Pimp Documentary

[Jacint Kosack]

AmericanPimp is a 1999 documentary that examines the pimp subculture in the United States. It was directed by the Hughes Brothers, the filmmakers behind Menace II Society and Dead Presidents.[1][2][3][4]

The first portion of the documentary focuses on pimps working illegally. The illegal pimps that are interviewed are from all over the United States, e.g., Charm from Hawaii, Fillmore Slim from San Francisco, and Payroll from Las Vegas. These pimps, and many others, discuss their theories on the history of prostitution. The pimps go on to talk about their philosophy on pimping, and how they live their daily lives.

The film also discusses the legal sector of prostitution. The film also interviewed Dennis Hof, the owner of the Bunny Ranch in Nevada. He feels that Nevada is much smarter than the other states because they have imposed the proper health and background checks on prostitution, instead of trying to suppress prostitution by making it illegal.

The majority of the documentary glorifies the pimping lifestyle. The pimps and prostitutes interviewed mainly discuss the perks of the lifestyle. They talk about the money they have made and the expensive suits and cars they were able to buy. However, near the end of the film, the interviews involve prostitutes that have died from the lifestyle as well as pimps who have retired and hold straight jobs or those who are now in jail.

In a 2009 HBO drama series called Gentlemen of Leisure, The Hughes brothers planned to revisit the themes of American Pimp. Gentlemen of Leisure[5] was to investigate the world of prostitution in Oakland, California, with an emphasis on a 35-year-old notorious pimp and his attempts to leave the business.[6] However, before filming began, the show was slammed by then-Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and other city leaders who were concerned about the show's impact on Oakland's image.

Dellums' Chief of Staff, David Chai, said, "It is the mayor's view that this project goes against our vision of Oakland as a 'model city' and does a disservice to residents and visitors alike", and "while the mayor understands that there are certain benefits to having a major film project in our city, he is not willing to support this project at this time. The people of Oakland have come too far to have our city's name trampled upon in the name of entertainment."[7]

A documentary released this week by local police accountability group Citizens for Justice uncovers evidence that Columbia police ignored a human trafficking operation for more than 20 years in order to protect a confidential informant assisting them in the War on Drugs.

Manthe was charged with promotion of prostitution in 2014 and through an agreement with prosecutors pleaded guilty to trespassing. It was not until the FBI began investigating the trafficking of an underage girl in June 2016 that Manthe apparently faced any real danger from law enforcement.

While Jones faced the most serious charges stemming from that indictment, Manthe and Ronald Clark, 67, were charged with use of the internet to promote an unlawful activity, by renting the house, collected a fee from the women, then using the money to pay for advertisements on the Backpage.com.

