Striptease
A nude woman sits down and looks straight at the camera. Beside her is the tagline "Some people get into trouble no matter what they wear." while the film's title and credits are below her.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAndrew Bergman
Screenplay byAndrew Bergman
Based onStrip Tease
by Carl Hiaasen
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyStephen Goldblatt
Edited byAnne V. Coates
Music byHoward Shore
Production
companies
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release dates
  • June 23, 1996 (1996-06-23) (Premiere)
  • June 28, 1996 (1996-06-28) (United States)
Running time
117 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$50 million[2]
Box office$113.3 million[3]

Striptease is a 1996 American black comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by Andrew Bergman,[4] and starring Demi Moore, Armand Assante, Ving Rhames, Robert Patrick and Burt Reynolds. Based on Floridian crime writer Carl Hiaasen's 1993 best-selling novel of the same name, the film centers on an FBI secretary-turned-stripper who becomes involved in both a child-custody dispute and corrupt politics.

Moore was paid a then-unprecedented $12.5 million to star in Striptease, making her the highest-paid film actress up to that time.[5] Released theatrically on June 28, 1996, by Columbia Pictures and produced by Castle Rock Entertainment, the film grossed $113 million worldwide against its $50 million budget. However, it was panned by critics, won six Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture, and has come to be evaluated as one of the worst movies ever made.[6][7][8] The debacle of the film marked a downturn in Moore's career.[8]

Plot

Former FBI secretary Erin Grant loses custody of her seven-year-old daughter Angela to her ex-husband Darrell, having recently lost her job because of his arrest record, as he was a drug addict who dealt in illegal drugs. To obtain the $15,000 needed to afford an appeal to retrieve her, Erin becomes a stripper at the Eager Beaver strip club in Miami. She attempts to probe his whereabouts from his older sister Rita, as he often relocates without informing Erin and uses Angela to steal wheelchairs from hospitals before selling them on the black market.

Congressman David Lane Dilbeck, representing Florida's 5th congressional district, visits the club and becomes infatuated with Erin. Aware of Dilbeck's embarrassing indulgences, another Eager Beaver patron, Jerry Killian, approaches Erin with a plan to manipulate Dilbeck in order to settle the custody battle and help her get Angela back. However, as he is the chairman of the subcommittee on sugar, Dilbeck has powerful business connections, including lobbyist Malcolm J. Moldowsky, his right-hand man, and father-and-son politicians Willie and Chris Rojo, who want to ensure he remains in office, as the Rojos' price supports are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Consequently, those who could potentially humiliate him in an election are murdered.

Attorney Alan Mordecai, who has acquired photos of the night when Dilbeck became intoxicated at the club and assaulted fellow patron Paul Guber, his client, invites Shad, a bouncer and the club's head of security, to join him in a scheme to blackmail Dilbeck. Meanwhile, Jerry turns up dead in Lake Okeechobee while Miami Police Department Lieutenant Al Garcia is on vacation there with his wife Donna and son Andy, and an autopsy reveals that he was drowned in tap water before being discarded in the lake. Realizing that Jerry was murdered both for contacting Malcolm to blackmail Dilbeck and for having photos of Erin all over his apartment, Garcia, fully sympathetic to Erin's plight, ventures to the Eager Beaver; she asks him to ensure that the Dade County police department drops Darrell as an informant for the vice squad, so that during her appeal he can be exposed as a criminal, and he complies. However, L.W. Fingerhut, the judge overseeing Erin's case in civil court, suffers a fatal heart attack and is pronounced dead on arrival at Don Shula Hospital, causing her appeal to be delayed by six months. Meanwhile, Erin retrieves Angela from Darrell's negligent care, having found his address from mail stolen from Rita.

