# Showgirls

Showgirls is a 1995 French-American erotic drama film about a "street-smart" drifter who ventures to Las Vegas and climbs the seedy hierarchy from stripper to showgirl.
    Directed by Paul Verhoeven. Written by Joe Eszterhas.

## Nomi Malone

* [repeated line] It doesn't suck.
* You can't touch me, but I can touch you. I'd really love to touch you.

## Cristal Connors

* You know the best advice I ever got? You're up there on stage, hopin' on a spot. If someone gets in your way, step on 'em. If you're the only one left standing there, they hire you. That's about it. Thank you and good night, ladies and gentlemen. Elvis has left the building.
* Thank you and good night, ladies and gentlemen. Cristal has left the building.
* There's always someone younger and hungrier coming down the stairs after you.

## James Smith

* You fuck 'em without fucking them! That's what you do! Well, it ain't right! You've got too much talent for it to be right!
* I have a problem with pussy. I always have, and I'm always gonna.

## Henrietta "Mama" Bazoom

* Honey, you could never handle me with all these wrinkles of fat. Why, you'd never find the thing... I'd have to piss on you to give you a clue!
* [singing] The Farmer in the Dell / The Farmer in the Dell / I had a cherry, once / And now it's shot to hell!
* [singing] She's the yellow rose of Texas / She charges fifty bucks / She's the richest girl in Texas / And all she does is fuck!
* She looks better than a ten-inch dick and you know it!

## Other

* Tony Moss: I'm Tony Moss. I produce this show. Some of you have probably heard that I'm a prick. I am a prick. I got one interest here, and that's the show. I don't care whether you live or die. I want to see you dance and I want to see you smile. I can't use you if you can't smile, I can't use you if you can't show, I can't use you if you can't sell.
* Annie: They're going to see a smiling snatch if you don't fix this g-string!
* Al Torres: It must be weird, not having anybody cum on you.
* Marty Jacobsen: She's no butterfly, Tony. She's all pelvic thrust. I mean, she prowls... She's got it!
* Mr. Karlman: We could have brought anyone into this show: Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul. Nomi Malone is what Las Vegas is all about! She's dazzling, she's exciting, and very, very sexy!

