American Cinematographer - May 2000 - 25

compiled by Douglas Bankston

telling these women," Allen admits.
"Albert and I thought we might learn
how to get better dates or something!"
Instead, the brothers determined that the

pimps' iron grip was simply a matter of
the strong exploiting the weak. "These
women are emotionally unstable, and
they've been molested or abused as
children. They've got problems, and
they're not the brightest women in the
world, so the men simply prey on them."
Allen terms the pimps "sociopathic
psychologists."
The documentary, the Hughes
brothers' third film, served as a way of
keeping the team active. Their last film,
Dead Presidents, was released in 1995.
The

flashy
lifestyle of

Mack Daddies

by Eric Rudolph

unrepentant
flesh peddlers
is showcased in
American Pimp,
a new

documentary
by Allen and
Albert Hughes.
The brothers
note that

they

didn't set out
to

glamorize
the seamy

Allen and Albert

Hughes's new
documentary, American Pimp, is a
disturbing and unforgettable look at men
who claim to control the minds of

they turn out to a life of street
prostitution. The Hughes brothers have
long been fascinated with pimps; they
say that while growing up, they had a

women

profession, but

relative who dabbled in the business.

found that "the
outlandish look
of these guys,
their clothes
and their cars
are what

They decided to make American Pimp
after concluding that their plan to film
the
notorious
book
Pimp (the
autobiography of a man who calls
himself Iceberg Slim) would attract too
much controversy. "[It would have]
typecast us as directors," Allen
speculates. "We would have been

initially reels
the

women

in."

slammed, and it would've been hard,
politically, to get over that, no matter
how

good the movie was. American
Pimp is not a fictional feature; it's these
guys, their words and their stories, and
it's really not taking much of a slant."
22

May 2000

The

pimps

view in the film
whose lives they
manipulate almost never get a day off
and retain zero percent of their earnings.
They appear to do nothing in return for
boast that the

on

women

the women's bizarre devotion. "I have

no

problem with people who hate the film
politically," Allen says. "I don't think they
should

love

it.

To

me,

the

most

interesting thing is that
who have

seen

some women
the film will say, 'I really

like these guys. I
That bothers me."

think they're funny.'

However, Allen concedes that it
inevitable that the

pimps would be
glamorized to some degree. "There's no
way to do a pimp, mob or thief movie
without glamorizing it. The outer
appearance of the pimp lifestyle is
glamorous. The outlandish look of these
guys, their clothes and their cars are
what initially reels the women in." What
is less clear is why these women agree
was

to sell themselves on the streets. "I went

into this film
some

thinking that the lure was
mystical thing the pimps were

"We've been offered

lot of

projects, but
doing,"
Allen maintains. "We're finally in
preproduction for our Jack the Ripper
film, From Hell, but American Pimp is the
only thing that has kept us active and
involved for much of [the past] five
years."

we

a

haven't found much worth

For Allen's twin brother and

co¬

director, Albert, the biggest challenge
posed by American Pimp was his new

RASelvarsninthg.

Steocvunrftse,sy

byDPhot.s
American Cinematographer - May 2000

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