Alan approaches Dilbeck with the picture from the Eager Beaver, thus agitating Malcolm. After Erin takes Angela to work, Darrell ambushes her in her car outside the club at knifepoint, but Shad rescues her by breaking his arm. After Erin finishes her shift, Garcia arrives, shows Erin the photo being used to blackmail Dilbeck, who is infatuated with her, and tells her to contact him if Dilbeck threatens her.

Dilbeck's personal interest in Erin persists, and she is invited to perform privately for him. He asks her to become his lover and later his wife, despite his staff becoming increasingly concerned. Malcolm threatens Erin with putting Angela in state care if Erin talks about Dilbeck to anyone. Eventually, Alan turns up dead, increasing Garcia's concern for Erin. Dilbeck and Malcolm then debate about whether to kill Erin or simply keep her quiet by threatening to take away her daughter. However, Erin and Garcia begin to suspect the congressman's complicity in the murders, and she concocts a plan to trap him. Malcolm, aware of their partnership and her background, asks Dilbeck to invite Erin for another private show, planning to kill her afterwards. Erin goes for the private dance by herself, but an intoxicated Darrell intervenes and hits Malcolm. En route to the Belle Glade Refinery, she forces Darrell to write a note releasing custody of Angela to her and once there, she tricks Dilbeck into confessing to the murders on tape. As Malcolm arrives, Garcia serendipitously appears, and Dilbeck is soon after arrested. Erin, having regained both full custody of Angela and her job in the FBI, thanks Garcia and Shad for assisting her and expresses interest to Garcia in potentially running for Congress as Dilbeck's replacement.

Cast

  • Demi Moore as Erin Grant, a former FBI secretary who is the most popular stripper of the Eager Beaver, a well-attended strip club in Miami, Florida
  • Armand Assante as Lieutenant Al Garcia
  • Ving Rhames as "Shad", the Eager Beaver's head of security
  • Robert Patrick as Darrell Grant, Erin's ex-husband
  • Burt Reynolds as Congressman David Lane Dilbeck, a powerful and corrupt congressman obsessed with Erin
  • Paul Guilfoyle as Malcolm J. Moldowsky, a lobbyist and Dilbeck's right-hand man
  • Jerry Grayson as Orly, the manager of the Eager Beaver
  • Rumer Willis as Angela Grant, Erin's daughter
  • Robert Stanton as Erb Crandal, Dilbeck's executive assistant
  • William Hill as Jerry Killian, an Eager Beaver patron who offers to help Erin retrieve Angela
  • Stuart Pankin as Alan Mordecai, an attorney whose office is located above the Porpoise Video store
  • Dina Spybey as Monique Jr., a sexy and popular foreign stripper hailing from Paris, France
  • PaSean Wilson as Sabrina Hepburn
  • Pandora Peaks as Urbana Sprawl, a popular stripper from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  • Barbara Alyn Woods as Lorelei, a stripper and recent transfer to the Eager Beaver from the Flesh Farm, a rival strip club
  • Kimberly Flynn as Ariel Sharon ("Miss Gaza Strip"), formerly a decorated nurse in the Israeli army
  • Rena Riffel as Tiffany Glass
  • Siobhan Fallon as Rita Grant, Erin's ex-sister-in-law
  • Gary Basaraba as Alberto, Rita's partner and a security guard at a nearby nuclear power plant

Gianni Russo and José Zúñiga play father-and-son politicians Willie & Chris Rojo, while Eduardo Yáñez and Antoni Corone appear as bodyguards Chico & Nico. Frances Fisher also makes a small appearance as Lieutenant Garcia's wife, Donna, while writer/director and co-producer Andrew Bergman's son Teddy appears as the couple's son Andy and co-producer Mike Lobell's daughter Anna appears as a clerk at Porpoise Video. Assante's cousin Marco, in addition to serving as his personal assistant on the film, appears as a patron at the Eager Beaver, and Keone Young appears as Ling, owner and manager of the Flesh Farm.

