

Or the two that were working a route in Canada, taking the train from one mill town to another. Interesting how they could get off the train, and get to talking to the men in the town quickly, asking really old geezers "you're going to come see my show tonight, right?"

The one who talked about her finances -- strippers don't have that long (maybe to age 40) to make their money. She had been doing okay, but witlessly signed her money over to a scum-boyfriend, now long vanished with the loot, and now she works because she has a little girl. Winning the contest might help her recover financially.

Truthfully, I loved the stories here, maybe you will, too. It plays like a female "Rocky", only "Stripper" was the real thing.

The overall story is pretty mild. Life as usual for some women.

For the viewer it can be fascinating to get glimpses into that life. Sure, the scenes seem to be well dressed and not very realistic. But in the moralist context I doubt anyone can show the real footage for the simple reason that the two gangs accept only the extremes: the glamour or the gross and the disgusting. Not taking sides would mean having both gangs against you. And from this stand point the production team does a good job not leaning in any direction.

Also, it's hard to imagine how they did it without the tech common for the 2018.

This movie was interesting to me because it showed the behind-the-scenes of strippers' life, which I knew nothing about. I just thought it was a sleazy profession that degrades women, and never thought about the women themselves. I found the story of the single mother especially touching.

This movie revealed to me the sad and human, and sometimes satisfying, side of this profession. There was, of course, some peeping in watching it, but I didn't get aroused by the naked women - it is Not a porno movie, it is a Documentary.

I'm not saying that I'm going to be a stripper myself after I've seen it, but that I view strippers more humanly. All I need now is to watch a movie about the motives of men watching strippers, and maybe that'll change my mind about them too.