PORTRAIT OF A SHOWGIRL

US, 1982, 100 minutes, Colour.
Lesley Ann Warren, Tony Curtis, Rita Moreno.
Directed by Steven Hilliard Stern.

Portrait of a Showgirl is one of many similar telemovies of the late '70s and early '80s. Portrait of ... provides a neat and alluring type of title. There have been telemovies of Portrait of a Stripper (Lesley Anne Warren), Portrait of an Escort (Susan Anspach), Portrait of a Centrefold ...

This film is ordinary telemovie material. Lesley Anne Warren portrays a would-be dancer who gets involved in all the crises at Las Vegas is preparations for putting on a show. The film has the regular group of show business characters, financial dealers, complications in the gambling city. There are the human struggles, especially for the heroine, family etc.

The film works at a very ordinary level of soap opera and television series portraiture, characterisation and insight. For an undemanding audience, it does give a glimpse of the back of the glamour at a place like Las Vegas and the demands made on a girl who wants to make a career in the chorus line.