Production

The screenplay itself was written by Andrew Bergman, who also directed. According to one critic, the novel's plot is "quite faithfully followed" by the screenplay, but in bringing the complicated story to the screen, "Bergman forgets to explain persuasively what a nice girl like Erin – smart, spunky and a former FBI employee – is doing in a dump called the Eager Beaver."[9]

"Striptease was hard because the tone was so crazy," explained Bergman. "How do you stay true to the tone? You have to be true to those strip clubs. There's always some woman with like 50 triple-Ds, they always advertise, and you have to have someone like that. To actually see it, you’re walking this fine line. I didn't want to sanitize it, and I didn't, and I got my ass kicked for it." He also admitted, "I loved the book, and the funny thing was, [author Carl] Hiaasen loved the movie. He thought it was really, really true to the book, which I wanted to do! I don't regret it. I was treated like a freakin’ child molester for making that movie, but so be it."[10]

Casting

Demi Moore played Erin Grant in the film.

When asked about casting Demi Moore in the film, Bergman described, "Is Demi the funniest person in the world? No. Would the movie have been made without her? Probably not. No other major star was willing to take her clothes off, and I was not going to do a TNT version of Striptease with people running around in swimsuits."[10]

To prepare for her role as the main female character Erin Grant, Moore visited strip clubs in New York City, California and Florida, and she met with strippers. She also read the novel, exercised, and practiced yoga.[11] Moore was cast before other important parts were cast, creating some interest in the project.[12] In the first attempt at filming Moore stripping, two hundred extras were used to portray the audience. Although their salaries were small, many accepted the role to see Moore nude. After waiting for a while, when Moore finally appeared and started dancing the crowd turned so loud and wild that the shooting had to temporarily cease. As Moore said, "After my experience, I felt very confident."[11]

The filmmakers, in trying actors out for the part of Shad, sought someone "at least 6'2" and physically massive...any ethnicity",[12] eventually casting Ving Rhames. Burt Reynolds based his performance as Congressman Dilbeck on politicians he knew in his early life, through his father, a police chief.[13] When the filmmakers' first choice Gene Hackman turned the role down, Reynolds contacted Castle Rock head Rob Reiner and traveled to Miami to audition, despite not being whom they originally envisioned for the part. "To be honest," said producer Lobell, "we were not enthusiastic at first. There was the hair and his reputation, but we were curious... At the first audition, on the first day, Burt had to take off his toupee in front of six or seven people. It was tough for him, but he did it. It was a very, very humbling thing to do. But by the end of the audition, it was really clear that Burt was the guy."[14] "I knew I could play him," said Reynolds. "I could make him likable and dangerous. There are very few people who can do that. I always played likable and dangerous. I had a persona. Unfortunately, my persona became bigger than my acting."[14] Reynolds accepted a salary of $350,000;[15] lower than what he had been paid earlier in his career.[16]

Moore's own daughter Rumer Willis, who was 7 years old when the film was released, played Erin's daughter Angela. As Moore explained, "she [Willis] wanted it so badly" that Moore asked that Willis be considered for the part. In reality, this required Willis to see Moore dancing topless, for a scene in which Angela sees Erin performing. However, Moore said that this was acceptable, as "[W]e don't shame the body, we encourage the body as something beautiful and natural, and my children bathe with me, and I walk around naked."[17]

The cast included some notable real-world strippers such as Pandora Peaks. "Talk about a happy set", said Bergman. "We were shooting in Miami for six months. It was a gas".[10]

Reshot ending

During test screenings, audiences objected to a scene at the end where Dilbeck becomes violent and attempts to rape Grant, holding a knife to her throat.[15] The scene was reshot five months later to make it funnier, causing a one-month delay in the release,[15][18] but test screenings also turned up less than favorable reactions.[11]

Soundtrack

Striptease: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack
Film score by
Various Artists
ReleasedJune 25, 1996 (1996-06-25)
LabelCapitol Records

Striptease: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on June 25, 1996. While the soundtrack did not include every song heard in the film, a notable exclusion were most tracks Erin (Demi Moore's character) danced to in the film, which, aside from "If I Was Your Girlfriend" by Prince, were all sung by Annie Lennox (whether as part of the Eurythmics or solo). While "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" was featured on the disc, "Money Can't Buy It", "Cold" and "Little Bird" were left off, as was "Missionary Man", which was played during the end credits. Furthermore, it excluded the song "(Pussy, Pussy, Pussy) Whose Kitty Cat Are You?" by the Light Crust Doughboys which won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song.

