In Honor Of The Defunct Penthouse Club, The Five Best Strip Club Scenes

We at the Houston Press are pretty broken up about the closing of the Penthouse Club. Not because any of us were frequent patrons, of course (*cough*), or because we aren't wholly convinced the City's efforts to shutter "gentlemen's clubs" will eliminate crime as we know it, but because the strip club has contributed so much to popular film culture. To wit:

5. Bachelor Party (1987) What was it about the '80s that inspired so many strip club scenes? I don't know Mr. Meese, why don't you tell us? This clip has everything, from health club violations (most restaurants other than Golden Corral frown on "whipping out" in the kitchen), political commentary (Hanks equates the World Trade Center with Nick's phallus), and a pre-American Ninja Michael Dudikoff. In short, an American classic.





4. The Hidden (1987) Reasonable folks can disagree about which scene from 1987's alien-parasite movie was more arousing: Claudia Christian's PG-13 stage routine (with its tantalizing flash of derrière), as shown here, or when she shotguns a police car into Swiss cheese while wearing a clingy red cocktail dress.



3. The Full Monty (1997) Not much illustrates the divide between men and women like their approach to strip clubs. When ladies hit a place like, say, Chippendales, they tend to go in groups and treat the whole exercises as a goof. Men's clubs are scenes of not so quiet desperation, with just as many lone patrons as clusters of bachelors, most of whom are hoping their favorite dancer will see them as "not just another customer." I bet Mark Addy didn't have to deal with that.




2. From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) I could watch vampires getting shot/staked/blown up all damn day, but I understand my own personal predilections may be a little off point for this entry, so here's Santanico Pandemonium's (Salma Hayek) snake dance.




1. Beverly Hills Cop (1984) I have no way of verifying if BHC is the reason every 1980s cop movie has to have at least one strip club scene, but if it is, Eddie Murphy should be forgiven for Norbit. For a few months, at least.




-- Pete Vonder Haar