Title: Strip Club King: The Story of Joe Redner
Year: 2008
Producers: Shelby McIntyre and Chris Woods
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: UNRATED
Studio: Aphelion Films
Distributor: TBD
Running time: 80 minutes
Official Website: http://www.stripclubkingmovie.com/
STRIP CLUB KING: The Story of Joe Redner is a well crafted documentary about the man behind the infamous nude dance club in Tampa, Florida; The Mons Venus. Through interviews, archival footage, good editing and above average production value, director/producer Shelby McIntyre and producer/editor Chris Woods craft a frequently compelling look at the man who survived his own youthful excesses to build a controversial business, a modest real estate empire and become a cause celeb for first amendment zealots coast to coast. While it seems sympathetic to its subject, it does not sugar coat his personality, which is fairly direct and abrasive especially with his adversaries. The film is worthwhile and worth taking a look at.
The documentarians do create more questions than they answer. The first being how the club got its name. So I looked up ‘mons venus’: “In females the mons pubis is sometimes called the mons veneris (Latin, mound of Venus). It divides into the labia majora (literally "major lips") on either side of the furrow, known as the cleft of venus, that surrounds the clitoris, vaginal opening, and other structures of the vulva. The fatty tissue of the mons veneris is sensitive to estrogen, causing a distinct mound to form with the onset of puberty. This pushes the forward portion of the labia majora out and away from the pubic bone, and parallel to the ground (when standing).” -Answers.com
It does come out in the interviews that the dancers at the club are independent contractors, which is very interesting. Redner makes his money only from the door charge and the bar. The dancers pay nothing to the establishment and keep all tips and lap dance fees. This is a fact that is not explored at all. What makes The Mons Venus different from other clubs is not deeply explored either. The Mons Venus is at least as interesting as the man who founded it and ‘her’ character, through the eyes of its dancers, bartenders, etc., is not explored much. I had to go to various websites to find out that lap dance prices are posted, that all lap dances take place in the main room in full view of all other patrons, that patrons can touch the dancers anyway, anyhow and anywhere except the genitals and so on. The point is that with a club as world infamous as this, a documentary should show and tell as much about the creation as we learn about its creator. Would you care about Dr. Henry Frankenstein if it wasn’t for… The Monster?
Don’t get me wrong, Joe is an interesting subject. But we know the first amendment fights over pornography through the stories of Larry Flynt and Hugh Hefner. They published national magazines and are much more refined and sympathetic figures than Redner. Joe is infamous because of his local club and his dancers. The filmmakers would have done better to make this the story of Joe Redner AND The Mons Venus. Occasional shots of nude dancers seem gratuitous in this version because we never get to fully understand through visuals what makes them or the club special; therefore we don’t understand what all the uproar by local politicians is about and why Joe was arrested 140 times and why he is determined to keep running for elected office. STRIP CLUB KING assumes you have been to the Mons Venus and maybe even have met Joe Redner. You do not learn from this film what all the hoopla at the club is about, just the consequences.
We do learn about Joe and his eccentricities. But that could have been shown in forty five minutes. After eighty minutes you leave with little empathy for Joe Redner and even less understanding of what makes him so beloved by so many.
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