Film version of the hit Broadway musical about the legendary bordello known as The Chicken Ranch (because of a period in the brothel’s history when cash was in short supply and poultry was accepted as payment for services).
Burt Reynolds is fine as Ed Earl, the beleaguered sheriff and Dolly Parton is effective as the golden-hearted madam, Mona Strangely. Charles During, as the issue-dodging governor, stops the show with a sensational dance routine.
The heavy of the piece is Dom DeLuise as Melvin P Thorpe, a crusading TV consumer advocate who, in his capacity as the self-appointed moral guardian of Texas, is determined to close down the whorehouse forthwith.
But DeLuise’s performance is singularly unfunny and seems to belong in another movie altogether.
Sheriff Dodd
Burt Reynolds Miss Mona Strangely
Dolly Parton Melvin P Thorpe
Dom DeLuise Governor
Charles Durning Deputy Fred
Jim Nabors Senator Wingwood
Robert Mandan Dulci Mae
Lois Nettleton Jewel
Theresa Merritt Edsel
Noah Berry Mayor
Raleigh Bond
Sheriff Dodd
