IMDb RATING
7.1/10
2.6K
YOUR RATING
A social comedy about a beauty pageant for young Californian women, held annually in Santa Rosa, and how it affects the locals and participants.A social comedy about a beauty pageant for young Californian women, held annually in Santa Rosa, and how it affects the locals and participants.A social comedy about a beauty pageant for young Californian women, held annually in Santa Rosa, and how it affects the locals and participants.
- Awards
- 1 nomination
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to Bruce Dern, who talked about the movie on The Projection Booth podcast in 2016, there were suppose to be 2500 extras in the film for the pageant scenes. Since it was really important that the same faces show up in the audience in every scene for consistency, the filmmakers came up with an idea to give away five Cadillacs each day of the three-day pageant shoot to five lucky extras. Each extra would get a ticket in the morning and by the end of the day they'd get to enter the Cadillac lottery. This not only made sure that the same people would return each day, but 7000 additional people showed up to play extras and try to win the cars. Since they didn't need that many extras, the filmmakers decided to charge the extras 25 dollars to let them be in the movie and play the Cadillac lottery. Dern concludes the anecdote by amusingly stating that this was the only time in his career that he saw a movie making money directly off the people who worked for the movie.
- GoofsDuring pageant finale, many letters in the electrical Young American Miss sign are unlit in a long shot of stage, but shine brightly in other angles.
- Quotes
Doria Houston: Santa Rosa is so beautiful. I mean, I thought the shopping mall in Anaheim was great until I saw yours. It's... a credit to the vision of your business community.
- Crazy creditsBecause Mara Finerty's most noticeable scene in the movie shows her saying, "Rotting maggots of death, crawling out of the skull of war," she is listed in the closing credits as "Maggots Girl."
- ConnectionsFeatured in TCM Guest Programmer: Robert Wuhl (2010)
- SoundtracksSmile
(1936)
Music by Charles Chaplin
Lyrics by John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons
Sung by Nat 'King' Cole
Nat King Cole is heard through the Courtesy of Capitol Records
Featured review
Enjoyable Comedy
"Smile" is a perfect satire of our human penchant for joining clubs and organizations. Set against the "Miss Teen California" Pageant, this film parodies the pettiness, power plays, and self-importance of the contest's organizers.
At the time, I had just joined the Jaycees and I roared with laughter at all the "Jaycee types" I saw. Bruce Dern, the enthusiastic but dense Jaycee President "Big Bob Friedlander" sets the tone of the festivities. Barbara Feldon as chairwoman Brenda DiCarlo runs a taut ship, but is none too bright. In fact her husband, Andy, is literally driven to drink and runs away from the "exhausted rooster" ceremony rather than kiss a dead chicken. Big Bob's son, "Little Bob" and his friends get caught running a business of taking pictures of the girls dressing rooms through the windows.
In one of the less ethical aspects of the pageant, the Jaycees wait until their choreographer has taught the girls a dance number using a runway out into the audience. Suddenly the Jaycees take away the runway to accommodate "the golden circle" of $150 seats. As the choreographer tries the number without the runway, one of the girls falls. Putting the honest choreographer in a moral bind of money vs. safety, the Jaycees only put the runway back in by forcing him to deduct the cost of the "golden circle" tickets from his fee.
This film is a lot of laughs, starting at the very beginning, when one of the local pageant winners presents as her "talent" a demonstration of how to pack your suitcase. During the credits, as she runs to the plane to the pageant, her suitcase flies open, spilling everything all overt he place. The contestants steal the show. Some of the "talent" is singing, and, well, none of them have ever won a Grammy. Shortly after Maria ingratiates her way into Barbara Feldon's favor, her "talent" of flinging lighted batons ends in disaster as a few of the other contestants chuckle conspiratorially.
I didn't quit the Jaycees, but I certainly had many laughs at the meetings! In short, a great comedy! I recommend it highly and give it an "8."
At the time, I had just joined the Jaycees and I roared with laughter at all the "Jaycee types" I saw. Bruce Dern, the enthusiastic but dense Jaycee President "Big Bob Friedlander" sets the tone of the festivities. Barbara Feldon as chairwoman Brenda DiCarlo runs a taut ship, but is none too bright. In fact her husband, Andy, is literally driven to drink and runs away from the "exhausted rooster" ceremony rather than kiss a dead chicken. Big Bob's son, "Little Bob" and his friends get caught running a business of taking pictures of the girls dressing rooms through the windows.
In one of the less ethical aspects of the pageant, the Jaycees wait until their choreographer has taught the girls a dance number using a runway out into the audience. Suddenly the Jaycees take away the runway to accommodate "the golden circle" of $150 seats. As the choreographer tries the number without the runway, one of the girls falls. Putting the honest choreographer in a moral bind of money vs. safety, the Jaycees only put the runway back in by forcing him to deduct the cost of the "golden circle" tickets from his fee.
This film is a lot of laughs, starting at the very beginning, when one of the local pageant winners presents as her "talent" a demonstration of how to pack your suitcase. During the credits, as she runs to the plane to the pageant, her suitcase flies open, spilling everything all overt he place. The contestants steal the show. Some of the "talent" is singing, and, well, none of them have ever won a Grammy. Shortly after Maria ingratiates her way into Barbara Feldon's favor, her "talent" of flinging lighted batons ends in disaster as a few of the other contestants chuckle conspiratorially.
I didn't quit the Jaycees, but I certainly had many laughs at the meetings! In short, a great comedy! I recommend it highly and give it an "8."
Helpful•101
- consortpinguin
- Jun 30, 2001
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- Budget
- $1,300,000 (estimated)
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