## Dialogue

    [first lines]
    Jeff: Hop on in, pard!
    Nomi Malone: Where you going?
    Jeff: Vegas! Come on! This is your lucky day!
    Jeff: What are you going to Vegas for? You gonna win?
    Nomi Malone: I'm gonna dance!
    Jeff: Like one of those private escort dancers?
    Jeff: You gamble?
    Nomi Malone: No.
    Jeff: Well you gotta gamble if you're gonna win.
    Nomi Malone: I'm gonna win.
    Henrietta "Mama" Bazoom: Do you know what they call that useless piece of skin around a twat?
    Crowd: What?!?
    Henrietta "Mama" Bazoom: A WOMAN!
    Molly Abrams: I haven't gotten laid in six months. My right hand's so tired I can barely thread a needle!
    Nomi Malone: Then use the left one.
    Molly Abrams: For threading a needle?
    Tony Moss: Can you spell MGM backwards? I bet you can't.
    Audition Dancer: M-G-M.
    Tony: I'm impressed!
    Al Torres: You're a fucking stripper, don't you get it?
    Nomi Malone: I'm a dancer!
    Al: If you're a dancer, than Henry here is the fuckin' Virgin Mary!
    Henrietta "Mama" Bazoom: I got bigger tits than the fuckin' Virgin Mary and I got a bigger mouth too!
    Cristal Connors: Where do you dance at, darlin'?
    Nomi Malone: Um... at the Cheetah.
    Cristal Connors: I don't know how good you are, darlin', and I don't know what it is you're good at, but if it's at the Cheetah, it's not dancing, I know that much.
    Nomi Malone: You don't know shit!
    Nomi Malone: Hi, my name is Heather.
    Cristal Connors: Hey Nomi. I love your nails. We'd like you to have a private dance with both of us.
    Nomi Malone: We don't do that. One at a time. No women.
    Cristal Connors: A hundred dollars.
    Nomi Malone: Sorry. That's the rules.
    Cristal Connors: Two hundred. You just do Zack and I'll watch.
    [Nomi shakes her head no]
    Cristal Connors: Five hundred.
    Tony Moss: One day she looks like Pollyanna, the next day she looks like... I don't know... Lolita, maybe.
    [Nomi giggles]
    Tony Moss: Nice dress.
    Nomi Malone: Thanks. I bought it at "Ver-sayce".
    [silence]
    Nomi Malone: In the Forum?
    Tony Moss: Oh, yeah, Ver-sayce. I love Ver-sayce.
    Nomi Malone: Me, too!
    Nomi Malone: I get a headache from champagne.
    Cristal Connors: This isn't champagne. This... is HOLY WATER. I named myself after this holy water. Chrissie Lou Connors used to have dingy brown hair and little bitty tits. It's amazing what paint and a surgeon can do.
    [they clink champagne glasses]
    Cristal Connors: You have great tits. They're really beautiful.
    Nomi Malone: Thank you.
    Cristal Connors: I like nice tits. I always have, how about you?
    Nomi Malone: I like having nice tits.
    Cristal Connors: How do you like having 'em?
    Nomi Malone: What do you mean?
    Cristal Connors: You know what I mean.
    Nomi Malone: I like having them in a nice dress, or a tight top.
    Cristal Connors: Mmmm. You like to show em off.
    Nomi Malone: I didn't like showing them off at the Cheetah.
    Cristal Connors: Why not? I liked lookin' at 'em there. We ALL liked lookin' at 'em there!
    Nomi Malone: It made me feel like a hooker.
    Cristal Connors: You are a whore, darlin'!
    Nomi Malone: No, I'm not!
    Cristal Connors: We all are. We take the cash, we cash the check, we show them what they want to see!
    Nomi Malone: Maybe you are a whore Cristal, but I'm not.
    Cristal Connors: You and me? We're exactly alike.
    Nomi Malone: I'll never be like you.
    Cristal Connors: No one's gonna take my lead anyway, darlin', I haven't missed a show in eight years.
    Tony Moss: But you're not getting any younger, "darling".
    Cristal Connors: Eat me.
    Nomi Malone: Hello? Anybody here?
    Cristal Connors: Back here.
    Nomi Malone: What are you doing here?
    Cristal Connors: What am I doing here? [sniffs cocaine] I'm doin' some of the finest cocaine in the world, darlin'. You want some?
    [Nomi shakes her head]
    Nomi Malone: Mm-mmm.
    Cristal Connors: It's great for the muscles. I told Marty I'd work on your turns with you, darlin', but I'm feelin' a little turned inside out myself today.
    Nomi Malone: Cut the shit.
    Cristal Connors: [smiling] OK. We got off on the wrong foot. Wanna start dancin' all over again?
    Nomi Malone: Why?
    Cristal Connors: Why not? Wanna go down to Spago, get somethin' to eat?
    Nomi Malone: Where is it?
    Cristal Connors: [sarcastically] Just down from Ver-sayce.
    Nomi Malone: It's Versace.
    Cristal Connors: Ohhhhh, yeah.
    Nomi Malone: Yeah.
    Nomi Malone: Don't they have brown rice and vegetables?
    Cristal Connors: Do you like brown rice and vegetables?
    Nomi Malone: Yeah.
    Cristal Connors: You do?
    Nomi Malone: Sort of.
    Cristal Connors: Really?
    Nomi Malone: It's worse than dog food.
    [Cristal laughs]
    Nomi Malone: It is!
