As Channing Tatum prepares to bare all in the much anticipated male extravaganza Magic Mike, out Friday, we salute the best film strippers of all time—from Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls to Natalie Portman in Closer.
The much anticipated male stripper movie, Magic Mike—which seems to have no plot line other than following the happy trails of Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer, and other assorted sexy beefcake—hits theaters Friday, to the delight of many women (and men). To celebrate the sure success of these brave nearly naked actors, we’ve brought together some of our favorite on-screen strippers.
Getty Images ; AP Photo ; Everett Collection (2)
Role: Girl next door Natalie Portman changed gears in 2004 to play a sensuous stripper in Closer and got to deliver the infamous line “Lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off.”
How Hot? HOT. As if every heterosexual man on earth didn’t have enough reasons to idealize the Garden State star, Portman, in a hot pink wig and heels, goes from fresh-faced ingénue to smoldering.
Columbia Pictures / Everett Collection
Roles: A handful of older, out of shape, and unemployed steelworkers form a male strip group who are pressured to go “the full monty”—without even a hat to hide what their mamas gave them.
How Hot? Lukewarm. How funny? Very. We appreciate these “real men” for shaking their potbellies and showing off their pale arms and hairy backs—if for nothing more than comic relief.
Role: A naive young dancer moves to Las Vegas to pursue her dreams of dancing for the big time but is corrupted by the sex, drugs, and terrible 1990s hairstyles of the industry.
How Hot? Pretty hot. Looking past the prom-ish curls and terrible lip liner, there’s a foxy lady ready to dance on hunky men in chairs and lick poles until the cows come home.
Getty Images
Role: Winning the affections of George Clooney and the audience, Hayek plays a badass stripper who encounters our two protagonists on their bloodthirsty road trip.
How Hot? With a mile-long snake wrapped around her almost naked physique, Hayek dazzles as the super-sultry Santanico Pandemonium.
Dimension Films / Everett Collection
Role: Tomei is a tenderhearted exotic dancer who helps the body-slamming protagonist in his long overdue comeback.
How Hot? Mediocre. The movie is a sweet tearjerker, and Tomei kills in the role, playing a multidimensional woman with a maternal hotness, a welcome change from the XXX flavor of most on-screen strippers.
Fox Searchlight / Everett Collection
Role: A single mother and moonlighting stripper finds herself in a sticky situation after a dangerous congressman takes an unhealthy interest in her.
How Hot? Panty-dropping hot. Although Moore can pull off the G.I. Jane thing with equal aplomb, her day-to-night stripper routine featuring a suit and tie pushes us over the edge.
HO / AP Photo
Role: An aspiring ballet dancer works part time as both a welder and an exotic dancer. With a plot line like that, how could it not make our list?
How Hot? Retro hot. We love Beals’s unintentional Afro and welding clothes. We appreciate her scripted ideals of her own dreams and her ability to break into a routine in the middle of a crowded street. Oh, and there’s several shots of her lifting pint-size barbells in neon-colored spandex.
Paramount / Everett Collection
Role: Starring opposite matinee idol Rock Hudson, Julie Andrews plays a well-known stage performer who uses her feminine wiles to gain access into the German military during WWII.
How Hot? MILF hot. Back when stripping down to your one-piece swimsuit was considered radical, Andrews astounded us with her birdlike singing voice and saucy dance numbers.
David Smith / AP Photo
Role: In a supposed “real” portrayal of the women who make their living on stripper poles, Hannah plays Angel, an exotic dancer who has more to her life in the daytime than her nighttime customers would imagine.
How Hot? Hot—but borderline trashy. The film itself is brimming with actresses unzipping in every scene, but it needs more humor or gravity to make it anything more than soft-core porn. We prefer Hannah au naturale in Splash. At least then she had her Rapunzel-length hair to cover her lady bits and leave a little to the imagination.
Lions Gate / Everett Collection
