5/5 Very Funny Satire From The 1970's
  by Susan Y. Schoonover (Boulder, CO)
I have to admit when I selected this movie I thought I would be watching a made for TV movie I enjoyed as a kid about a beauty pageant that starred Farrah Fawcett and Eleanor Parker. When the cast of characters at the beginning of SMILE did not list either actress I did a little internet research and found that the film I was thinking of was 1973's THE GREAT AMERICAN BEAUTY PAGEANT which was one of the ABC TV movies of the week. 1975's SMILE was a theatrical release I had never seen before.

SMILE was filmed on location in Santa Rosa, California and the authentic small city feel as well as the clothing, home furnishings, hairstyle and attitudes of the mid 1970's make the movie worth watching to baby boomers or anyone curious about that time period. Fortunately the viewer also gets a funny and insightful satire. The plot is pretty simple as it involves a fictional beauty contest for high school girls from throughout the state of California. The action takes place over the period of a week and the days are announced in a clever and memorable manner. The pageant contestants include several different "types" of high school girls from around the state many who are not particularly pretty and whose "talents" are often hilariously bad. Even more interesting are the townspeople and other adults involved. Barbara Feldon is very good as an uptight former winner whose husband's suicidal and alcoholic tendencies only concern her as a potential source of embarrassment. Bruce Dern is very sympathetic playing an earnest if silly successful salesman who is pathetically proud of being a pageant judge as well as belonging to the Jaycees' organization. Dern's character has a tweenage son who with a couple of his friends provides some of the biggest laughs in the film. Also memorable is real life choreographer Michael Kidd playing an exasperated Hollywood professional hired to direct the girls in dance numbers.

SMILE is laugh out loud funny because even though the characters and situations are often way over the top it stays so close to truths about human nature. One caution even though this film is rated PG it would definitely be PG-13 today as it contains some brief nudity and quite a bit "adult" humor.


4/5 Nice Piece of Americana
  by Choice Critic (Highland, IN)
This is an enjoyable piece of Americana of the 1970's. Its satire is gentle and understanding of that part of American society that thinks beauty pageants mean something. The movie only loses its footing and pacing when it tries to make a serious point.

Bruce Dern's character is a great comic turn for a serious actor in his role as "Big Bob Freelander". He is head of the state beauty pageant and a Winnebago salesman par excellence in the gas-short '70's.

His first appearance has a hilarious sales pitch to a young couple. Not only is it very funny but it resonates even more strongly as credit-starved customers pass customer-deprived American dealerships today. Just picture an SUV rather than a Winnebago.

"And if you're worried about credit pal, forget it, we don't worry about it, why should you? ... with all these crazy Arabs around who knows what they're going to do next? Ya have to admit it's a heck of a safe feeling knowing you're sleeping on top of 50 gallons of gas."

Melanie Griffith has a small role and it is interesting to see her at only seventeen along with other now older actresses, including Annette O'Toole, in bit roles as beauty contestants. As might be expected it is Melanie's bod that is used to touch off a small scandal and crisis in the pageant.

The other outstanding performance is given by Maria O'Brien. She plays the first Mexican-American contestant ever to participate in the pageant. It is a wonderful performance that would probably not be allowed today; just as Dern's Arab pitch would not.

O'Brien's Hispanic-American pageant act is wonderfully cynical. Her bullying of the stagehand reveals the ruthless competitor behind the cheery, smiling face. Her character's cynicism foredooms her to the worst fate in the competition, of course, but O'Brien has already set the character up perfectly for the fall.

The pageant talent competition, interspersed throughout the movie, is right on the money and straight at your funny bone. The ending is maudlin as the viewer is sledge-hammered with Bruce Dern's questioning look of "What's it all about, Alfie?" faux existentialism. There is just no need for writers, directors, and producers to try to have it both ways.

Jerry Belson, who wrote the movie, was one of the inventors of the "moment" in TV comedy. The "moment" takes place when during all the comic backstabbing and cutthroat competition everyone seems to stop and, completely out of character, utter mushy, maudlin sentiments.

Belson and Garry Marshall employed this technique in countless "Happy Days" episodes. It remains a plague of good comedy to this day. Had they stuck to the clever, insightful satire, this would be a five star movie. It is still well worth a watch.






5/5 Smile
  by Terry R. Sullivan (San Clemente, CA)
I received Smile, one of my all-time favorite parodies, this time of beauty pageants, in perfect condition and on time. Couldn't ask for anything more.

5/5 Hilarious and nicely done
  by Viva (So. Cal.)
Long before Little Miss Sunshine, there was this funny 1975 spoof of American teen beauty pageants, nicely directed by Michael Ritchie and featuring Barbara Feldon and Bruce Dern. Many hilarious scenes, great dialogue, and a few adult-ish parts you might not expect.

5/5 Smile
  by John Farr
Don't miss Michael Ritchie's subtly devastating take on small-town life and conventions. Dern is a hoot in a rare comic role, and Feldon (from TV's "Get Smart") also scores as Brenda, a former beauty queen who uses her job to avoid a failing marriage. Yet it's Kidd, a first-rate dancer and choreographer from Hollywood's golden age of musicals, who steals the movie playing Tommy, a professional has-been whose gruff exterior masks a good heart. O'Toole also stands out as a seasoned contestant. A dead-on satiric slice of Americana.