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What's the best and the worst fictional account, either in books or movies, of the experiences of mongers and/or working girls?

It seems that 90% of the fictional accounts are either incredibly romanticized visions or portray a somewhat exaggerated world of creeps and victims.

I just finished reading Graham Greene's The Quiet American and it's my candidate for best novel about "The Life".

Written in 1954, it's a political novel about the CIA's early involvement in Vietnam, but a real interest for me was its account of two men competing for the affections of a semi-pro working girl. One is an outwardly cynical British journalist who understands the complexities and the ambiguities of the choices the girl and the men involved with her have made. The other is a young CIA agent who naively believes he can save her from "The Life". Greene's account of what is happening is psychologically very nuanced and, I would guess, may have had roots in his own life experiences. The book presents no simple answers, either for the working girl, the men competing for her or for the Western involvement in Vietnam.

By far the most realistic account of "The Life" that I've come across.

My nomination for the worst account is the obviously easy choice of "Pretty Woman". Can't get much more smarmy and unrealistic.

What are your candidates in either print or movies?

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It's faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, and more money--Tom T. Hall
No man is a failure who is enjoying life--William Faulkner

PR's non mongering trip report with a puta in Nicaruaga gag me with a spoon

"Princesas" was an interesting flick. It didn't romanticize the situation these girls found themselves in.

"Tonight we're not prostitutes, we're princesses."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434292/