Review of Miss All-American Beauty

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.