Lipstick & Dynamite

Documentarian Ruth Leitman traces the heyday of ‘40s and ‘50s women’s wrestling and visits with the tough-as-nails women that clashed against each other in the sport. In their old age, former women wrestlers with names like Slave Girl Moolah and Gladys “Kill ‘em” Gillem divulge a surprising lack of irony toward their fetishized identities as they prove to be cut from hardwood personalities bereft of humor or any sense of satire surrounding their trumped up images. This kitchy movie arrives as a quirky and funny footnote to “Million Dollar Baby,” and dispels any notion that these brawny pin-up women were ever anything more or less than a batch of tough broads.
Not Rated. 83 mins. (C) (Two Stars)