This classic Dolly Parton musical features one of the most homoerotic scenes ever committed to film
Welcome back to our queer film retrospective, “A Gay Old Time.” In this week’s column, we revisit the 1982 musical The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, which really is a gay old time!This week we just might be doing a deep dive into what is simultaneously the straightest and the queerest movie thus far.
On the surface, 1982’s The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas is an often-silly and well-intentioned musical starring America’s most beloved big-breasted songstress, about a brothel trying to stay afloat after conservative backlash tries to bring it down.However, if one scratches that surfaces a bit harder, they’ll find that the movie is actually a pretty scathing satire about the ways sexual freedom can (and has) been needlessly turned into a crime by puritanical figures—an idea that highly resonated with the queer community of when the movie was made, and also still unfortunately today.The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is based on a 1978 stage musical of the same name, with a book by Larry L.
King and Peter Masterson, and music and lyrics by Carol Hall. Its titular “whorehouse” is the Chicken Ranch, a brothel on the outskirts of the fictional town of Gilbert, Texas.The Chicken Ranch is almost a historical institution in town, having been in operation since the late 1800s, and servicing hundreds of men through the years.
Although technically illegal, the townsfolk have an implied understanding with the Ranch, and believe it almost to exist as a service to the community.It’s managed by Miss Mona (Dolly Parton), a former Chicken Ranch girl that inherited the ranch from its previous owner.
