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This article is about the film Showgirls. For a dancer/performer, see Showgirl.
Showgirls is a 1995 film directed by Paul Verhoeven. It stars former teen actress Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan and Gina Gershon. The film centres on a drifter who ventures to Las Vegas and climbs the seedy hierarchy from stripper to showgirl.
Significant controversy and hype surrounding the film's amounts of sex and nudity preceded its release. In the United States, the movie was rated NC-17 for "nudity and erotic sexuality throughout, some graphic language and sexual violence." Showgirls was the first and only NC-17 rated film to be given a wide release in mainstream theaters.[2] United Artists dispatched several hundred staffers to theatres across the United States playing Showgirls
in order to assure that patrons would not be sneaking into the theater
from other films, and to make sure the film goers were over the age of
17. It is often listed as one of the worst films ever made.
Though the movie did not do well in theaters, Showgirls enjoyed success on the home video market, generating more than $100 million from video rentals [3] and became one of MGM's top 20 all-time bestsellers.[4] For its video premiere, Verhoeven prepared an R-rated
cut for rental outlets that would not carry NC-17 films. This edited
version runs 128 minutes and deletes some of the more graphic footage,
in particular frames from the infamous lap dance sequence and love scene between Nomi and Zach. Showgirls has since become regarded as a cult classic. It was released on Blu-ray for the first time in June 2010.[5]
When we first meet Nomi Malone (Elizabeth Berkeley), she's
hitch-hiking in Nevada. A shady country-boy tries to hit on her after he
gives her a lift, but Nomi shows she's someone not to mess with when
she pulls out a knife. After having a near-accident, the two agree to
behave themselves and they drive to Las Vegas. After the country-boy
takes off with her suitcase, leaving Nomi stranded and broke, she meets
up with Molly (Gina Rivera), who saves her life when Nomi wanders in
traffic.
After talking and discovering Nomi does not have any family or place
to go, Molly takes her in. Nomi gets a job as a stripper at the sleazy
Cheetah's Topless Club; she considers herself a dancer, and the Cheetah
is a place where she can do this and still make a living.
While out dancing for fun at a nightclub called The Crave Club, Nomi meets a bouncer named James (Glenn Plummer).
James admires her dancing and Nomi is flattered until he dares to
criticize what she's doing. In retaliation, Nomi kicks him between the
legs and he falls into another patron, sparking a brawl. Nomi delights
in what she's done, smiling to herself as all the men begin to throw
punches, until someone recognizes her as the instigator and she's taken
to jail. James bails her out the next morning, but Nomi still won't
forgive him for his comments.
One night, Nomi accompanies Molly backstage at Goddess, the topless
Vegas show at the Stardust where Molly works as the costume seamstress.
Since it is Nomi's dream to be a showgirl, she is thrilled to watch the
show and see the backstage area. Molly introduces her to Cristal Connors
(Gina Gershon),
the diva-like star of the show. Molly tells Cristal that Nomi is a
dancer as well, but when Nomi tells her she dances at the Cheetah,
Cristal derisively tells Nomi that what she does is akin to
prostitution. Nomi becomes furious, and her reaction intrigues Cristal,
who is bisexual and apparently attracted to Nomi.
The next evening, Cristal and her boyfriend Zach (Kyle MacLachlan),
the entertainment director at the Stardust, visit the Cheetah and pay
Nomi $500 for a lap dance. Nomi does not want to do the private dance,
for fear it will prove her to be the prostitute Cristal made her out to
be, but is forced to do so by her manager, much to her embarrassment.
James, who lurks in the Cheetah and sees Nomi performing her private
dance with Zack and Cristal, confronts Nomi at her home the next day. He
feels that Nomi has too much talent to be performing as a stripper, not
to mention that he, too, considers it to be something similar to
prostitution. Nomi angrily rebuffs him once more.
Nomi later discovers Cristal has arranged for her to have an audition
as an ensemble dancer in Goddess. At the audition, the callous director
of Goddess, Tony Moss (Alan Rachins),
refers to Nomi as "Pollyanna" because of her outfit. Nomi dashes
backstage, removes her blouse, and dances in her underwear, but she
notices Cristal watching silently from the darkened theater. When Nomi
is told to use ice to make her nipples hard for the second part of the
audition, she gets upset and leaves. Cristal approaches her as she cries
backstage, and Nomi tells Cristal that she hates her. Leaving the
Stardust upset, Nomi finds James working as a bellhop and he takes her
back to his apartment. They have an intimate moment as James
demonstrates a dance number that he conceived in honor of Nomi and her
career as a private dancer.
