A young drifter, named Nomi, arrives in Las Vegas to become a dancer and soon sets about clawing and pushing her way to become the top of the Vegas showgirls.

James Smith: Man, everybody got AIDS and shit!
Cristal Connors: There's always someone younger and hungrier coming down the stairs after you.
Nomi Malone: Hello? Anybody here?
Cristal Connors: Back here.
Nomi Malone: What are you doing here?
Cristal Connors: What am I doing here?
[Cristal sniffs cocaine]
Cristal Connors: I'm doin' some of the finest cocaine in the world, darlin'. You want some?
[Nomi shakes her head]
Nomi Malone: Mm-mmm.
Cristal Connors: It's great for the muscles. I told Marty I'd work on your turns with you, darlin', but I'm feelin' a little turned inside out myself today.
Nomi Malone: Cut the shit.
Cristal Connors: [smiling] OK. We got off on the wrong foot. Wanna start dancin' all over again?
Nomi Malone: Why?
Cristal Connors: Why not? Wanna go down to Spago, get somethin' to eat?
Nomi Malone: Where is it?
Cristal Connors: [sarcastically] Just down from Ver-sayce.
Nomi Malone: It's Versace.
Cristal Connors: Ohhhhh, yeah.
Nomi Malone: Yeah.
Zack Carey: Why did you stop hooking? You had your future pretty well mapped out for yourself
Nomi Malone: I did what I had to do.
Zack Carey: Just like you did with Cristal.
Nomi Malone: I'm not a whore.
Zack Carey: No... you're not. You're gonna be a big star. Your face is gonna be up on billboards. You're gonna make a lot of money for the Stardust.
Nomi Malone: What about Molly?
Zack Carey: You like her, I'll make sure he gives her enough money, she can have a dress shop. Tell me something, how much did you charge?
[Nomi is confused]
Zack Carey: Hooking
Nomi Malone: Fifty. Hundred sometimes.
Zack Carey: You got low self-esteem baby, you're a fantastic fuck.
[Nomi spits in his face]
Mr. Karlman: We could have brought anyone into this show: Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul. Nomi Malone is what Las Vegas is all about! She's dazzling, she's exciting, and very, very sexy!
Tony Moss: Okay ladies, I'm Tony Moss. I produce this show. Some of you have probably heard that I'm a prick - I am a prick. I got one interest here, and that's the show. I don't care whether you live or die. I want to see you dance and I want to see you smile. I can't use you if you can't smile, I can't use you if you can't show, I can't use you if you can't sell.
Nomi Malone: You got me the audition, didn't you?
Cristal Connors: Uh-huh.
Nomi Malone: Why?
Cristal Connors: Maybe I like the way you dance. Maybe I like you, anyway, what difference does it make?
Nomi Malone: Did you enjoy that out there?
Cristal Connors: [smiling] Yeah darlin', I think I did.
Nomi Malone: I hate you.
Cristal Connors: I know.
[She hands Nomi a tissue]
Cristal Connors: Here, wipe your nose.
Nomi Malone: I got my period.
James Smith: Yeah, right.
Nomi Malone: Check.
[James puts his hand down Nomi's pants]
James Smith: I have a problem with pussy. I always have, and I'm always gonna.
Gay Carpenter: What do you want?
Nomi Malone: Um, burger, fries, and a soda.
Gay Carpenter: Get her some brown rice, vegetables, and a bottle of Evian.
Nomi Malone: I gotta go.
Cristal Connors: Aren't you gonna come here and give me a big kiss?
[Nomi and Cristal kiss]
Cristal Connors: Bye darlin.
Nomi Malone: Bye darlin.
Molly Abrams: My right hand is so tight I can barely thread a needle!
Nomi Malone: Then use the left one!
Molly Abrams: For threading a needle?
Henrietta Bazoom: Honey, you could never handle me with all these wrinkles of fat. Why, you'd never find the thing. I'd have to piss on you to give you a clue.
Tony Moss: Cristal Connors is a star, Sam. You can't just replace her.
Phil Newkirk: What if we could just bring somebody in while she's recuperating?
Tony Moss: She could be out for a year, Phil.
Zack Carey: Like who?
Phil Newkirk: Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul.
Tony Moss: Paula Abdul, in my show?
Mr. Karlman: I'm not going to pay those kind of salaries!
Zack Carey: Well, in that case, Mr. Karlman, we do what we do in Vegas.
Mr. Karlman: What?