DAVE DAVIES, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. In 2012, the best-selling memoir "Full Service: My Adventures In Hollywood And The Secret Sex Lives Of The Stars" told of the sexual exploits of Scotty Bowers, alternately dubbed Hollywood's gentleman hustler and the pimp to the stars. Now the journalist and filmmaker Matt Tyrnauer made a documentary of Bower's life called "Scotty And The Secret History Of Hollywood." Film critic David Edelstein has this review.DAVID EDELSTEIN, BYLINE: Scotty Bowers says he didn't take money for being the pimp to the stars, beginning in 1946, when fresh from the Marines, he bought a gas station on Hollywood Boulevard that was the sight of many assignations - some in a backyard trailer, some in a next-door motel. He did accept gifts, lavish ones. But in Matt Tyrnauer's documentary, "Scotty And The Secret History Of Hollywood," he says he just wanted to make people happy, especially men who wanted men and women who wanted women, but would lose their careers, families and, in those days, freedom, if their orientation were known. They're all dead now, which is why Bowers says he published a memoir in 2012 called "Full Service: My Adventures In Hollywood And The Secret Sex Lives Of The Stars" and why he's willing to open his life to cameras.The documentary begins at his 90th birthday party at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont, after which Tyrnauer follows him to book signings, where he's met by people he knew from way back, as well as some who object to his outing lovers. Some names won't surprise you - Cole Porter, J. Edgar Hoover on visits to Hollywood, Charles Laughton. Cary Grant looms large. One sequence features Grant in a fluffy woman's robe in "Bringing Up Baby" along with comments from Bowers, David Khune (ph), an agent and one of the film's executive producers, and actor Stephen Fry. You'll also hear Spencer Tracy from a movie with Katharine Hepburn.(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "SCOTTY AND THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOLLYWOOD")UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I met Cary Grant first, then Randolph Scott. Back in those days, people knew they were lovers.(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BRINGING UP BABY")CARY GRANT: (As David) I've lost my clothes.MAY ROBSON: (As Aunt Elizabeth) But why are you wearing these clothes?GRANT: (As David) Because I just went gay all of a sudden.UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: People are very invested in the establishment view of Hollywood movie star history, which Scotty's story retells in an honest way and in a way that's more true to what was going on.SCOTTY BOWERS: Ninety percent of jobs could be lost from being gay. You were in the closet, basically. So many people were. This is why what I did at the gas station was so nice for people.(SOUNDBITE OF FILM)UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) You don't think this thing is going to get around? You don't think everybody's going to know about it? I won't even be able to show my face in Lindy's (ph).STEPHEN FRY: People get very angry at the idea of these beloved Hollywood icons being revealed to have secrets. But actually, all it is that Scotty's doing is revealing that these people were real. They were actual people, flesh and blood like us.EDELSTEIN: Like us, says Stephen Fry. But Bowers says Spencer Tracy didn't want to be like them and struggled with his homosexuality. To deflect suspicion, the married Tracy cooked up a fake scandal - an involvement with Hepburn, with whom he never slept. Bowers fixed up Hepburn with women. The late gay columnist Liz Smith said Hepburn slept with many. Another surprise is King Edward VII, Duke of Windsor, after he abdicated to marry Wallis Simpson. Bowers says he fixed the duke up with men and the duchess with women, putting a different spin on the abdication story.Oh, but are we sure it's true? Witness after witness says yes, among them, longtime Variety editor Peter Bart. But if you go into "Scotty And The Secret History Of Hollywood" hoping just for dirt, you'll get less than you expect. This is a profile documentary. It's mainly about the man, how he came to do what he did and what he does now in failing health. The result is sometimes meandering. Bowers trudges through his house overlooking downtown Los Angeles, somehow avoiding the piles of trash he's accumulated. His current wife, a lounge singer, is visibly uncomfortable and says she might not have married Bowers if she'd known his history. That's a little creepy.Slowly, Tyrnauer fills in Bowers' backstory. At 11, he was sexually abused by an adult neighbor, except Bowers refuses to call it abuse and denies he was damaged. He says when a priest took a shine to him, he made money off the exchange, then set up the priest's friends. Bowers then survived the hellacious Battle of Iwo Jima. Some men came home, built picket fences and gave us the 1950s we've been told was the real America. Others, like Bowers, came back with zero illusions. After what he'd lived through, he saw nothing wrong with pimping, say, fellow Marines or Hollywood hopefuls like the young Rock Hudson. He only feels bad about the woman he was married to for 30 years and rarely spent nights with, that and the daughter who bled to death at 23 after an illegal abortion.The power of "Scotty And The Secret History Of Hollywood" is cumulative. After a while, those piles of trash seem metaphorical, the attempt of a man who made everyone happy to keep his own unhappiness at bay. Tyrnauer suggests that Scotty Bowers is profoundly damaged, but so many forces acted on him and coalesce in his story, from child sexual abuse to the horror of war, to the corrosive effects of homophobia. This superb documentary turns out to be as sympathetic as it is lurid.DAVIES: David Edelstein is film critic for New York magazine. If you'd like to listen to interviews you've missed, like our interview with Michael Scott Moore about being kidnapped by Somali pirates, or with actor Tony Shalhoub, who's nominated for an Emmy for his role in the Amazon series "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," check out our podcast where you'll find those interviews and many others. FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Amy Salit, Phyllis Myers, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Heidi Saman, Therese Madden, Mooj Zadie, Thea Chaloner and Seth Kelley. For Terry Gross, I'm Dave Davies.

Las Vegas, Nev. - A nationally-known pimp who has appeared in documentary films about pimping, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court to laundering the proceeds of his prostitution business and identity theft crimes through the purchase of two properties in Las Vegas, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.

LOUIS KENNETH WRIGHT, aka Kenny Red, aka Tyler Montana, age 42, of Las Vegas,pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Robert C. Jones to two counts of Money Laundering. He faces up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine on each count, and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Jones on January 9, 2006, at 2:30 p.m. He has been in custody since he was arrested on April 8, 2005.

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