Chicken Ranch is a 1983 documentary film by Nick Broomfield about the famous legalised brothel, the Chicken Ranch, in Pahrump, Nevada. Photographed by Sandi Sissel.
The documentary, which remains purely observational for the most part, depicts the prostitutes as likeable characters often looking for a way out of the remote location where the brothel is situated. The film shows the girls lining up for potential clients, joking about their job, and interacting with one another within the brothel. The film ends with one girl, Mandy, being fired from the ranch.Synopsis
The documentary begins without narration as a plane lands down in the remote part of the desert where Chicken Ranch is situated while a number from the Broadway Musical based on the Texas situated Ranch is played. Before the documentary scenes begin, we are advised that the women working at Chicken Ranch only work for three weeks out of the month and that their earnings are split 50/50 with the owner (plus rent).