Release

Striptease premiered on June 23, 1996 in New York City and was released in the United States five days later. It opened in Australia, France and Germany in August, and Argentina, Italy, Bolivia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Japan in September.[3]

Nudity was heavily emphasized in advertisements.[20] The Motion Picture Association of America raised concerns regarding a poster that it felt revealed too much of Moore's naked body. A Castle Rock employee disagreed, saying "there are racier perfume ads."[18]

The previous year's film about nude dancers, Showgirls, was generally disliked, so filmmakers feared audiences would pre-judge Striptease on this basis. To avoid any association, advertisements were designed to make Striptease look more comedic than Showgirls, which was a drama.[18] Besides the subject matter, Striptease and Showgirls did have two notable connections. The choreography in these films was by the same person, Marguerite Derricks.[21] Both also featured performances by Rena Riffel, who plays a dancer in each. To promote the film, Moore appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and a Barbara Walters special. In both cases, she danced or otherwise exhibited her body.[18]

Reception

Critical response

Striptease holds a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 72 reviews, with an average score of 3.9/10. The critical consensus reads, "Striptease can't decide whether it is a lurid thriller or a sexy satire - which becomes a moot point as it proves disastrously incapable of pulling either off."[22] In the Carl Hiaasen book of the same name, upon which the movie was based, every character was premised upon being a source of amusement. In the movie, however, there was a major departure, as the main character, played by Moore, was meant to be portrayed differently. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times complimented some of the characters, but ultimately concluded the film failed because "all of the characters are hilarious except for Demi Moore's." He felt the drama surrounding the main character "throws a wet blanket over the rest of the party." Ebert also found the nudity not too sexy.[20] Leonard Maltin was harsher, writing in his book that the film was too depressing, and "Not funny enough, or dramatic enough, or sexy enough, or bad enough, to qualify as entertainment in any category."[23] Barbara Cramer concurred with Ebert that Moore's character was written too dramatically, compared to other characters. She said the film was predictable and would appeal mostly to "post-pubescent schoolboys or closet voyeurs." However, Cramer also cited Reynolds' "best role in years," and said Rhames was "worth the price of admission."[13]

Brian D. Johnson of Maclean's, who thought Moore's acting was terrible, predicted that despite Moore's financial success, her career depended on the success of this film and the film was "tacky, pretentious-and boring." This critic described Striptease as displaying Moore's vanity.[24] David Ansen of Newsweek, sharing Ebert's view on Moore's character, also claimed Striptease failed as a drama because it had no mystery, revealing the identity of its villains early. Moreover, the "damsel-in-distress angle generates zero tension."[25] Daniel P. Franklin, in his book Politics and Film: The Political Culture of Film in the United States went so far as to call Striptease "the worst film ever made" and stated "The film pays homage to Moore's surgical breast enhancement".[6] Nathan Rabin, reviewing the film for his series "My Year of Flops", described the film thus: "Moore's dour lead performance sabotages the film from the get-go. It's as if director Andrew Bergman told Moore she was acting in a serious drama about a struggling single mother...and then told everyone else in the cast that they were making a zany crime comedy filled with kooky characters, sleazy hustlers, dumbass opportunists, and outsized caricatures."[26]

On Metacritic, the film has a score of 37 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B−" on scale of A+ to F.[27]

