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Smile

Acclaimed director Michael Ritchie takes his satirical sword to beauty pageant culture in the 1975 film Smile. The movie takes place in the week leading up to the California Young American Miss competition, where local winners from all over the Golden State gather to compete for a chance to go to the national contest. The ensemble cast consists of the many teenage competitors, some innocent and others cutthroat, and the various adults making a living off of the commodification of their youth and beauty, including pageant staff, judges and a very full of himself Hollywood choreographer. Bruce Dern, Geoffrey Lewis, Annette O’Toole and a young Melanie Griffith bring the laughs as the pageant world is skewered mercilessly in this ahead of its time comedy.

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.” – Vincent Canby, The New York Times

Kim Morgan discusses Smile on the New Beverly blog.

Marc Edward Heuck discusses Smile on the New Beverly blog.

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