Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
![]() |
Julia Query | ... | Self - Stripper |
![]() |
Jane | ... | Self - Stripper |
![]() |
Siobhan Brooks | ... | Self - Stripper (as Siobhan) |
![]() |
Kristina | ... | Self - Stripper |
![]() |
Ellen | ... | Self - Stripper |
![]() |
Darrell | ... | Self - General Manager, Lusty Lady (as Darrell) |
![]() |
Scott | ... | Self - Support Staff |
![]() |
Star | ... | Self - Stripper |
![]() |
Joyce Wallace | ... | Self - Julia's Mother (as Dr. Joyce Wallace) |
![]() |
Stephanie Batey | ... | Self - SEIU Negotiator |
![]() |
Velvette | ... | Self - Stripper |
![]() |
Elise | ... | Self - Support Staff |
![]() |
Johanna | ... | Self - Stripper |
![]() |
Isis | ... | Self - Stripper |
![]() |
Summer | ... | Self - Stripper |
Documentary look at the 1996-97 effort of the dancers and support staff at a San Francisco peep show, The Lusty Lady, to unionize. Angered by arbitrary and race-based wage policies, customers' surreptitious video cameras, and no paid sick days or holidays, the dancers get help from the Service Employees International local and enter protracted bargaining with the union-busting law firm that management hires. We see the women work, sort out their demands, and go through the difficulties of bargaining. The narrator is Julia Query, a dancer and stand-up comedian who is reluctant to tell her mother, a physician who works with prostitutes, that she strips. Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
I taped this like any good Australian male seeing something advertised with Nudity on SBS (Special Broadcasting Service, world channel). Having been used to getting such great films as the Weather Girl and Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down, how could I go wrong with Live Nude Girls Unite!?
I did. The titillation factor went clear out the window when I started getting really ticked at how these beautiful (in all ways), intelligent women were being handled like a commodity. I started rooting (ahem) for them, wishing their union on, wanting to start my own strip club so I can run it properly!
Such is the skill of a good documentary. Yes I'll admit the film quality isn't going to put Dreamworks out of business, but the girls struggles to have decent work ethics is astonishing.
See it, not for titillation, but to watch the underdog struggle. It's good watching the oppressed win, and this has it in truckloads.