For decades, horny dudes tried to seduce ladies with the claims that they worked for Playboy. As it happens, one of the most significant erotic photographers was a woman and she becomes the subject of 2023’s documentary Naked Ambition.

Born in 1929, Eleanor “Bunny” Yeager grew up in the Pittsburgh area but moved to South Florida at 17. There she won multiple beauty pageants and also did well as a model.

Bunny’s talents also led to other areas, and she helped popularize bikinis in the US via a swimwear line she designed and manufactured. Bunny eventually took her talents behind the camera and developed an eye for glamour and nude photography.

To examine Bunny’s life and career, we get an array of interview participants. We hear from Bunny Yeager (archival) Playboy founder Hugh Hefner (archival), archivist Ed Christin, cultural historian Sarahjane Blum, burlesque performer Dita Von Teese, journalist Larry King, Yeager’s daughters Cherilu Duval and Lisa Irwin, photographer Bruce Weber, visual artist Carlos Betancourt, actress/filmmaker Guinevere Turner, Yeager’s friend/model Maria Stinger’s granddaughter Christy Strong, Taschen editor Dian Hanson, Playboy Executive VP (1957-2011) Dick Rosenzweig, musician Jim Morrison (archival), activist Gloria Steinem (archival), Yeager’s granddaughter Holly Ruscin, Andy Warhol Museum former director Eric Shiner, and models Bettie Page (archival), Marcia Valibus and Nani Maka.

Despite the implications of my synopsis, Ambition doesn’t provide a standard biography of Yeager’s life. Instead, we get a mixed bag of elements that seem to hop about without a lot of clarity.

Ambition ignores Yeager’s life before she becomes a professional photographer. The documentary traces a semi-chronological plot from there but it still feels scattershot and awkwardly edited.

For instance, one segment offers Larry King’s remarks about women who seduced him over the phone when he worked as a radio host. While entertaining, King’s story seems almost wholly disconnected from the rest of the documentary.

An awful lot of Ambition simply tells us over and over that Yeager was a trailblazer. However, the program does little to dig into Yeager’s life in a way that lets us sense what made her tick.

Ambition does become more interesting in its final act, primarily when we see how Yeager’s daughters reacted to their mom’s career. They come at Bunny’s work from different perspectives and these create some much needed friction.

Most of Ambition simply praises its primary subject, though, and it comes without much substance. About 25 of the movie’s 73 minutes work well but the rest just feels superficial.

Naked Ambition appears in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Like most documentaries, this one became a visual mixed bag.

As always, I viewed the old material and the new shots with different expectations, and the archival stuff jumped all over the place. It could look pretty good at times, but we also got some messy, clips.

I didn’t have any real problems with those, however, as I figured they were about as good as we could get. In any case, the flaws of the old bits didn’t interfere with my enjoyment of the program. They blended just fine and didn’t cause distractions.

Overall, the new footage offered nice visuals. Sharpness felt good, as virtually no softness impacted on the new footage. Those elements appeared concise and accurate.

Colors were reasonably natural, and no notable defects affected the new footage. Blacks and shadows followed suit, as they seemed perfectly positive. Overall, the visuals were solid given the program’s parameters.

As for the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Ambition, its soundscape focused heavily on music. Dialogue stayed centered and virtually no effects cropped up along the way.

The mix boasted nice stereo spread for the score. If these elements broadened to the rear channels, it did so in a subdued manner, as it always sounded like pure two-channel to me.

Audio quality was solid. The new interview comments sounded just fine, as they offered perfectly acceptable clarity. No issues with edginess or intelligibility occurred, as they provided warm and natural tones.

Music also demonstrated good range and definition, while the occasional effects appeared well-reproduced. This mix did enough right to earn a “B-“.

A few extras appear, and we get a 13-minute, 32-second Interview with Directors Kareem Tabsch and Dennis Scholl in which they discuss the film's roots and development, interview subjects, their approach to the subject, the reproduction of photos and Yeager's legacy. The reel becomes a mix of filmmaking insights and fluff.

Five Deleted and Additional Scenes occupy a total of seven minutes, 14 seconds. These involve additional interview remarks to look at Yeager's continued work through older age, broader aspects of Yeager's efforts, rescued photos, Yeager's shots of men and with celebrities, and more about model Maria Stinger.

Nothing revelatory emerges here. Still, we get a few interesting thoughts.

The disc opens with ads for Secret Mall Apartment, Kehinde Wiley: Economy of Grace, She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry, Stuffed and Bettie Page Reveals All. We also get the trailer for Ambition.

Though Bunny Yeager led a remarkable life and career, Naked Ambition fails to dig into these elements well. Too much of the documentary simply praises Yeager and fails to give us insight. The Blu-ray comes with generally positive picture and audio as well as minor supplements. While Ambition sporadically threatens to spring to life, it lacks the substance it needs to click.