Dead and White

this film was made in the late 80's and there was also a NY PBS documentary based on the same subject; her real name was Colleen, she was from the Midwest, she moved to L.A. to get her "big break". Of course, tens of thousands of others stream into the city weekly, so it is not a done deal.

She eventually became "Shauna Grant" porn star. The seamier sides of the business are probably not shown, but the drug issues, transient lifestyle and impossibility of finding a real acting job afterward are all touched on. Originally, Colleen was just a girl trying to make it, took a few wrong turns. The story ended tragically.

Melinda Dillon is very good as Colleen's mother, not knowing what to do, initially believing her daughter is doing okay. There is a decent cameo role by John Pleshette, an older man who attempted to rescue her, but he is carted off to prison, and she loses this meager support system. The alienation and emptiness of her life in Palm Springs, where she was eventually found dead, is palpable.

This is actually a good film for parents who still may not be aware of what can happen; the downward spiral of a girl who started with good intentions, ended up working in porn.The sad fact is that this still goes on today; anyone who has HBO will regularly have to turn off the show with "Family Business:Seymour Butts"--- a minor porn producer who has his own show.

For actresses who really think they want to get into that business are free to do so, but should realize they will not eventually be hooking up into a decent acting career; It is an age old ploy that was used. "Shattered Dreams" is a decent film with a message. 8/10

This biopic shows us the tragic story of Colleen Applegate, who at a very young age moved to Hollywood from the midwest and became porn star Shauna Grant. Though the names have been changed, it is her story. The film is well-acted, especially by Melinda Dillon, who plays the girl's mother. I recommend this TV movie to anyone who enjoys a tragic real life story. I give this an 8 out of 10.

This CBS-TV movie begins like most others in the good-girl-goes-bad vein, but it quickly becomes apparent that "Shattered Innocence" is well-made, well-acted and written--it catches you off-guard. The young woman whose innocence is shattered is based on real-life '80s porn-star Shauna Grant. Scenes such as the one where "Lara Dawn" goes back home to Kansas for Christmas, proudly showing off a scrapbook of nude photos to her family and then getting rebuffed by her appalled mother, are both tender and sad, and the young woman's fight to reclaim her life at the finale is quite moving. The film doesn't have the theatrical style of something like "Star 80", but it's thoughtful and touching in its own way thanks in large part to a solid cast and to Sandor Stern's tight direction and script, co-written with Thanet Richard. A nice surprise. *** from ****

This 1988 made for t.v. movie was based on the life and ultimate suicide of Colleen Applegate, a young woman from Minnesota who went to Hollywood at the age of 18 with dreams of stardom, became a porn star under the name of "Shauna Grant" and then returned to her hometown two years later to be buried, a tragic suicide at the age of 20.

This movie is a fictionalized account of her life and death although apparently her parents did cooperate in the making of this film.

Jonna Lee portrays "Pauline Anderson", the fictionalized version of Colleen. She overacts at times, but otherwise does a competent job of portraying the innocence and then gradual freefall of a young girl who gets ensnared into the adult entertainment industry through cocaine and big money. Melinda Dillon portrays her mother, and does a good job of conveying her character's devastation and shame at her daughter's choice of career, and eventual destruction.

I think what gave this movie more poignancy to me was the fact that it was based on a true story, not just some hack writer's imagination working overtime. How many thousands of young girls go to Hollywood each year with the hopes of breaking into the movies, only to fall into porn, with devastating results? It's a chilling thought, and Colleen's suicide is a reminder of this.

This is a movie that could have been tawdry and exploitative, and indeed, I recall reading that the parents of Colleen Applegate (whose life this is loosely based on) were displeased with it, saying it made the pornographers look like they were just running a business and Colleen got into trouble on her own. It's not quite that simple in the movie.

The acting is good all around. Jonna Lee is convincing in all three wildly different stages of the Colleen character's (here she's called Pauleen) story: naive virgin, confident nude model, and decimated, has-been, weary porn star. Her hysterical, desperate tirade at the end is particularly noteworthy; despite the many stupid decisions she's made, in the end, you feel for her. She was really just a kid, after all.