An adaptation of the 1978 Broadway musical of the same name, the film stars Burt Reynolds, Dolly Parton, Jim Nabors, Charles Durning and Dom DeLuise.

Ed Earl Dodd, the Sheriff of Lanville County, Texas, has been in a 12-year relationship with Miss Mona Stangley, who runs the "Chicken Ranch", a brothel outside the town of Gilbert in his jurisdiction.

Almost everyone in town approves of Miss Mona, a public-minded citizen who regularly donates to charity and, except for her line of work, is decent and law-abiding.

Vernon inform Ed Earl that consumer advocate and television personality Melvin P. Thorpe, who moved to Texas from New Jersey six years earlier, has announced his intention to do an exposé about the Chicken Ranch on his weekly program The Watchdog Report.

While filming a segment in the Gilbert town square, Thorpe accuses Ed Earl of taking payoffs and bribes to protect Miss Mona's business.

Ed Earl responds by insulting Thorpe and threatening to physically assault or even incarcerate him should he, his crew, or his chorus of singers named the Dogettes, ever reappear in Gilbert.

Thorpe and his crew sneak onto the property, break into the house, and catch the winning Aggies and State Senator Charles Wingwood, a 1949 Texas A&M University alumnus who represents the 19th Congressional District where the Chicken Ranch is located, on tape in mid-debauch.

Mona chastises him for being unavailable to shield her during Thorpe's raid, even going so far as to call him childish and insult his standing; in turn, he responds, "It's a hell of a lot better than bein' a whore."

The politician, who will not make a decision on any issue without first seeing the results of opinion polls, listens to Ed Earl's eloquent appeal to keep the Chicken Ranch open.

King recommended Shirley MacLaine, Dyan Cannon, Carlin Glynn (Masterson's wife, who had originated the role of Mona on Broadway) and Jill Clayburgh as the possibles to star but was told they were not a sufficient box office draw.

In the original, Ed Earl and Miss Mona had a one-night stand 15 years earlier, but in the film, they maintain an ongoing affair.

In August 1980 King wrote a letter to Frank Rich where he said: Looks as if Hollywood is gonna really do a number on the Whorehouse movie.

Word is that Stevie Phillips isn’t going to be allowed to produce it, Pete and Tommy are out as directors, and they’re bringing in some guy to re-write it so that it will fail to resernble anything of the stage show.

Ned Tannen is alleged to have said... that all he wanted of Whorehouse was the title so he could make a film in which “Bert and Dolly screw their brains out.”... Burt Reynolds told Stevie and Pete he wants the movie to be “Smokey and the Bandit visit the Whorehouse.”[7]The relationship in the film brings about not only the accusatory scene, when the sheriff – disappointed that Mona has broken her promise to close the Chicken Ranch down long enough for things to cool off – calls her a whore, but also the happy ending, when he proposes marriage to Mona even though that might endanger his chances to be elected as a state legislator.

King later wrote, "Though I was fond of the screenplay Pete Masterson and I put together, let’s face it: even if the Universal nabobs and Burt and Dolly come up with a movie I hardly recognize, they can’t justly be accused of having tampered with Shakespeare or having done violence to Art.

[10]Parton wrote Reynolds was in a bad mood during filming because he had broken up with Sally Field, alleging ,"Sometimes he would just walk off the set, unable to deal with things, and I would be called upon to go to his dressing room and try to cheer him up.

The former was restored for the ABC network television broadcast, as the film was too short for its time slot after the censors finished their edits and additional material was needed.

"A Gamble Either Way" replaced "Girl, You're a Woman" and was sung by Parton after Mona interviewed "Shy" (Andrea Pike) for a job at the Chicken Ranch.

"[17] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two out of four stars, stating, "If they ever give Dolly her freedom and stop packaging her so antiseptically, she could be terrific.

Porn star Kay Parker, who played one of the sex workers in the film, had an uncredited bit role in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.