What happened with the BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE movie?- Page 2

[sidneybruhl]

Posted: 10/4/06 at 5:38pm

I think the movie could have been great if they had not inserted Dolly's inferior songs into the score. I love Dolly, but the score is fine without her help. I also have to agree that the "whores" are background in the film, but are an fleshed out characters in the stage show. Just like "A Chorus Line," the powers-that-be decided to tamper with material that didn't need to be tampered with.

[FoscasBohemianDream]

Posted: 10/4/06 at 5:51pm

Any specific reason why Tommy Tune was not involved with the film?

[elmore3003]

Posted: 10/4/06 at 5:58pm

One of my best friends from college was the original show's wardrobe mistress, so I used to get a lot of gossip. It's my memory that Colin Higgins was brought on to direct at the insistence of Ms Parton whom she knew from "Nine to Five." This muscled out Tommy tune and Pete Masterson who objected to Dolly's new songs. The screenplay was by Mr Higgins, and Larry King was credited because he was the original source for the show. I'm not sure this is all correct but this is my memory of the events.

[steven carter]

Posted: 10/4/06 at 6:03pm

The film version of BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE, was a big hit upon release in 1982. It is NOT a faithful version of the show at all, waaaay too many cuts and changes. But some theatre people mistakenly assume that because it isn't good (though the AGGIE number is both "hot" and "good"-worth seeing the film for that alone!) that it didn't do well. It was a major financial success, and very profitable for Universal.

In fact, it was probably the last screen musical to be commercially successful for quite a while....until MOULIN ROUGE and CHICAGO were box-office hits. Some worthy work was done in the time in between (HEDWIG & THE ANGRY INCH, the score and choreography of NEWSIES, just to mention a couple) but they weren't box-office hits. WHOREHOUSE (believe it or not) was one of the top grossing films of its year!

[South Fl Marc]

Posted: 10/4/06 at 11:04pm

I loved the Broadway show , especially Tommy Tunes staging, so I was really dissapointed in the movie. Dolly should have stuck to the original score, Burt should never have been hired - neither should his cronies - Jim Nabors and Dom DeLuise were dreadful.

The best thing about the move (besides the walking wet dream team Aggies) was Charles Durning's amazing turn as the Governor. If the movie had the energy he put into his number, The Side Step, it would have been great.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 10/5/06 at 6:47am

I am waiting for The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public with David Hasselhoff & Meryl Streep as Miss Mona