Smile (1975 film)

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Smile

Original Theatrical Poster
Directed by Michael Ritchie
Produced by Michael Ritchie
Screenplay by Jerry Belson
Starring Bruce Dern
Barbara Feldon
Michael Kidd
Geoffrey Lewis
Eric Shea
Music by Dan Orsborn
Cinematography Conrad L. Hall
Editing by Richard A. Harris
Distributed by United Artists
Release dates 9 July 1975
Running time 117 min.
Country U.S.A.
Language English

Smile is a 1975 satirical comedy-drama film directed by Michael Ritchie with a screenplay by Jerry Belson about a beauty pageant in Santa Rosa, California. It stars Bruce Dern and Barbara Feldon and introduced a number of young actresses who later went on to greater success and recognition, such as Melanie Griffith, Annette O'Toole, Denise Nickerson, and Colleen Camp. The film satirizes small-town America and its peculiarities, hypocrisies and artifice within and around the pageant.

The film was subsequently adapted into a 1986 Broadway musical with songs by Marvin Hamlisch (A Chorus Line) and Howard Ashman (Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast).

Plot Synopsis

The plot revolves around the contestants and people involved with California's Young American Miss Pageant held in Santa Rosa, California. Barbara Feldon starred as Brenda DiCarlo (the pageant's Executive Director), with Nicholas Pryor as Andy DiCarlo (Brenda's alcoholic husband), Bruce Dern as Big Bob Freelander (the head judge), Eric Shea as Little Bob, Big Bob's opportunistic son, Geoffrey Lewis as Wilson Shears (pageant producer), and as the contestants, Joan Prather as Robin Gibson, Annette O'Toole as Doria Hudson, Melanie Griffith as Karen Love, and a small role played by Michael Ritchie's sister, Elsie Ritchie. Choreographer Michael Kidd starred as Tommy French, the pageant's stage director.

Cast

Production

The movie was filmed on location in and around Santa Rosa, with the pageant held at Veteran's Memorial Auditorium.

Reception

'Smile' was well received upon release, with praise for the humour, satire and performances. Vincent Canby of The New York Times declared Jerry Belson's screenplay ' excellent ' and that, ' Smile, which is Mr. Ritchie's best film to date (better than both Downhill Racer and The Candidate), questions the quality of our fun, while adding to it '.[1] Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying that though ' Ritchie has so messy targets that he misses some and never quite gets back to others', the film still 'does a good job of working over the hypocrisy and sexism of a typical beauty pageant. '.[2]

The film holds a 100% 'fresh' rating on review aggregate Rotten Tomatoes.[3]

See also

  • Nashville - Another satirical American film, released the same year, directed by Robert Altman. This film looks at the lives of several individuals leading up to and around a local concert.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=EE05E7DF173AE070BC4153DFB667838E669EDE
  2. ↑ http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/smile-1975
  3. ↑ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1019234-smile/

External links

Films directed by Michael Ritchie


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