Despite the audition, Nomi gets the job and immediately quits the
Cheetah. She excitedly rushes over to tell James about her new job, but
she finds him having an intimate moment with another woman; ironically,
one of her co-dancers at the Cheetah. Meeting with the producers of
Goddess, Nomi wears a brand new dress she bought at Versace,
mispronouncing it "Vur-SAYSS" in front of everyone. Nobody corrects her
on it except Zach, who tells her she looks beautiful and has great
taste.
Cristal calls a truce and takes Nomi out for lunch, and they discover
they have similar backgrounds. Cristal, however, calls Nomi a whore
again, which Nomi angrily denies. The way Cristal sees it, they are all
whores because they exchange sexual titillation for cash. Cristal also
acknowledges that she is attracted to Nomi, but Nomi does not consider
herself bisexual. Nevertheless, she allows Cristal to engage her in an
erotic dance when they are alone, allowing Cristal to pull down her top
and caress her bare breasts. As she leans in for a kiss, Cristal sneers
at her "See, darlin? You ARE a whore." Nomi storms out again in a fury.
From this point on, the two are rivals once more. Cristal repeatedly
takes malicious swipes at Nomi in a never-ending attempt to portray Nomi
as a cheap whore, including sending Nomi on a promotional appearance
with Zach's assistant, Phil Newkirk (Greg Travis).
Cristal knows from experience that Nomi will be approached to have sex
for cash. Nomi furiously rejects Phil's proposition and she mistakenly
thinks she has an ally in Zach, who pretends to bawl Phil out over the
incident.
One night, Nomi agrees to a car ride from Zach, and they end up at
his large estate. Nomi seduces Zach, and they have sex in his swimming
pool. As Nomi leaves the next morning, Zack mentions that there is an
audition for Cristal's understudy—-a rivalry between two other showgirls
has led to an onstage sabotage incident, where one of the rivals breaks
her knee. Zach tells Nomi she should try out for the position.
At the audition, Cristal senses a shift in the tide; Zach suggests
Nomi as Cristal's understudy, and the choreographer agrees that Nomi has
what it takes. Tony Moss disagrees but makes a remark about Cristal's
age. Cristal also finds out that Zach slept with Nomi, and Zach gloats
over it. When Nomi gets the position, Cristal is furious, and Nomi feels
she finally has the upper hand. As a result, Cristal threatens to leave
the show, and the producers reverse their decision. Nomi is, of course,
furious; her clumsy grab for power has alienated most of the other
dancers, and now Cristal seems to be in control.
Nomi goes to see James perform his number at the Crave Club, where he
and his co-dancers are booed off the stage. James takes it fairly well,
telling Nomi that he is giving up dancing to work in a grocery store
now that his girlfriend is pregnant. Nomi bids him farewell.
During the performance of Goddess that night, Cristal taunts Nomi
about her disappointment. As the dancers leave the stage, Nomi
impulsively pushes Cristal down a flight of stairs, injuring her badly
and sending her to the hospital. Molly knows Nomi pushed Cristal, but
another dancer backs up Nomi's story and pretends that she saw the whole
thing. With Cristal unable to perform, Nomi ends up getting Cristal's
lead in the show, where she makes a dazzling debut and is suddenly the
talk of the town.
Things seem to be going well for Nomi; she has finally secured the
fame and fortune she initially sought. However, at the opening night
party, Molly is brutally raped and beaten by famous musician Andrew
Carver (William Shockley)
and his two security guards. Molly is taken to the hospital to treat
her injuries, and Zach tells Nomi that they will give Molly some money
to keep quiet; their primary interest is in protecting their
high-profile celebrity client, not in seeking justice for Molly. Zach
then confronts Nomi with the truth he has just discovered: Nomi is
actually a runaway and former prostitute named Polly Ann Costello; her
father murdered her mother and then killed himself, and she has been arrested several times for drug possession, prostitution, and assault with a deadly weapon.
Finally confronted with her seedy past and frightened at who she has
become and what lies ahead, Nomi decides to flee Las Vegas but not
before she pays a visit to Andrew Carver. Because Carver has made
propositions to her from the moment he met her, Nomi has no problem
inviting herself up to his hotel room. She walks into the room wearing
thighboots. Once they are alone, she strips for him, but then pulls out a
switchblade and swears that she will kill him if he makes a sound. She
then brutally kicks him in the face repeatedly with her boots. He begs
her to stop kicking him. However, she shows absolutely no mercy and
continues her vicious assault. She callously and savagely kicks him in
the face with her boots many more times until he is unconscious. Later,
Nomi bids goodbye to a semi-conscious Molly, informing her that she
obtained some kind of vengeance for her. Nomi also visits the hospital
room of Cristal, who doesn't seem particularly bitter about Nomi's
stunt. Cristal tells Nomi that she, too, got ahead by similar means.
