Smile (1975) on Netflix
In Santa Rosa, used car dealer Big Bob Freelander heads the judging of the Young American Miss pageant and Brenda DiCarlo directs it. Thirty-three state winners arrive to compete.
- Netflix4.3/5
- IMDb7.1/102,804 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Big Bob Freelander sells used cars in Santa Rosa and serves as head judge of the Young American Miss Pageant. Brenda DiCarlo holds the title of executive director for the event. Her husband Andy, an alcoholic, dreads a Jaycee chapter ritual that marks his departure from the group. Thirty-three teenage girls, each a local winner from somewhere in California, reach Santa Rosa, where they are briefed and placed with host families. Little Bob, the judge's son, goes through the contestant applications and plots with his friends to photograph the girls undressed. A Los Angeles choreographer, Tommy French, teaches dance routines, and he clashes with the pageant producer Wilson Shears. The contestants give interviews to the judges, and at the Thursday preliminary show the novice Robin Gibson is one of three winners.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Smile (1975)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director Michael Ritchie got the idea for Smile after serving as a judge at a real beauty pageant in Santa Rosa, California, and based many of the incidents in the film on events he had witnessed himself.
- After its release, Smile developed a cult following; in 2014, the film site Indiewire named it one of the ten great overlooked films from the 1970s.
