Queen of the Deuce

She is just astounding.

After watching Queen of the Deuce I feel like I had a lot more questions about Chelly Wilson than I did when I started watching.

An affectionate portrait of Chelly as a one-of-a-kind trailblazer who lived life to the fullest, and always on her own iconoclastic terms, all while also providing a vivid snapshot of New York City during its daring and dangerous pre-sanitized era.

... A curiously flat recounting of the life and titillating times of the adult-theater entrepreneur Chelly Wilson, offers a sadly conventional profile of one of the most vividly eccentric characters in the history of New York City.

Informative and entertaining in the best ways possible, "Queen of the Deuce" takes its place in the pantheon of must-see queer documentaries.

An absolutely fabulous section of the film exhibition history in America. It is a classic “make it here, make it anywhere” immigrant tale—almost straight out of the movies.

It is a remarkable story.

Memorable both as a time capsule of the long-gone Times Square, when it was packed with porn, peep shows, strip clubs and pulsating neon, an era mourned by some but not all, and the one-of-a-kind pioneer who presided over a piece of it.

I’m a sucker for a documentary about an obscure colorful character from history, so I was all in on Valerie Kontakos’ documentary about Chelly Wilson

Queen of the Deuce is a testament to our ancestors and how they plant seeds in the garden for the next generations to grow.