"There's always someone younger and hungrier than you coming down the
stairs after you," Cristal says. Nomi says goodbye, but grants Cristal a
passionate kiss before she leaves.
The movie comes full circle when Nomi coincidentally hitches a ride
to Los Angeles with the very same guy who robbed her in the beginning
and attacks him for what he did to her, and both drive in the direction
of LA.
[edit] Reception
Showgirls' subject matter was relatively controversial: rape, lesbianism, and interracial relationships were just some of the topics explored. The film's gratuitous nudity, simulated sex, and $2 million screenplay[6] (written by Joe Eszterhas,
who had worked with director Paul Verhoeven before) did not lend itself
to what might have been a provocative film. The 1998 film Burn Hollywood Burn, also written by Eszterhas, contains a reference to Showgirls as a "terrible" film.
Showgirls received a 14% positive on the film-critics aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes. Roger Ebert wrote that Showgirls received "some bad reviews, but it wasn't completely terrible".[7] Despite Ebert's views, the movie was heralded as one of cinema's worst, winning seven 1995 Golden Raspberry Awards
or "Razzies" (from a record 13 nominations). Verhoeven gamely appeared
in person at the Razzies ceremony to accept his award for Worst
Director; Showgirls would later win a record-setting eighth Razzie Award for Worst Picture of the Last Decade in 2000.
Due to Showgirls' poor reception, Striptease, a 1996 film about nude dancers starring Demi Moore, had to be distanced from Showgirls in advertisements;[8] Striptease nonetheless won the next year's Razzie Award for Worst Picture. Rena Riffel, who played Penny/Hope in Showgirls, also was cast in Striptease, as Tiffany Glass.
The term "Showgirls-bad" has been adopted by film critics and fans to refer to films considered guilty pleasures, or "so-bad-they're-good".[9][10][11] To date Showgirls holds the honor of being the highest-grossing NC-17 production earning $20,350,754 at the North American Box Office.[12]
[edit] Cult status
Since its release, the movie has achieved cult status. According to writer Naomi Klein, ironic
enjoyment of the film initially arose among those with the video before
MGM capitalized on the idea. MGM noticed the video was performing well
because "trendy twenty-somethings were throwing Showgirls irony
parties, laughing sardonically at the implausibly poor screenplay and
shrieking with horror at the aerobic sexual encounters".[13]
Showgirls is shown at midnight movies alongside such films as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It is heralded as one of the best "bad movies", a camp classic in the vein of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Although the film was not successful when first released theatrically, it generated more than $100 million from video rentals [3] and became one of MGM's top 20 all-time bestsellers.[14]
The rights to show the movie on TV were eventually purchased by the VH1 network. However, because of the film's rampant, gratuitous nudity, a censored version was created with black bras and panties digitally rendered to hide all exposed breasts and genitals. Also, several scenes were removed entirely. Berkley refused to redub her lines,[citation needed] so a noticeably different actress' voice can be heard on the soundtrack.
As revealed on the DVD release, a sign showing the distance to Los
Angeles in the last shot of the film hinted at a sequel in which Nomi
takes on Hollywood. The film was also ranked #36 on Entertainment Weekly magazine's "The Top 50 Cult Movies list.[15]
Recent years have seen a reevaluation of the movie's merits. Critics such as Jonathan Rosenbaum and Charles Taylor, as well as filmmaker Jacques Rivette, have gone on the record defending Showgirls as a serious satire. Actor Patrick Bristow, who plays choreographer Marty, defended the movie as "not that bad" except "that horrible rape scene."[citation needed] Quentin Tarantino has stated that he enjoyed Showgirls,
referring to it as the "only [...] other time in the last twenty years
[that] a major studio made a full-on, gigantic, big-budget exploitation movie", comparing it to Mandingo.[16]
Showgirls has been compared to the 1950 film All About Eve as a remake, update, or ripoff of that film.[17]
[edit] Awards
The film earned a record thirteen Razzie nominations in 1996, and would take home a whopping seven awards—a record later tied by Battlefield Earth in 2001. Showgirls would later win an eighth Razzie in 2000; Battlefield Earth would again tie this number in 2005. (The single-year record of seven Razzies was broken when the film I Know Who Killed Me won eight awards in 2008, and the all-time record was broken again when Battlefield Earth won a ninth Razzie in 2010.)
