Review of Miss All-American Beauty

Sweet, naive, and simple small town girl and accomplished pianist Sally Butterfield (winningly played by Diane Lane at her most radiant and ravishing) wins a Texas beauty pageant. Her heretofore dull and mundane existence gets thrown all topsy turvy as the pageant officials turn her into a glossy product and make her travel all over the country for various high profile engagements. Can Sally survive all the intense pressure and keep her integrity after being suddenly thrust into the public spotlight? Director Gus Trikonis, working from an engrossing and incisive script by Nancy Audley and Emily Tracy, relates the compelling story at a steady pace, depicts the credible characters in an intriguing and effective manner, and smartly avoids both cloying sentiment and cheesy melodrama. This film further benefits from excellent acting from a capable cast: Lane positively glows in an early lead role, Brian Kerwin contributes a strong and sympathetic performance as Sally's concerned and supportive music teacher boyfriend Michael Carrington, plus there are fine turns from Cloris Leachman as Sally's sage and maternal chaperon Agatha Blaine, David Dukes as slick pageant public relations vice president Avery McPherson, Jayne Meadows as snooty and overbearing pageant president Gertrude Hunnicutt, and Alice Hirson and Norman Bennett as Sally's warm and caring parents. Moreover, this picture delivers a potent and provocative central message about how achieving instant celebrity status can come at the cost of your soul. Robert C. Jessup's crisp cinematography gives the film a bright sparkling look and makes nifty occasional use of stately fades. Paul Chihara's sparely used score likewise does the trick with a minimum of fuss. A solid and satisfying little drama.