Showgirls (1995, Elizabeth Berkley, Gina Gershon)

‘I’m erect,’ claims one character as the festival of flesh turns sour. ‘Why aren’t you?’. The answer lie in the distinctly deadpan gyrations and dialogue of a movie that has become a cult curio. Nomi (Elizabeth Berkely) hitches to Vegas to become a star but the driver steals her suitcase and she loses her money at the casino. In desperation she vandalizes a car whose owner Molly (Gina Ravera) eventually succumbs to the hard-luck story and gives her a home. She finds work as a lap dancer but is tempted toward the upmarket Cheetah Club, where Molly works.

The club’s star Cristal Connors (Gina Gershon) makes her acquaintance, and after humiliating and testing Nomi, she is allowed to audition for the big show, Goddess. Plotting to be the understudy to Cristal, Nomi fails, gaining revenge by pushing the diva down stairs in order to win the limelight. But her success will be short-lived, and have a high price…

Adult content and candid dialogue attracted a NC-17 rating, with rural American cinemas refusing to screen the film (and producing one of Variety’s best ever headlines, ‘Sticks Nix Naughty Pix’). Verhoeven had expected a rough ride, and waived most of his $6 million fee until the project was in profit.

Eszterhas did not, and was attacked for lines of the ‘I’m not a whore, I’m a dancer’ calibre. In the roles originally intended for Madonna and Drew Barrymore, Gershon and Berkley attempt at lesbian intrigue fails to replicate Basic Instinct , with audiences attracted with a pathologist’s glee for possible cult film status.

United Artists agreed, and repackaged the film for late night LA screenings in the mode of The Rocky Horror Show , with drag queens hired to hold cue cards and lap dance with the audience. ‘Gina Gershon was here last Saturday’, admitted one. ‘I don’t know if Elizabeth will come’, she added. ‘But I hope so’.

production details
FR, US | 131 minutes | 1995
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Script: Joe Eszterhas,

cast
Elizabeth Berkley as Nomi Malone
Kyle MacLachlan as Zack Carey
Gina Gershon as Cristal Connors
Glenn Plummer as James Smith
Robert Davi as Al Torres
Alan Rachins as Tony Moss
Gina Ravera as Molly Abrams
Lin Tucci as Henrietta ‘Mama’ Bazoom
Greg Travis as Phil Newkirk
Al Ruscio as Mr. Karlman
Patrick Bristow as Marty Jacobsen
William Shockley as Andrew Carver
Bobbie Phillips as Dee
Dewey Weber as Jeff
Rena Riffel as Penny/Hope
Michelle Johnston as Gay Carpenter
Lisa Boyle as Sonny
Jack McGee as Jack
Caroline Key Johnson as Nadia
Julie Pop as Nurse
Jacob Witkin as Caesar
Kristen Knittle as Al Torres’ Girl
Carrie Ann Inaba as Goddess Dancer
Ashley Nation as Julie’s Daughter
Kevin Stea as Daryl (as Kevin Stea)