# Smile (1975)

### reviewed by
Shane Burridge

    Smile (1975) 117m.

One of Michael Ritchie's better films: a California town holds the state finals for the Young American Miss beauty pageant, and we are placed in the position of judges - not of the contestants but of the pageant itself. Since ridiculing beauty contests is about as easy as shooting fish in a barrel, you'd be right to expect SMILE to be an all-out comedy. It is funny (the kind of film that immediately attracts the phrase 'wickedly funny') but smart enough to keep its satire played relatively straight. The pageant itself is low-key enough to be believable within the budget/facilities of the host town (Ritchie actually charged real audiences to watch the fake contest!) - there's no need for high-stakes glitz-and-glamor when we can see the same sort of facade exposed much more humbly and just as relevantly. This approach also has the benefit of helping us sympathize with the contestants, who for the most part are a pretty down-to-earth and amiable group of girls.

The contestants' interviews, rehearsals and performances are the main thrust of SMILE's satire, but Ritchie and screenwriter Jerry Belson see a reflection in the small town itself. I don't know who came up with the idea of casting Bruce Dern and Barbara Feldon as the pageant organizers but it was either a happy accident or just plain inspired. What better role to exploit Dern's disarming grin and snake-oil voice than that of a car salesman? And what better part for a car salesman to play than a beauty pageant judge - after all, the merchandise is similarly labeled, polished up, and displayed on stage to the accompaniment of smooth-talking patter. The connection between the contest and Dern himself is summed up when one of his friends mockingly accuses him of being just another Young American Miss. I think it's more likely that Dern has become the pageant personified, a blatant symbol of all that is artificial. It's impossible to tell when he's being sincere, even though he remains consistently loyal to the idea of the contest (when he utters down-home phrases like "holy heck" at points of exasperation, it seems to be the huckster in him still talking). At the conclusion of the contest he sits alone at the judges' table, evaluating a lifestyle of dressing up for his lodge brothers, performing absurd rituals (even sillier than the pageant), selling used vehicles and judging contests ("Gold this year!" he says approvingly when he sees his new official's badge). It comes as a nice moment when he finally drops his guard, loses his ever-present smile, and attempts to strike up a real conversation - but then discovers that he can't be a 'real' person in his small-town world.

SMILE's matter-of-fact approach works well in its favor. We might laugh at some of the cobbled-together items in the talent contest, but it's plain that these girls are only doing what they are best at, no matter what it turns out to be. Despite the number of contestants, and their limited screen time, everyone seems to be a well-realized character (as opposed to the more satirical standards of caricature). Familiar names in the lineup include Annette O'Toole, Melanie Griffith and Colleen Camp. Charlie Chaplin's song 'Smile' is used effectively to open and close the film. You have to wonder if Belson and Ritchie set the beauty contest in California just so they could get the Beach Boys' 'California Girls' on the soundtrack.

sburridge@hotmail.com

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