Zack Carey: We gamble.
Cristal Connors: You fucked her, didn't you?
Zack Carey: Does that piss you off because you're jealous, Cris? Or because I beat you to the punch?
Nomi Malone: Don't they have brown rice and vegetables?
Cristal Connors: Do you like brown rice and vegetables?
Nomi Malone: Yeah.
Cristal Connors: You do?
Nomi Malone: Sort of.
Cristal Connors: Really?
Nomi Malone: It's worse than dog food.
[Cristal laughs]
Nomi Malone: It is!
Cristal Connors: I've had dog food.
Nomi Malone: You have?
Cristal Connors: Mmm-hmmm. Long time ago. Doggy Chow. I used to love Doggy Chow.
Nomi Malone: I used to love Doggy Chow, too!
[Cristal and Nomi touch their chips together]
Jeff: You gamble?
Nomi Malone: No.
Jeff: Well you gotta gamble if you're gonna win.
Nomi Malone: I'm gonna win.
Cristal Connors: Molly, this top is way too tight. My breasts are just getting crushed in here.
Molly Abrams: I can loosen it for you.
Cristal Connors: Okay... To about here... Maybe... No, no a little less. I want my nipples to press, but I don't want them to look like they're levitatin'!
[from the NC-17 theatrical trailer]
Nomi Malone: It's not fair!
Zack Carey: It's not about fair. It's about power.
[after Zack's lap dance, to Zack]
Cristal Connors: Can you walk?
Marty Jacobsen: She's no butterfly. Tony, she's all pelvic thrust. I mean, she prowls. She's got it!
Molly Abrams: Where are you from?
Nomi Malone: Back East.
Molly Abrams: From where back East?
Nomi Malone: Different places!
Henrietta Bazoom: She misses us like that lump on my twat I had taken off last week.
Nomi Malone: [whispering to Molly] I just went to Carver... and I kicked the shit out of him!
Henrietta Bazoom: You're the only one who can get my tits poppin' right!
Molly Abrams: Jerk, you don't have to be at work for three hours. What are you going to do, watch TV and eat chips?
Nomi Malone: Yeah. Where are the chips? You ate them, didn't you?
Nomi Malone: You can't touch me, but I can touch you. I'd really love to touch you.
Al Torres: If you want to last longer than a week, you give me a blow-job. First I get you used to the money, then I make you swallow.
Penny/Hope: Is he serious?
Zack Carey: I got an MBA for this?
Zack Carey: Are you afraid? Don't be.
Nomi Malone: I'm not. I liked it when you came. I liked your eyes.
Tony Moss: Come back when you've fucked some of this baby fat off. See ya.
Henrietta 'Mama' Bazoom: What the hell is happening here?
Al Torres: She's going to the STARDUST! She's going to be in the show!
Henrietta 'Mama' Bazoom: Well, la-di-da!
Gay Carpenter: If you're smart - and I was smart - you'll figure out a job and a man for later on.
[Repeated line]
Cristal Connors: Hey darlin.
Tony Moss: You got something wrong with your nipples?
Cristal Connors: I'm gettin' a little too old for that whorey look.
Al Torres: You're a fucking stripper, don't you get it?
Nomi Malone: I'm a dancer.
Nomi Malone: Where are the police?
Zack Carey: They're not here.
Nomi Malone: Why the fuck aren't they here?
Zack Carey: Because they're not coming!
[Nomi goes to a pay-phone]
Zack Carey: Don't do it... Polly.
[Nomi puts down the receiver]
Nomi Malone: How did you find out?
Zack Carey: You were busted for disturbing the peace at the Crave Club. The police took your fingerprints.
Nomi Malone: I don't have to listen to this.
Zack Carey: Yes you do! Polly-Ann Costello. Your father killed your mother and then killed himself.
James Smith: Life sucks. Shit happens. I'm a student of t-shirts.
[repeated line]
Nomi Malone: It doesn't suck.
Tony Moss: I'm erect. Why aren't you erect?
Casino Lecher: You lose all of your money, honey? Do you wanna make some more? It won't take you any longer than 15 minutes. Sooner or later you're gonna have to sell it.
Gay Carpenter: You do eat brown rice and vegetables, don't you?
[sings]
Party Singer: Should we walk into the wind? Maybe fall when autumn falls? Let's walk into the wind. You have to learn to touch, by touching. Touch me, touch me if you can. We've reached the end of the beginning, in this beatnik love affair...
