WORDS by JO WELDON
Often, when I was a stripper in the 1980s and 1990s, a certain type of customer liked to ask me what I was going to do when I was “too old to work here.” There was a bloodthirstiness to the question. They were pretending to be concerned, but they were actually resentfully reminding me that while I might think I was too hot for them now, time would put me in my place. The Last Showgirl, directed by Gia Coppola, the story of a woman facing the fact that she might be “too old to work here,” reminded me of those customers, but fortunately doesn’t play into their idea that desirable girls deserve their comeuppance.
It begins with Shelly, played with tenderness and depth by Pamela Anderson, standing under a spotlight and lying about her age at an audition.
Shelly is a showgirl in Vegas, where the revue she’s danced in for three decades is closing for good. Le Razzle Dazzle is a throwback to Sin City’s heyday in the 1950s and 60s when tall, beautiful, and elaborately costumed dancers were the very symbols of the city’s glamour. Based on the real-life show Jubilee!, which ran from 1981-2016, the movie uses actual Bob Mackie-designed costumes from that production. (Mackie in turn was inspired by the Ziegfeld Follies of the early 20th century, which featured fantastic costumes and stage spectaculars designed to “glorify the American girl.”) The beauty of showgirls and the opulence of their costumes were meant to sell Vegas as a place where dreams come true. Images and statues of them continue to occupy the landscape, if not the shows. Shelly is quick to point out the historical significance of the show and her role in it, reminiscing about how in the 1980s she and her cast mates were flown around the world as “ambassadors of style and grace.” She insists that Razzle Dazzle is “classy” compared to modern revues featuring pole dancing and “dirty circus” – the kind of show, as it turns out, she is auditioning for in the opening scene.