[edit] DVD releases
In 2004, MGM released "The V.I.P. Edition" of Showgirls in a special boxed set containing two shot glasses, movie cards with drinking games on the back, a deck of playing cards, and a nude poster of Berkley with a pair of suction-cup pasties so viewers can play "pin the pasties on the showgirl."
The DVD itself includes several bonus features, including a "how-to"
tutorial for giving a lapdance hosted by real strippers, and a special
"trivia track" feature that can be turned on or off. When left on, it
adds humorous comments and factoids in the vein of VH1's Pop Up Video that relate to the scenes as they play out. It also includes "The Greatest Movie Ever Made: a commentary by David Schmader."
In 2007, MGM re-released the V.I.P. edition DVD without the physical extras.
On June 15, 2010, MGM released a 15th Anniversary "Sinsational Edition" in a two-disc dual-format Blu-ray/DVD edition.[18]
This edition contains most of the same bonus features as the VIP
edition DVD, except the trivia text feature has been reformatted. The
NC-17 edit of the film is used.
The trivia track on the 2010 edition contains some errors, such as a
statement that some of the dancers featured in the film were recruited
from the XFL football league cheerleaders, an impossibility as the XFL wasn't formed until 2000.
The film is classified as R18 in New Zealand for its violence, offensive language and sex scenes.
[edit] References
- ^ Charles Evans at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ Weinraub, Bernard (July 21, 1995). "First Major Film With an NC-17 Rating Is Embraced by the Studio – New York Times". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE7DB1E31F932A15754C0A963958260. Retrieved 2008-05-21.
- ^ a b Wiser, Paige. "The beauty of 'Showgirls'", Chicago Sun-Times, July 27, 2004
- ^ "MGM's official page for Showgirls DVD". Web.archive.org. 2007-04-28. Archived from the original on 2007-04-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20070428172642/http://www.mgm.com/title_title.php?title_star=SHOWGRLS. Retrieved 2010-11-25.
- ^ Rochlin, Margy (May 25, 2008). "Step by Step, the Showgirl Must Go On". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/arts/dance/25roch.html. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
- ^ Maureen Dowd, "Bucks and Blondes: Joe Eszterhas Lives The Big Dream", New York Times, May 30, 1993.
- ^ Ebert, Roger. "An Alan Smithee Film Burn Hollywood Burn", Chicago Sun-Times, February 27, 1998.
- ^ Nashawaty, Chris. "Demi Goes Undercover: Moore's 'Striptease' Bumps into Trouble", Entertainment Weekly 04/26/96. Retrieved 16 August 2006.
- ^ "Anonymous review of ''Catwoman''". Porktartare.com. http://www.porktartare.com/sight/sight_reviews.html. Retrieved 2010-11-25.
- ^ "Anonymous review of ''Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows'' by". Exclaim.ca. http://www.exclaim.ca/index.asp?layid=22&csid=5&csid1=390. Retrieved 2010-11-25.
- ^ Sternbergh, Adam. "Springtime for the Undulating Curve of Shifting Expectations!" New York Magazine March 26, 2006
- ^ "Domestic Grosses by MPAA Rating – NC-17". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/domestic/mpaa.htm?page=NC-17&p=.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
- ^ Klein, Naomi, No Logo, Vintage Canada Edition, 2000, p. 79.
- ^ "– MGM's official page for Showgirls DVD->". Web.archive.org. 2007-04-28. Archived from the original on 2007-04-28. http://web.archive.org/web/20070428172642/http://www.mgm.com/title_title.php?title_star=SHOWGRLS. Retrieved 2010-11-25.
- ^ "The Cult 25: The Essential Left-Field Movie Hits Since '83". Entertainment Weekly. September 3, 2008. http://www.filmsite.org/cultfilmsew2.html. Retrieved 2008-09-04.
- ^ Udovitch, Mim (1998). "Mim Udovitch/1996". In Peary, Gerald. Quentin Tarantino: Interviews. Univ. Press of Mississippi. pp. 172–173. ISBN 1578060516.
- ^ "Showgirls Review - Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension". Jabootu.com. http://www.jabootu.com/acolytes/brandiweed/showgirls.htm. Retrieved 2010-11-25.
- ^ "Showgirls 15th Anniversary Blu-ray Announced". April 12, 2010. http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=4424. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
[edit] Further reading
- Parish, James Robert (2006). Fiasco – A History of Hollywood’s Iconic Flops. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 359 pages.. ISBN 978-0-471-69159-4.
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