Box office

Striptease made $12,322,069 in its first weekend, behind The Nutty Professor with Eddie Murphy, Eraser starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in which Moore voiced one of the main characters.[28][29] Ultimately, Striptease made $33,109,743 in the United States, and domestically it was the 47th highest-grossing film of 1996. It made $113,309,743 internationally,[3] having grossed £2,294,568 in the UK.[30]

"That movie did better than almost anything I've been involved with," said Bergman. "All the subsidiary stuff was gigantic. People said, 'I wouldn't be caught dead seeing it,'’ and suddenly when it's available in a rental store, it's 'I'll get Schindler's List and Striptease. [laughs] It's like when you're a kid and you're buying condoms at a drug store, but you buy 12 tubes of toothpaste, too."[10]

Accolades

Award Category Recipient(s) Result Ref(s)
Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards Worst Film Won
Golden Raspberry Awards (1996) Worst Picture Mike Lobell Won [31]
[32]
[33]
Worst Director Andrew Bergman Won
Worst Actress Demi Moore (also for The Juror) Won
Worst Supporting Actor Burt Reynolds Nominated
Worst Screenplay Screenplay by Andrew Bergman;
Based on the book by Carl Hiaasen		 Won
Worst Screen Couple Demi Moore and Burt Reynolds Won
Worst Original Song "Pussy, Pussy, Pussy (Whose Kitty Cat Are You?)"
Music and Lyrics by Marvin "Smokey" Montgomery		 Won
Golden Raspberry Awards (1999) Worst Picture of the Decade Nominated
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards Worst Picture Mike Lobell Won [34]
Worst Actress Demi Moore (also for The Juror) Nominated
Worst Supporting Actor Burt Reynolds Nominated
Yoga Awards Worst Foreign Actress Demi Moore Won

Home media

Striptease was released on VHS on November 19, 1996, and on DVD on July 27, 1999.[35]

Controversies

In 1997, Striptease made news again when it was shown in a fourth-grade class in Chicago, Illinois. The teacher claimed the students chose the film but drew criticism since the film was risqué. The violent 1996 film Scream was shown in the same school on the same day, causing further controversy.[36] In 2000 in Ireland, some viewers criticized the Raidió Teilifís Éireann for running Striptease. These viewers questioned the film's appropriateness and some considered it demeaning to women. The station felt it was not pornography and it was aired at night.[37]

