Chicken Ranch (film)
| Chicken Ranch | |
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| Directed by | Nick Broomfield Sandi Sissel |
| Produced by | Nick Broomfield |
| Cinematography | Sandi Sissel |
| Edited by | Julian Ware |
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Release date
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Running time
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74 minutes |
| Language | English |
Chicken Ranch is a 1983 documentary film by Nick Broomfield about the famous legalised brothel, the Chicken Ranch, in Pahrump, Nevada. Photographed by Sandi Sissel.
The documentary, which remains purely observational for the most part, depicts the prostitutes as likeable characters often looking for a way out of the remote location where the brothel is situated. The film shows the girls lining up for potential clients, joking about their job, and interacting with one another within the brothel. The film ends with one girl, Mandy, being fired from the ranch.
The documentary begins without narration as a plane lands down in the remote part of the desert where Chicken Ranch is situated while a number from the Broadway Musical based on the Texas situated Ranch is played. Before the documentary scenes begin, we are advised that the women working at Chicken Ranch only work for three weeks out of the month and that their earnings are split 50/50 with the owner (plus rent).
Our introduction to the Ranch is of the girls being led into the parlor (client greeting area) to be lined up in front of two potential clients for choosing. In another room, Madame Fran busily takes calls and quotes services to a client over the telephone. The camera goes from room to room following the daily routines of the girls as they put makeup on and get dressed up provocatively. Ranch owner Walter Plankinton walks around trying to influence the girls to dress and be styled more exquisitely than what the clients left at home but is disregarded by all the women in the room.
While there are several women in the ranch that share the camera time, the documentary itself focuses frequently on two particular young prostitutes, Mandy and Connie. Mandy is the typical busty blonde, doing well for herself and seeming to connect well to her clients whereas alternatively, Connie is finding it harder and harder to work in the Ranch due to her growing dislike of being used by men.
In a brief scene of Claudia and Connie doing their makeup and getting ready for work, they discuss their 'previous lives' before coming to the Ranch, both revealing they have come from bad relationships with men. In the parlor, Mandy and J.J. are running around the table enjoying a momentary lighter side of life.
A small group of Japanese tourists arrive, led by a travel agent who is the only one who can speak English and interpret. After several moments of the uncomfortable language barrier and not understanding the rules, Madame Fran gets irritable and direct and encourages the men to pick a lady. Most of the girls are chosen, the remaining few (including Connie) sit in the parlor with the remainder of the tour. Connie engages the travel agent in conversation but is unable to get a client to take her to her room.
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