    Cristal Connors: I've had dog food.
    Nomi Malone: You have?
    Cristal Connors: Mmm-hmmm. Long time ago. Doggy Chow... I used to love Doggy Chow.
    Nomi Malone: I used to love Doggy Chow, too!
    Zack Carey: Are you afraid? Don't be.
    Nomi Malone: I'm not. I liked it when you came. I liked your eyes.
    Cristal Connors: You fucked her, didn't you?
    Zack Carey: Does that piss you off because you're jealous, Cris? Or because I beat you to the punch?
    Cristal Connors: You fuck him for the spot? Or you fuck him cause you wanted to? I say you did it for the spot.
    Nomi Malone: Is that what you did, Cristal?
    Cristal Connors: You don't want to piss me off darlin' now that we're friends.
    Nomi Malone: Oh, no... You shouldn't get pissed off. Makes you look older.
    Cristal Connors: You like my nails? Not as nice as yours.
    Nomi Malone: Maybe I could help you with yours... If you like.
    Cristal Connors: Why you'd do that for me?
    Nomi Malone: What are friends for?
    Cristal Connors: On second thought... I'm not so sure I want you to be doin' mine. I'm getting a little too old for that 'whorey' look.
    Tony Moss: Cristal Connors is a star, Sam. You can't just replace her.
    Phil Kewkirk: What if we could just bring somebody in while she's recuperating?
    Tony Moss: She could be out for a year, Phil.
    Zack Carey: Like who?
    Phil Newkirk: Janet Jackson? Paula Abdul?
    Zack Carey: Paula Abdul? In my show?
    Mr. Karlman: I'm not going to pay those kind of salaries!
    Zack Carey: Well, in that case, Mr. Karlman, we do what we do in Vegas.
    Mr. Karlman: What?
    Zack Carey: We gamble.
    Nomi Malone: Where are the police?
    Zack Carey: They're not here.
    Nomi Malone: Why the fuck aren't they here?
    Zack Carey: Because they're not coming!
    [Nomi goes to a pay-phone]
    Zack Carey: Don't do it... Polly.
    [Nomi puts down the receiver]
    Nomi Malone: How did you find out?
    Zack Carey: You were busted for disturbing the peace at the Crave Club. The police took your fingerprints.
    Nomi Malone: I don't have to listen to this.
    Zack Carey: Yes you do! Polly-Ann Costello. Your father killed your mother and then killed himself. You ran away from a foster in Oakland, December 1990. Arrests: Denver, soliciting.
    Nomi Malone: Stop it!
    Zack Carey: San Jose, soliciting. Cheyenne, soliciting. Should I read you the rest of them? How about possession of crack cocaine? Assault with a deadly weapon. Tell me something. Why did you stop hooking? You had your future pretty well-mapped out of yourself.
    Nomi Malone: I did what I have do.
    Zack Carey: Just like you did with Cristal.
    Nomi Malone: I'm not a whore.
    Zack Carey: No, you're not. You're gonna be a big star. You're face is gonna be all up on billboards. You're gonna make a lot of money for the Stardust.
    Nomi Malone: You're not gonna let him get away with this.
    Zack Carey: Andrew Carver is at the Paradiso this year. He might be at the Riviera next year, or the Stardust the year after that. He's part of the team, so are you.
    Nomi Malone: What about Molly?
    Zack Carey: You like her, I'll make sure he gives her enough money. She can have a dress shop. Tell me something. What did you charge? Hooking.
    Nomi Malone: Fifty. Hundred sometimes.
    Zack Carey: You got low self-esteem baby, you're a fantastic fuck.
    [after a long pause, Nomi spits in Zack's face]
    Zack Carey: [as Nomi leaves] I was paying you a compliment!
    Nomi Malone: I got my period.
    James Smith: Yeah right.
    Nomi Malone: Check.
    [James puts his hand down Nomi's pants, realizes she does]
    [last lines]
    Jeff: So did you gamble?
    [Nomi nods.]
    Jeff: Did you win?
    [Nomi nods again.]
    Jeff: What'd you win?
    Nomi Malone: Me.
    Jeff: Oh, fuck! It's you!
    Nomi Malone: I want my fucking suitcase... ASSHOLE!

## Taglines

* Leave your inhibitions at the door. The show is about to begin.
* Beyond your wildest dreams. Beyond your wildest fantasies.
* The most controversial movie of the year is here.
* The side of Vegas you were never meant to see.

## Cast

* Elizabeth Berkley - Nomi Malone/Polly Ann Costello
* Kyle MacLachlan - Zack Carey
* Gina Gershon - Cristal Connors
* Glenn Plummer - James Smith
* Robert Davi - Al Torres
* Alan Rachins - Tony Moss
* Gina Ravera - Molly Abrams
* Lin Tucci - Henrietta "Mama" Bazoom
* Greg Travis - Phil Newkirk
* Al Ruscio - Mr. Karlman
* Patrick Bristow - Marty Jacobsen
* William Shockley - Andrew Carver
* Michelle Johnston - Gay Carpenter
* Dewey Weber - Jeff
* Rena Riffel - Penny / Hope
* Melissa Williams - Julie
* Ungela Brockman - Angie
* Melinda Songer - Nicky
* Bobbie Phillips - Dee
* Carrie Ann Inaba - Goddess dancer

## External links

* Showgirls quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Showgirls at Rotten Tomatoes