In 2003, Radioactive Films used a scene from Striptease featuring Moore nude in a video called Hollywood's Hottest. This raised a dispute as to whether the use of the scene qualified as fair use. A lawsuit was launched as a consequence.[38]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Striptease (15)". British Board of Film Classification. July 18, 1996. Archived from the original on November 26, 2014. Retrieved July 14, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Striptease (1996) - Financial Information". The Numbers. Archived from the original on April 26, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "Striptease". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on July 5, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2006.
  4. ↑ Deming, Mark. "Striptease". Allmovie. Rovi Corporation. Archived from the original on October 16, 2013. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Data Stream". Next Generation. No. 24. Imagine Media. December 1996. p. 30.
  6. 1 2 Franklin, Daniel P. (2006). Politics and Film: The Political Culture of Film in the United States. Rowman and Littlefield. p. 203. ISBN 978-0742538092.
  7. ↑ Queenan, Joe (1999). Red Lobster, White Trash, and the Blue Lagoon: Joe Queenan's America. Hyperion Books. p. 50. ISBN 978-0786884087.
  8. 1 2 Schwartz, Terri (December 7, 2009). "Kristen Stewart's 'Welcome to the Rileys' Role Is Only The Latest Fictional Stripper in Hollywood". MTV. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  9. ↑ Schickel, Richard (July 8, 1996). "Only the bare essentials". Time. Vol. 148, no. 3. pp. 66–68. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Snetiker, Marc (January 9, 2015). "Andrew Bergman on writing 'Blazing Saddles,' 'Striptease,' 'Honeymoon in Vegas' and more". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 19, 2019. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  11. 1 2 3 Cerio, Gregory; Ramsay, Carolyn (June 24, 1996). "Eye of the tiger". People. Vol. 45, no. 25. pp. 88–94.
  12. 1 2 Jacobs, A.J. (May 19, 1995). "Hanging on the Meat Rack". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on March 26, 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  13. 1 2 Cramer, Barbara (September 1996). "Striptease". Films in Review. 47 (9): 67–68.
  14. 1 2 Hirschberg, Lynn (June 16, 1996). "Deliverance". The New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  15. 1 2 3 Archerd, Army (May 24, 1996). "Miramax Nabs HBO's 'Nora'". Daily Variety. p. 1.
  16. ↑ Fink, Mitchell (July 31, 1995). "The Insider". People. Vol. 44, no. 5. p. 37.
  17. ↑ Tush, Bill (June 28, 1996). "Demi Moore puts her all into movie roles". Archived from the original on August 27, 2006. Retrieved August 13, 2006.
  18. 1 2 3 4 Nashawaty, Chris (April 26, 1996). "Demi Goes Undercover: Moore's 'Striptease' Bumps into Trouble". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on May 13, 2020. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  19. ↑ "Striptease – Original Soundtrack". Allmusic. Retrieved August 27, 2010.
  20. 1 2 Ebert, Roger (June 28, 1996). "Striptease movie review & film summary (1996)". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on October 17, 2020. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
  21. ↑ Kauffmann, Stanley (July 29, 1996). "Survivors". The New Republic. Vol. 215, no. 5. pp. 24–25.
  22. ↑ "Striptease (1996)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on June 14, 2021. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
  23. ↑ Maltin, Leonard, ed. (2001). Leonard Maltin's 2002 Movie & Video Guide. Signet. p. 1323. ISBN 978-0451203922.
  24. ↑ Johnson, Brian D. (July 8, 1996). "A Demi-talented actor bares all". Maclean's. Vol. 109, no. 28. p. 49.
  25. ↑ Ansen, David (July 7, 1996). "'Striptease': Demi shows Moore". Newsweek. Vol. 128, no. 2. p. 67. Retrieved June 13, 2023.
  26. ↑ Rabin, Nathan (June 7, 2007). "My Year of Flops Case File # 39: Striptease". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on August 9, 2017. Retrieved July 19, 2014.
  27. ↑ "Striptease". Cinemascore. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  28. ↑ "'The Nutty Professor' weighs in at No. 1". Daily Record. July 2, 1996. p. 23. Archived from the original on May 6, 2023. Retrieved April 29, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  29. ↑ "Weekend Box Office June 28–30, 1996". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2006.
  30. ↑ "UK Top 100 Films Dec 1, 1995-Nov 29, 1996". Screen International. January 26, 1996. p. 61.
  31. ↑ Lister, David (March 25, 1997). "No Oscars, but Demi hits sour note with raspberries". The Independent. Archived from the original on August 22, 2017. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  32. ↑ Errico, Marcus (February 10, 1997). "Golden Raspberries Razz Demi". E! News. Archived from the original on August 22, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  33. ↑ "Demi Moore, 'Striptease' Win 6 Razzies for Hollywood's Worst". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. March 24, 1997. Archived from the original on July 27, 2018. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  34. ↑ "The Stinkers 1996 Ballot". The Stinkers. Archived from the original on August 18, 2000. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
  35. ↑ "Striptease on Warner Home Video". WarnerBros.com. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  36. ↑ Koehl, Carla; Howard, Lucy (June 1, 1997). "What ever happened to 'Citizen Kane'?". Newsweek. Vol. 129, no. 22. p. 8. Archived from the original on September 8, 2015.
  37. ↑ "Viewers Slam Demi Movie". World Entertainment News Network. December 13, 2000.
  38. ↑ "Hollywood Studios vs. Hollywood's Hottest". People. Vol. 60, no. 12. September 22, 2003. p. 30.
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