Since the silent era, multitudes of movies about prostitutes have scorched the silver screen. It's no mystery as to why. Women with "loose morals" are simply more exciting than the average gal: they dress sluttier, they get naked more often and they know what they're doing in bed. And such titillation puts asses in seats and palms to meats.
Unfortunately, most Hollywood movies that chime in on the world's oldest profession turn out to be inaccurate -- oftentimes laughably so, other times dangerously so. They traffic most frequently in the "prostitute with a heart of gold" cliche, check out Elisabeth Shue in Leaving Las Vegas) or we see sensationally violent morality plays steeped in the "wages of sin," where the working girls sink into all manner of inhuman degradation (see Charlize Theron in Monster).
Having labored as a part-time call girl for about a year-and-a-half as of this writing, I really notice all the glaring garbage that fills most prostie-focused movies and TV shows. However, there are some truly realistic and entertaining "trick flicks" out there. A prostitution movie will get a thumbs-up in my book if there's a pro-prostitution/pro-legalization of prostitution message, if the women are portrayed as actual human beings, and if I don't feel like I'm watching an Afterschool Special. Oh, if the movie can offer me a few working tips, that's a plus too.
The following is a round-up of my favorite stand-outs:
BELLE DE JOUR (1967)
Starring: Catherine Deneuve
First (but not best) on my list is the 1967 French movie Belle de Jour, so named because our heroine Severine (played somewhat frigidly by Catherine Deneuve) (Picture: - 2 - 3) only works days at the brothel (it's a pun on "belle de nuit" -- "lady of the evening"). I found this film somewhat weak because of its strong "moral" ending, and its misguided reasoning that the only plausible reason why a nice girl would want to whore herself is because she was molested as a child. And she still feels dirty! And she wants to be punished! She can't bring herself to have "nice" sex with her husband (after all, they sleep in separate beds), so she gets her "feeling filthy" fix by working in a whorehouse. There are some nice fantasy sequences here, especially the part where Severine wears a black veil and gets in a coffin to satisfy a client's necrophilia fetish. But, before too long Severine has to pay for her transgressions. An obsessed client follows her home form work and shoots her husband, effectively turning him into a French doorstop. Good movie, lousy ending.
PRETTY WOMAN (1990)
Starring: Julia Roberts
Ah, the movie that inspired every little girl to dream of becoming a hooker in 1990, Pretty Woman (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4). Of course the story is utter fantasy: Julia Roberts is way too fine to be a street ho, and Richard Gere would probably have been shelling out his shekels at a high-class indoor joint anyway. But, I like how the subject is approached -- the hookers are represented as real people and not just gutter trash. Just a word to the wise, streetwalking is not a good way to meet men like Richard Gere or even mildly non-psychotic individuals for that matter.
PIMPS UP, HO'S DOWN (1999)
The gritty, urban and altogether hilarious lowbrow documentary Pimps Up, Ho's Down (1999) chronicles the journey from hardship to high-roller of several pimps through interviews conducted at the 1998 International Players Ball in Chicago. The misogyny of the pimps didn't make them very endearing, and there were times when I thought I was watching a sketch from Chapelle's Show. But, I was immensely entertained throughout the film and almost found myself almost respecting the guys for their ambition and disrespecting the women for working the streets and being pimped out in the first place. This movie offers a nice glimpse into a completely different prostitution culture than a white girl like me is used to. Get the director's cut if you can for some nice bush shots, and don't forget your shot glass for the "Pimps Up Ho's Down" drinking game. If you can down a shot every time a pimp says "YouknowwhutI'msayin," you'll be drunk before Mr. White Folks even shows his cracka ass up on screen!
WHORE (1991)
Starring: Theresa Russell
Madman director Ken Russell's Whore (1991) also deals with streetwalking and pimps. Apparently meant as a wicked satire of Pretty Woman, Theresa Russell (Picture: 1 - 2) plays another unbelievably gorgeous woman who, for some reason, has bypassed the high-end call girl route in favor of streetwalking and street-running from her pimp. Theresa looks straight into the camera for most of the film and gives some priceless tips on how to talk dirty to clients, how to turn down solicitations for unsafe sex, and so on. I didn't care for how many times she gets beat up -- the violence played as if it were intentional titillation. But, I'm sure this kind of thing happens all the time on the mean streets. I also did like the overall message of the film, which is, if prostitution were legal there wouldn't be a need for switchblade-wielding cokehead thugs to run the business. I was also happy that Theresa didn't have to "pay" for her sins at the end -- her pimp did. That gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.
