The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a 1982 American musical comedy film co-written, produced and directed by Colin Higgins (in his final film as director). An adaptation of the 1978 Broadway musical of the same name, the film stars Burt Reynolds, Dolly Parton, Jim Nabors, Charles Durning and Dom DeLuise. Despite mixed reviews, Durning was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Texas governor. Golden Globe Award nominations went to the film for Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical) and Parton for Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical). It was the fourth highest-grossing live-action musical film of the 1980s, and the top grossing of 1982. Plot Ed Earl Dodd, the Sheriff of Lanville County, Texas, has been in a 12-year relationship with Miss Mona Stangley, who runs the "Chicken Ranch", a brothel outside the town of Gilbert in his jurisdiction. He does not interfere with her business, which has been a fixture of the town since 1910, regardless of legality. Occasionally interrupted by Deputy Fred Wilkins, the pair have a pleasant arrangement as secret lovers. Almost everyone in town approves of Miss Mona, a public-minded citizen who regularly donates to charity and, except for her line of work, is decent and law-abiding. Mayor Rufus P. Poindexter and insurance salesman C.J. Vernon inform Ed Earl that consumer advocate and television personality Melvin P. Thorpe, who moved to Texas from New Jersey six years earlier, has announced his intention to do an exposé about the Chicken Ranch on his weekly program The Watchdog Report. After visiting Thorpe in his downtown Houston studio, Ed Earl is shocked when Thorpe reveals to the audience during his show, "Texas has a whorehouse in it." While filming a segment in the Gilbert town square, Thorpe accuses Ed Earl of taking payoffs and bribes to protect Miss Mona's business. Ed Earl responds by insulting Thorpe and threatening to physically assault or even incarcerate him should he, his crew, or his chorus of singers named the Dogettes, ever reappear in Gilbert.