Suzanne Mitchell, the late former director of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders who led the squad through over a decade of TV appearances, USO tours, scantily-clad photo shoots and football games, is the center of the new documentary, Daughters of the Sexual Revolution: The Untold Story of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders. The film, which aired at South by Southwest, goes deep into how a squad of high schoolers were upgraded to a roster of gorgeous women in hot pants and go-go boots, but The Daily Beast writes that it quickly becomes apparent that Mitchell is the star. Director Dana Adam Shapiro told The Daily Beast that when they found Mitchell, that was when they realized they had a movie. Mitchell was the only female executive in the Cowboys’ organization at the time. She was appointed to usher in a new age of NFL cheerleading in 1976. She was the one who decided who to put on the team. She emphasized diversity and representation and had strict rules for the girls — no gum, no blue jeans in public, no talking to players. She was a “formidable and terrifying figure,” many in the documentary say, but she showed “fierce love and dedication to the cheerleaders.” Mitchell was tasked with not only overseeing the individual cheerleaders but also with their collective image and had to navigate flirting with sex appeal while retaining the aura of All-American charm and class. At one point in the documentary, she recalls a former mobster holding a knife to her throat during the midst of a legal battle over Debbie Does Dallas, a porno that Mitchell thought sullied the iconic uniform of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. Sexual Revolution touches on domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalkers and the mythology of the “most famous group of cheerleaders in the world.”
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
