Stripper

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.

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").

Here's ol' RavenGlamDVDCollector@gmail.com again reviewing something he saw decades ago, and therefore cannot vividly recall, and there is but a snowball's chance in hell to ever see this on DVD. I encountered something like an offer to digitally download this, but you have to be a subscriber and you'll need a computer and installations and technical know-how and if anybody out there could help me, I'd gladly reward you, name your price.

STRIPPER is a documentary featuring girls competing for the Golden G-string award, not for this in itself, but as a springboard for their careers, be that as models or dancers, and with hindsight I didn't have back then, I suppose as porno stars or high- class call girls or whatever. Point is, these girls are all psyched up to win that trophy (while it is, of course, something of a questionable honor, especially to their more well-off fortunate sisters). Us menfolk do not complain, we got to see lots of bare flesh, but the real nudity in this one is the girls' tormented souls. Which makes for quite a view. This is the forerunner of reality shows, a prototype that could hardly be lived up to, as this is the really real thing, and involves bare skin by the score.

By today's standards, judging from snippets seen on the Net, the hairstyles are totally outdated, and this does make it seem like antique material, but, gee whiz oh golly shucks, what I wouldn't give to see this again, wow!

She's got style, she's got grace, she's got long, long legs, she's got savoir faire... I remember that song clearly, although it's been about 23 years since I last saw the film. It was released on the South African video circuit around 1991, I think. At a time when our very strict, absolutely Draconian censorship laws were cooling off. There was no chance whatsoever to see it here legally during it's year of origin. Americans have no idea how fortunate they are to have grown up with freedom of choice.

To try and get back to an actual review, there is this very emotional scene at the end with a shattered dream, a dashed hope, a contestant being consoled by her mother. Ain't no reality show ever which can beat that, people!

Yet, for some reason, this screen gem is mostly just collecting dust somewhere. Release it on DVD, aim it exclusively at the video rent market as a classic of a by-gone era, just ensure there's a pretty girl on the box cover... (sigh, sob)

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 is a "documentary" about female strippers who are taking part in a stripping contest. (Do such contests exist?) Most of the women who are featured in the film are reasonably good-looking, and you do get to see them perform. This is definitely one to be watched with one finger on the pause button, if you know what I mean.