Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, or How Dolly is a Diva!

Diva (n.) A celebrated female singer. Derived from the Italian/Latin adjective diva for "divine female person." The basic sense of the term is "goddess."

Diva: Dolly Parton as Ms Mona Stangley in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)

First let's do a simple checklist, a good diva needs:

1. A powerful entrance.

Nothing says "diva" like capturing the camera's attention from the moment you're on screen.

In true Dolly-style (and diva-style) the audience is treated first to her beautiful feet before the camera moves upwards, giving us a full glimpse of Ms Mona's (sequined?) red-dress. That said, nothing prepares us for the hilariously tacky sleeves that adorn (and enhance) her buxomous torso.

Ms Mona's entrance is punctuated by the first chords of the iconic song "A L'il Ole Bitty Pissant Country Place" where Mona/Dolly let's the audience know that "It's just a little bitty pissant country place, nothing much to see/ No drinking allowed, we get a nice quiet crowd, plain as it can be/ It's just a piddly squatin no time country place, nothing too high tone/ Just lots of good will, and maybe one small thrill, but there's nothing dirty going on" - and with someone with such great hair and gigantic shoulder-pads, wouldn't you believe her too?

2. A great wardrobe (including an amazing headdress!)

I mean, what better way to capture anyone's looks than by drawing attention to your body?

Okay so Dolly doesn't need headdresses: her hair alone works wonders in grabbing attention to itself: whether it's up, up(er) or up(pest) - though I do enjoy that even when she wears a (cowboy) hat, she simply leaves it hanging behind her back as a dangling accessory. But what Dolly/Mona don't have in headdresses, they make up in dresses alone. Courtesy of Theadora Van Runkle (Oscar nominated for her work in The Godfather Part II among others), Ms Mona finds herself garbed in buxomous outfits that work well to delineate Dolly's own hourglass figure and showcase the thin line between 'madame' and 'mother hen' which Mona treads (they're never outright tacky but also not quite 'down the street' material).

3. A loving entourage (read: a lovely audience)

What's a diva without an adoring fan-base?

If nothing else, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas shows us that at the whorehouse, Ms Mona and her girls work as a family more so than a shady business, so it makes sense that they'd be around to surround her in dance numbers and plenty of good times!

But then, Dolly's always been a larger than life figure so it's no surprise she brought that to her portrayal of Ms Mona who's only fault it seems (other than, y'know... running a whorehouse) is to mix business (=sex) with pleasure (=sex with Burt Reynolds no less!). For that, and for singing 'I Will Always Love You' Dolly's Mona finds a place in the diva pantheon.

The Endings blog-a-thon, or How Nine to Five's Ending is hysterical!

I know I am fashionably late to what looks to have been a wonderful end of year, party, but here goes my post for Valley Dreamin's The Endings Blogathon

Haven't you ever braved it to the end of a movie only to find it wraps up the "End" with a couple of title cards that tell you what happens with every character involved? I usually find these title cards a bit of cheap way to end a movie (it is common and sometimes admissible in biopics and "based on real events" films, in which case you sort of expect the filmmaker/screenwriter to cut off the story at some point and fill you in - but still!)

In any case, sometimes a film will surprise me by using these title cards to great effect and the fantastic Nine to Five is a perfect example. If you haven't seen this film (and really, how could you pass up Jane in glasses, Dolly way back when and Ms Tomlin in all her glory?) you should check it out. I watched it recently and fell in love with it - oh the joy of seeing a crisp, smart and well-written comedy focused on gender dynamics!

Anyways, the end image is hilarious. After all their plans have been revealed and they are about to be called in to be arrested, as luck would have it these three ladies end up having something to celebrate anyways:

And then, true to its tryad formula, Nine to Five offers us the fates of our three heroines - very much in line with what the film has offered us of each. That they are each paired with out-of-context and yet such apropos snippets of scenes just make them more delightful:

The beauty of them are the simplistic images they convey and the ways in which they only make sense if you've been watching and relishing the hysterical laugh riot until now. 

See? Title cards like this make me giddy whereas something like this:

Nothing against Ron Howard and his film, but *snore*. But really, if you're gonna make us read in the theater (and not because you're aiding our linguistic impairments) you really should make it worth our while, no? And with that:

"Manuel continues to readjust to internet world after a 2 week hiatus in internet-less land. This Endings Blog-at-Thon marks his return to blog-a-hood."