Henrietta Bazoom: You know what they call that useless piece of skin around a twat?
[pause]
Henrietta Bazoom: A woman!
Nomi Malone: Are you hitting on me?
Molly Abrams: No. You're not a hooker, are you?
Cristal Connors: Your friend has nice nails.
Molly Abrams: She does them herself.
Cristal Connors: Maybe she can do mine sometime.
Nomi Malone: You guys just sit over there and I'll change the music.
[last lines]
Jeff: Oh, fuck! It's you!
[Nomi pulls out her switchblade]
Nomi Malone: I want my fucking suitcase... asshole!
Nomi Malone: Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. The fucker left.
Molly Abrams: Hey, that's my car. Stop it!
Nomi Malone: I want my fucking suitcase.
Molly Abrams: Get the fuck off my car!
Nomi Malone: I like your songs.
Andrew Carver: Thank you. You know, um, I like your ass. Call me.
Al Torres: It must be weird, not having anybody cum on you.
Nomi Malone: Fucker! Fuck off!
James Smith: Now wait a minute. Listen, just listen. Man you've got more talent when you dance than anybody I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of dancers. I studied at New York... Alvin Ailey. You burn when you dance.
Nomi Malone: But you said I couldn't.
James Smith: Well you've got to hold some of it in, and dancing ain't fucking.
Nomi Malone: What's that? More wisdom? I know that!
James Smith: No you don't. You dance like when you fucked that guy last night.
Nomi Malone: What guy?
James Smith: That guy with the chick. You took 'em in the back.
Nomi Malone: I didn't fuck him.
James Smith: Yes you did, you fucked him and her.
Nomi Malone: Are you following me around? I didn't fuck anybody, I was just...
James Smith: I saw you! Man everybody got AIDS and shit. You know, what is it that you think you do? You fuck 'em without fucking them, that's what you do! Well it ain't right! You've got too much talent for it to be right!
[Nomi hits James]
Nomi Malone: Get out of here!
James Smith: Bitch, I'm tellin' you the truth! You want me to go? I'm out of here!
Annie: Molly, they're going to see a smiling snatch if you don't fix this g-string.
Tony Moss: What are these, watermelons? This is a stage, babe, it's not a patch. See ya.
Andrew Carver: Black pussy!
James Smith: You don't want to be in this kind of show. What you're doing, at least it's honest. They want tits and ass, you give 'em tits and ass. Here, they pretend they want something else, and you still show them tits and ass.
Zack Carey: Well, have some lobster... Hey, did you ever hear Caesar sing? You'll love it.
Goddess Dancer: You want a knuckle sandwich?
Felix: Oh, can I have mine anally, please?
Zack Carey: Nice dress.
Nomi Malone: Thanks. It's a Ver-sayce.
Zack Carey: It's "Versace".
Nomi Malone: What?
Zack Carey: It's Versace. It's pronounced "Versace".
Nomi Malone: Oh.
Zack Carey: You have great taste and you look beautiful.
Marty Jacobsen: Higher! Not that high. Stay in sync. One-two-three! And thrust it, thrust it, THRUST IT, COME ON, THRUST IT! AH! Ok, that's enough! Thank you, ladies.
Annie: Julie, you fucking slut, you touch my make-up again and I'll fucking kill you.
Julie: Oh, I'm a slut? Well, you fucked that kid from the pizza place!
Annie: Well, you fucked the meter reader!
Julie: Bitch!
Annie: Oh, you're fucking dead!
Henrietta Bazoom: The Farmer in the Dell, The Farmer in the Dell, I had a cherry once, and now it's gone to hell.
Gay Carpenter: Wait, you need more orange!
Molly Abrams: Who was he?
Nomi Malone: Zack.
Molly Abrams: Oh my god. Did you tie him up?
Nomi Malone: Oh shit.
Molly Abrams: What?
Nomi Malone: I forgot to untie him.
Nomi Malone: You need more pink.
Penny/Hope: Oh, thanks, Heather.
Nomi Malone: Hi, my name is Heather.
Cristal Connors: Hey Nomi. I love your nails. We'd like you to have a private dance with both of us.
Nomi Malone: We don't do that. One at a time. No women.
Cristal Connors: A hundred dollars.
Nomi Malone: Sorry. That's the rules.
Cristal Connors: Two hundred. You just do Zack and I'll watch.
[Nomi shakes her head no]
Cristal Connors: Five hundred.
Nomi Malone: [regarding her nails] Look! NEAT, huh?
