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

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 17 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
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)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Alma
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
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...
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
An entertaining look at a genuinely offbeat subject.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
Dynamite perfectly describes this riveting documentary.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
What a gutsy, sad, seize-the-day, glorious life it was for the women warriors of Lipstick & Dynamite.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
Highly entertaining and frequently fascinating.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Variety David Rooney
Smart assembly of terrific archive footage is matched by spirited interviews with the tough old broads today.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >New York Post Russell Scott Smith
Offers plenty of fun, nostalgic footage of 1950s pro lady wrestlers kicking butt.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
At its best, the movie is a collection of entertaining memories from a group of gutsy women.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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!
