10/10
My Favourite Musical Of All Time
29 October 2014
In terms of box-office The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas was the most successful movie-musical of the 1980's. And I can see why, it's easily my favourite musical of all time.

Plot In A Paragraph: Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd (brilliant Burt Reynolds) turns a blind eye to the fact his mistress Miss Mona (A delightful Dolly Parton) runs a brothel nicknamed "The Chicken Ranch" All is fine until TV reporter Melvin P Thorpe (Hilariously smug Dom DeLuise) decides to wage a war to close it down.

Both Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton look gorgeous and they have really good chemistry, that hints at a flirty long time relationship. It's not sizzling by any means, just a hint of smut. They're both great looking, they smile a lot, and they've been provided with good dialogue. Yet somehow Charles Durning steals the movie from out underneath them both despite less than ten minutes of screen time.

Watching Durning dance up a storm as he sings "The Sidestep" is an absolute delight. He waltzes in and out of the movie, and walked off with an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Burt Reynolds my favourite actor of that era, is at his most attractive here. He has never looked better on screen than he did in this movie. We get all of Reynolds persona's here, Romantic Burt, Bad Tempered Burt, Sexy Burt, Sad & Moody Burt. For the most part his natural charm is on full display here. Dom De Luise is brilliantly bizarre as the TV reporter who wants to shut down the Chicken Ranch. There are funny jokes, some raunchy one- liners, some enjoyable songs set to nice choreography, and then there is Dolly Parton.

If I were asked what image dominates "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas," the honest answer would have to be: Dolly Parton's cleavage. I am not being deliberately crude or rude. The awesomeness of her wondrous boobs dominates every scene Dolly appears in.

Musical highlights include "A Lil' Ole Bitty Pissant Country Place" by Parton,"Sneakin' Around", performed as a duet with Parton and Reynolds, and of course Parton's' "I Will Always Love You".

I usually watch this movie a couple of times a year.
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