Nomi Malone: I get a headache from champagne.
Cristal Connors: This isn't champagne. This... is HOLY WATER. I named myself after this holy water. Chrissie Lou Connors used to have dingy brown hair and little bitty tits. It's amazing what paint and a surgeon can do.
[they clink champagne glasses]
Cristal Connors: You have great tits. They're really beautiful.
Nomi Malone: Thank you.
Cristal Connors: I like nice tits. I always have, how about you?
Nomi Malone: I like having nice tits.
Cristal Connors: How do you like having 'em?
Nomi Malone: What do you mean?
Cristal Connors: You know what I mean.
Nomi Malone: I like having them in a nice dress, or a tight top.
Cristal Connors: Mmmm. You like to show em off.
Nomi Malone: I didn't like showing them off at the Cheetah.
Cristal Connors: Why not? I liked lookin' at 'em there. We ALL liked lookin' at 'em there!
Nomi Malone: It made me feel like a hooker.
Cristal Connors: You *are* a whore, darlin'.
Nomi Malone: No I'm not!
Cristal Connors: We all are. We take the cash, we cash the check, we show 'em what they wanna see.
Nomi Malone: Maybe YOU are a whore, Cristal, but I'm not.
Cristal Connors: You and me, we're exactly alike.
Nomi Malone: [shakes her head] I'll NEVER be like you.
Gay Carpenter: You guys upstage left, monkey shit!
[first lines]
Jeff: Hop in, pard!
Nomi Malone: Where are you going?
Jeff: Vegas! Come on! This is your lucky day!
Cristal Connors: Oh, you know the best advice I ever got? You're up there on stage, hopin' on a spot. If someone gets in your way, step on 'em. If you're the only one left standing there, they hire you. That's about it. Thank you and good night, ladies and gentlemen. Elvis has left the building.
Nomi Malone: You can fuck me when you love me.
James Smith: But I do love you.
Nomi Malone: Yeah right.
James Smith: You don't fool me. I see you.
Nomi Malone: Yeah? What do you see?
James Smith: I see you hiding.
Nomi Malone: From what?
James Smith: From you. You got into some bad shit somewhere?
Tony Moss: One day she looks like Pollyanna, the next day she looks like... I don't know... Lolita, maybe.
[Nomi giggles]
Tony Moss: Nice dress.
Nomi Malone: Thanks, I bought it at Ver-sayce.
[silence]
Nomi Malone: In the Forum?
Tony Moss: Oh, yeah, Ver-sayce. I love Ver-sayce.
Nomi Malone: Me, too!
Tony Moss: Can you MGM backwards? I bet you can't.
Spelling Dancer: MGM!
Tony Moss: I'm impressed!
Cristal Connors: Where do you dance at, darlin'?
Nomi Malone: Um... at the Cheetah.
Cristal Connors: I don't know how good you are, darlin', and I don't know what it is you're good at, but if it's at the Cheetah, it's not dancing, I know that much.
Nomi Malone: You don't know shit!
Nomi Malone: Dancing ain't fucking, right?
James Smith: Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Nomi Malone: See ya.
Cristal Connors: You wanna dance?
Nomi Malone: Right now?
Cristal Connors: It's now or never, that's what Elvis said.
[about Zack Carey who's driving a Ferrari]
James Smith: What is he? Pimp? Only people I know got pimp cars are pimps.
Nomi Malone: He's the entertainment director.
James Smith: That's exactly what I said - he's a pimp!
Nomi Malone: Julie saw it.
Molly Abrams: Julie couldn't have seen it, I saw Julie and her back was to you.
Nomi Malone: She saw it.
Molly Abrams: Wow. OK.
Henrietta Bazoom: She looks better than a ten-inch dick and you know it!
Cristal Connors: You fuck him for the spot? Or you fuck him cause you wanted to? I say you did it for the spot.
Nomi Malone: Is that what you did, Cristal?
Cristal Connors: You don't want to piss me off, darlin', now that we're friends.
Nomi Malone: No... You shouldn't get pissed off. Makes you look older!
[Nomi pinches Cristal's cheek]
Zack Carey: Nomi's got heat.
Cristal Connors: Does she now?
Marty Jacobsen: Yes, she does... in a totally different way, of course.
Reporter: Ms. Malone, how did you feel about the show tonight?
Nomi Malone: I just hope that I can be as good as the show.
Cristal Connors: It's amazing what paint and a surgeon can do.