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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar: The First Ladies of Wrestling

EMAILPRINTKoch Lorber Films

Lipstick & Dynamite, Piss & Vinegar: The First Ladies of Wrestling reviews
62
8.6 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 17 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Documentary

Written by:

Directed by: Ruth Leitman

Release Date:
Theatrical: March 25, 2005
DVD: September 6, 2005

Running Time: 75 minutes, B/W / Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Penny Banner, Lillian Ellison, Gladys Gillem, Judy Grable, Ida May Martinez, Ella Waldek, and Mae Young

This documentary shines a spotlight on the forgotten first ladies of the ring. Each woman reflects on her own remarkable life with fond and bitter memories, reconciling a wild, flamboyant youth with the reality of getting older and fading away. (Ruthless Films)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

An entertaining look at a genuinely offbeat subject.

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75

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Dynamite perfectly describes this riveting documentary.

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75

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

The film dwells more on the sensationalistic aspects than the sport itself but it's impossible to deny the tawdry entertainment value in this compelling film tabloid.

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70

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Generous, slyly tough-minded documentary.

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70

Slate David Edelstein

What a gutsy, sad, seize-the-day, glorious life it was for the women warriors of Lipstick & Dynamite.

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70

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

What makes Lipstick & Dynamite its own animal is that, intentionally or not, the director has allowed something else into the mix, a glimpse of the unvarnished and the unsanitized.

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70

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

Highly entertaining and frequently fascinating.

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70

Chicago Reader Hank Sartin

The women, many in their 70s and 80s, are still tough and proud--and nursing grudges that go back decades, something Leitman plays up by crosscutting between rivals' accounts.

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70

Variety David Rooney

Smart assembly of terrific archive footage is matched by spirited interviews with the tough old broads today.

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70

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Leitman gets some wonderful tall tales from her subjects, who open up like they've been waiting for years for someone to come along and ask, and she complements it with punishing footage of their exploits.

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63

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The documentary visits elderly women who, then and now, can best be described as tough broads, and listens as they describe the early days of women's wrestling. What they say is not as revealing as how they say it.

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63

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Brad Wheeler

The best gal wrestlers had their signature moves: Ida May Martinez, with her flying drop kick; Ella Waldek, with the "short-arm scissor lift." Filmmaker Leitman, for all her good work, is in need of a close-out manoeuvre of her own.

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60

The New York Times Stephen Holden

This visually stylish work, with its vintage glamour photos, film and television clips, and snippets from a 1951 B-movie, "Racket Girls," is more of a scrapbook than a coherent history of the sport during its rough-and-tumble infancy.

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50

New York Post Russell Scott Smith

Offers plenty of fun, nostalgic footage of 1950s pro lady wrestlers kicking butt.

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50

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Leitman's interviews are lax and inconclusive.

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50

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

At its best, the movie is a collection of entertaining memories from a group of gutsy women.

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50

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

Leitman has unearthed a terrific collection of vintage footage - yet, as if doubtful about holding our interest, she skims too quickly over the historical background.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jim G. gave it a6:
Leitman has drawn out, mostly in the unspoken moments, a wonderful story of contrast: paths chosen and unchosen, modesty and arrogance, school learning and school of hard knocks. In many ways these women inhabit a world of their own but their story says a lot about the world around them. What fun.

Carla M. gave it a10:
This movie was such a great experience to go through. I went in the theatre thinking that this was going to be a movie about wrestling, and I came out understanding that this film is about strong, confident, and amazing women! I loved it!

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