I SHOT ANDY WARHOL
Starring: Lili Taylor, Martha Plimpton
My last "streetwalking" entry is the movie that really inspired me to try my hand at tricking in the first place, I Shot Andy Warhol (1996). Lili Taylor (Picture: 1), who portrays our heroine Valerie Solanis, isn't much of a looker, but she's a damn fine hooker! A total lesbo nutjob, Valerie works her way through college turning tricks and, once out of school, moves to New York City to pursue a writing career. In order to devote all her time to writing, Valerie continues her chosen profession so she can "cultivate the leisure class." I myself being a potty-mouth whacko writer with a penchant for loads of leisure time, identified with her and figured, if she could do that and afford rent at the Chelsea Hotel, so could I! This movie did not make me want to critically injure a pop artist, though I thought the ending might have been enhanced with a bloodbath at the famous Warhol Factory.
THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS (1982)
Starrring: Dolly Parton, Anne Gaybis, Terri Treas
Now for the girls who work indoors ... If only real whorehouses were like the Chicken Ranch portrayed in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)! Staffed by incredibly attractive women who sing and dance in between sessions, it was no wonder the actual place operated (practically legally) for 70 years. It also helps if the madam (Miss Mona, played by Dolly Parton (Picture: - 2)) is sleeping with the sheriff (played by Burt Reynolds -- fast-forward to when he sings!). This movie isn't really "good" in the way "good" movies are (I mean, it's got Jim Nabors and Dom DeLuise in it) but, it's probably the most loving portrayal of prostitution I've ever seen. The brothel is shown as a highly respected fixture in the community and the townspeople are genuinely sad to see it go. Miss Mona frequently contributes large sums to charity, wives encourage their husbands to go there (and get them out of their hair), and it's a time-honored tradition for the winning Texas college football team to travel en masse to Miss Mona's for their victory celebration. Yeee-ho!
WORKING GIRLS (1986)
Starring: Helen Nicholas, Louise Smith, Marusia Zach
Probably my favorite prostitution film (aside from Best Little Whorehouse) is Working Girls (1986) (Picture: 1 - 2 - - 4 - 5 - 6 - - 8), which neither glorifies the profession nor puts it down. It's just a true-to-life look at a day in the life of a high-end Manhattan brothel in the mid 1980s. No one has a molestation flashback, no one gets beat up or left to die in the gutter, no pimps show up, and the girls suffer no "moral" consequences. These are just regular women working a real job (albeit a rather different sort of job), dealing with the regular flak this job entails. The brothels' clients remind me a lot of the kind of guys I have seen: the weaselly businessman celebrating a new deal; the tacky disco-dressing guy who's made his money in construction; the shy college professor who doesn't know how to act around real women and seeks the advice of prostitutes; The distinguished older gentleman who graduated from Yale but likes to be dominated ... It all rings true. There's also lots of nice nudity. Since no one's getting their clothes ripped off by their pimp, the only other way to show skin is to actually depict sexual situations, a feat that this film powerfully pulls off.
PANDORA'S BOX (1929) / DIARY OF A LOST GIRL (1929)
As I mentioned earlier, prostitution has been a sure-fire box office draw since the dawn of cinema. Silent star Louise Brooks (aka "Lulu") left America for Berlin right around the time sound was coming in and made not one but two prostitution movies for German director G.W. Pabst in 1929: Pandora's Box (Picture: 1) and Diary of a Lost Girl. Not shocking by today's standards, this was real sizzling stuff in those days -- too hot for America even! In Pandora's Box, Lulu plays an evil, hedonistic dancer/seductress who destroys every man she with whom she canoodles. While simultaneously involved with a doctor and his son, Lulu also is chased by a lesbian admirer and has a pimp who impersonates her father. Sadly, Jack the Ripper kills her at the end, because they had to have some kind of moral to throw in. In Diary of a Lost Girl Lulu is raped and impregnated by a pharmacist, banished from her family, sent to an all-girls reform school (this is fun watching), put up in a brothel, then marries a Count and becomes royalty. That's what I call a happy ending!
MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969)
Starring: Slyvia Miles
Men interested in pursuing my line of employment might want to check out Midnight Cowboy (1969) (Picture: - 2 - 3). I enjoyed Jon Voight's portrayal of the somewhat dim Texas cowboy-turned-hustler who moves to New York City in pursuit of business from Park Avenue "rich bitches." I guess this was before the time of Screw magazine, or else there wasn't much of a demand for his services in the first place, but he doesn't do too well. Thereby, we see once again that prostitution is, indeed, woman's work. If men could make their livings as prostitutes there would be no other jobs! Men are probably just jealous, which may explain why prostitution is still illegal and why Hollywood keeps putting out less-than-affectionate portrayals of the most fun way anyone can possibly make money ....
