Mae West: Dirty Blonde (2020): cast, story & where to watch

Released in 2020, Mae West: Dirty Blonde is a documentary film directed by Sally Rosenthal, running about 90 minutes.

What it’s about. Mae West achieved great acclaim in every entertainment medium that existed during her lifetime, spanning eight decades of the 20th century. A full-time actress at seven, a vaudevillian at 14, a dancing sensation at 25, a playwright at 33, a silver screen ingénue at 40, a Vegas nightclub act at 62, a recording artist at 73, a camp icon at 85 - West left no format unconquered. She possessed creative and economic powers unheard of for a female entertainer in the 1930s and still rare today. Though a comedian, West grappled with some of the more complex social issues of the 20th century, including race and class tensions, and imbued even her most salacious plotlines with commentary about gender conformity, societal restrictions and what she perceived as moral hypocrisy. Mae West: Dirty Blonde is the first major documentary film to explore West's life and career, as she "climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong" to become a writer, performer and subversive agitator for social change.

Who’s in it. Mae West: Dirty Blonde stars Mae West as Self (archive footage), Margaret Cho as Self, Dita Von Teese as Self and Ringo Starr as Self, among others.

How it landed. With an audience score of 8.0/10, Mae West: Dirty Blonde sits among the best-reviewed titles in the catalogue.

Where to watch. In US you can stream it on PBS Living Amazon Channel and rent or buy it from Amazon Video. See the full, country-by-country breakdown on our where to watch Mae West: Dirty Blonde page.

If you liked it. Fans of Mae West: Dirty Blonde tend to enjoy One Direction: This Is Us, Burn the Stage: The Movie, BTS World Tour: Love Yourself - Japan Edition and Senna.