Miss All-American Beauty

When beauty pageant contestant Diane Lane wins the state title, she had no idea what lay in waiting for her when she wins the national title and the public demands mount as she carries her title across the country.

To my knowledge, I've never seen this film until today, which might be a good thing, because otherwise I would have had to SUFFER through this movie more than one time. Aside from the fluff, like "Ooh! Ain't I pretty?!?!?" and the stereotypical ideas that this show represents, the only other point I would have about this film is that it is B-O-R-I-N-G!The only thing that Lane has going for her in this film (other than her beautiful looks and obvious grace and charm) is that this film is over twenty-five years old and no one will, hopefully, stumble across this film like I did on Netflix and waste their stamp to return it.

3 out of 10 stars.

I've been on a Diane Lane kick lately and this one was streaming free on Prime Video, where she plays an 18-year-old classical pianist who enters a Texas beauty pageant in hopes of coming in second or third for the scholarship money but ends up winning and going to nationals, where she finds the rigors of pageant life more challenging than she expected. You can tell even in this early role that Lane is talented, but what struck me most about this TV movie was how wildly sexist it was. Beauty pageants are inherently kind of gross and outdated, so I was expecting a moment where Lane defies the sexism of the pageant world, but that never happens. She does rebel against being micromanaged, but not necessarily against the misogynistic requirements of the pageant (pretending she doesn't have a boyfriend, dressing a certain way, presenting herself a certain way in interviews, etc). The weirdest element of the film is that 18-year-old Lane's boyfriend is her late 20s piano teacher (who would co-star with Lane again in 1996 where they would play the parents of Robin Williams in JACK) and later in the film Lane is wooed by a much older pageant organizer. Super creepy and it's never even acknowledged! The early 80s were a different time for sure... Overall, this movie is nothing to go out of your way to watch, but I was entertained and the cast is what holds it all together. Cloris Leachman, David Dukes, and Jayne Meadows also appear in the film. FUN FACT! Co-writer Nancy Audley four years earlier wrote another Texas beauty queen TV movie that featured a before-she-was-famous Kim Basinger and was a darker tale of post-pageant life called KATIE: PORTRAIT OF A CENTERFOLD.

Sally (Diane Lane) is a beautiful young lady and classical pianist. Because scholarship money is always welcome, Sally enters a Texas beauty pageant...and wins. Amazingly, she wins the next round, too, that is the Miss All American Beauty Pageant. Sally is stunned and so is her boyfriend. All of a sudden, Sally is whisked away to New York for a makeover and given an itinerary to rival that of a political candidate the week before election time. Oh, she might have two days of at Thanksgiving to see her boyfriend but that's it...until Valentine's Day. At first, Sally is thrilled with the attention. But, as her commitments to her music, her family, and her near-fiancé gets shredded, Sally begins to wonder what is the meaning of it all. Will Sally survive a year as a beauty queen? This is a must see for anyone thinking of entering a beauty contest. Although adulation and scholarships are nice, the overall change in one's existence may not be worth it. Lane is very good as the beautiful woman who almost loses her identity in the whole pageant process. All of the supporting players are great, especially Chloris Leachman as Sally's chaperone and Jayne Meadows as a domineering beauty pageant official. The costumes and settings are nice, to. If you want to catch Lane in an early role, this is a nice view, with a story that should serve as a cautionary tale for anyone desiring the spotlight.

I have to say that I did not expect much from this film. I essentially bought it as I really like Diane Lane and had not seen much of her early work.

First off the performances in the movie are decent if not great. Diane Lane is certainly beautiful enough to be believable and her acting performance is okay too. Cloris Leachman although a little agitating at times gives a good performance as her chaperone. Brian Kerwin is passable, one of the better performance is probably from David Dukes as the sleazy vice president of public relations. The actors who play Lane's parents are okay although the performance of the actor playing her father is fairly flat at times, The actress that plays her Mother gives a slightly better performance. The direction is that of your basic made for TV fare, but somehow the presence of Lane seems to make the film more interesting. Her character certainly goes through changes in the movie and all the attention she gets seems initially strange, she grows to enjoy being in the spotlight and getting attention and the trappings that come with it. Which eventually takes a toll on her family and her romance with Michael (Brian Kerwin).

This is certainly not a deep movie or a moving experience, but it is a decent way to spend 97mins and if you like Diane Lane I suggest you buy this.

Released to TV in 1982, "Miss All-American Beauty" stars Diane Lane as the Texas winner of a Miss America-like pageant. The story chronicles her transformation as she suddenly transfers from the normal lifestyle of a good-looking young American woman to the hectic life of a famous beauty queen and everything that goes with it.

While I enjoyed going back to 1981 and Diane looks great, not to mention the other peripheral beauties, this movie is relatively boring, uneventful and unimaginative. It's got "TV movie" written all over it and not in a good way (like, say, the excellent "Pray for the Wildcats" or "Gargoyles"). But it's okay and worthwhile if you're a Lane fan.

The movie runs 96 minutes and was shot in the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas.

GRADE: C