El modelo

TV film with Joan Collins and Jon Eric Hexum

The tragic circumstances of the death of Ukrainian-born camerawoman Halyna Hutchins (1979-2021) have brought back memories of a similar case that dominated global headlines in October 1984. While filming the crime series "Cover Up," lead actor Jon Eric Hexum (1957-1984) sustained fatal injuries while playing around with his film revolver. A year earlier, the aspiring television star had the lead role in the present ABC television film (aired on October 9, 1983) with Joan Collins (born 1933), who was at the absolute peak of her worldwide popularity in those days as Alexis Morell Carrington Colby from "DYNASTY".

A model agent (Joan Collins) from New York discovers an extremely attractive outdoorsman (Jon Eric Hexum) while taking photos in the countryside, whom she can persuade to pursue a modeling career in New York. Despite the big age difference, the two also become lovers. But even in the modeling industry, not everything that glitters is gold. Intrigue, jealousy, alcohol and drugs... you have to be able to deal with that first.

With this television film, the extremely good-looking young actor Jon Eric Hexum suddenly became known throughout America and could hardly avoid further offers of roles. Without the fatal accident, he could certainly have had an even greater career.

Other roles in this film included Flamingo Road star Kevin McCarthy (1914-2010), best known as the divorced husband of Marilyn Monroe in "The Misfits" (1960), and the later Dynasty star Ted McGinley (born 1958, in the series as Clay Fallmont).

What makes this movie stand out (besides the sad fact that its young star would soon be gone) is that it viewed the cut-throat world of modeling from the perspective of a male rather than female model, showing that in this game there's equality: both sexes are used, exploited, taken advantage of, and made to feel like a commodity rather than a person.

The (much too soon to be) late Jon Eric Hexum does a great job as a young man who finds himself a modeling success almost overnight only to find it wasn't nearly as great as he thought it would be. Joan Collins, at the height of her "Dynasty" fame, was perfect for the role as the agency owner who becomes his lover (today she'd get arrested), then makes a sacrifice to save him from going down the wrong path. Jeff Conaway is also good as an aging model who tries to turn back the clock and gets caught by the hands of time.

Too bad someone can't go back in time and tell Jon not to play Russian Roulette!

This one's got it all -- silly premise, idealized show business plot line, cliche-ridden script, pseudo-Bacharach score, hunks in their underwear, limp-wristed stereotype homosexuals, and -- perhaps best of all -- Joan Collins.

The first time you see it, you may not be able to revel fully in its tackiness. I suggest three or four viewings, especially when you're feeling sick or vulnerable, for it to have its full effect.

Orchids, orchids!

I was really lucky and found this movie in VHS format on Jon-Erik Hexum's fansite. I always liked this movie for it's pure cheesiness. There are better made-for-tv movies out there, but this one has it's own brand of charm. It starts off with Joan Collins playing the owner of a successful modelling agency in search of a new hunk to represent. Jon-Erik Hexum plays a farmhand who is transformed into the '80s hottest male model with the help of a "Fever" aftershave contract. There's a lot of sexual innuendo throughout this movie which makes it funny, and Joan Collins is stellar in her role, as usual. If you want to see an early'80s made-for-tv movie at it's finest, this one is a great choice!

Here's proof that the term "Cougar" wasn't invented to mean what it does now, back in 1983 when Joan Collins, famously considered the iconic DYNASTY Cougar i.e. seducer of younger men, describes how she sees Jon-Erik Hexum's would-be model, who she had talked into going from a manly Texas stuntman to a New York model: "A cougar," she describes, "ready to pounce."

And also dated is when Hexum's Tyler Burnett complains about gay men when Collins, as successful agent Kay Dillon, points out that it goes with the show-biz territory: one that Hexum is able to realistically combat, and with enough reluctance to not seem awkward that such a perfect-looking guy wouldn't have considered modelling in the first place...

So the best scenes occur as he learns the ropes and begins to climb the fashion rungs, leaning on Jeff Conaway's gay, has-been roommate for Shakespearean-delivered advice while hitting auditions and strategic disco nightspots.

But it fails with another hard if impossible device to grasp (or recover from): That Hexum, star of the series VOYAGERS and soon cast in COVER-UP (before his famous accidental death), would fall so pathetically hard for Joan: The rest of the Movie-of-the-Week melts into a sappy Lifestyle Channel romance, in reverse...

Here it's a dude that... despite quickly hitting it off with gorgeous girl-next-door Tamara Stafford, the next year's scream queen in THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II... trades sappy, love-crushed seats in a role usually written for the ingenue...

"Turned around," Joan says, "with an accent on you men," and in that, would have given the actress an interesting performance rather than Joan simply floating down river while Hexum, by wielding his laidback, humble persona, keeps from drowning in it.