THE LAST SHOWGIRL

US, 1984, 88 minutes, Colour.

Pamela Anderson, Billy Lourd, Kiernan Shipka, Brenda Song, Dave Bautista, Jamie Lee Curtis.

Directed by Gia Coppola.

While The Last Showgirl is a story of a Las Vegas show closing down (fewer coming to the spectacles, more a new popularity of circuses), it provides a fine comeback for Pamela Anderson, a varied career with Playboy, Baywatch, her relationships in the public eye, but her later championing of environmentally friendly products.

The film has been directed by Gia Coppola, the project has quite a number of the Coppola clan involved. She is a granddaughter of Francis Ford, niece of Sophia, cousin of Nicolas Cage and Jason Schwartzman (who has a role here) and the screenwriter is married to a cousin.

In many ways this is a familiar story, and many audiences who have had experiences of being fired, terminated, will resonate. Pamela Anderson plays Shelley, 57, who has danced in the show for 30 years, devoting her life to it – and in rather moving speech to her estranged daughter, she explains how important this has been for her, the show, the costumes, the dancing, even if she is only one out of 80 in the ensemble, smiling and happy to be entertaining the audience. Which is not enough for her daughter giving rise to some emotional confrontations.

Shelley also explains why this is the job she has loved for so long, even as she regrets the consequent neglect of her daughter growing up, that she is one of the regular people doing the best they can with the tools they have.

A lot of the action takes place in the dressing room, leaving some of the spectacle of the show until the later part of the film. In the dressing room interactions, Shelley has become something of a mother figure, to Jody (Kioernan Shipkin) who has left home and alienated her mother. And there is a good friend, Annette, former dancer, now aged, heavily made up, something of a fright wig, working in the gambling pit, played by Jamie Lee Curtis – and a long dance sequence that she choreographed. The daughter is played by Billy Lourd (daughter of Carrie Fisher which means that she brings a lot of experience to the role of the daughter of a showbiz personality).

A pleasant surprise is the casting of Dave Bautista, not in an action show, but as the organiser of the girls, getting them on stage at the right time, reticent in his own way, a friend for Shelley.

A sympathetic portrait of one of the regular people – facing age, jobless, with the possibility for a different future and renewing relationships.

1. A showgirl in Las Vegas story? The background of the shows, the popularity, decline, audiences, change in sensibilities? The effect on the long-time showgirls?
2. A star vehicle for Pamela Anderson, audience knowledge of her career, personal story? Her nominations for awards?
3. Audience response to Las Vegas, favourable, life and style, criticisms? The casinos, the familiar exteriors, the streets, the interiors, the gambling areas, the shows? Costumes and decor? The dressing rooms, behind-the-scenes, the management, control of the action, lighting…?
4. Shelley and her story, the opening, the close-ups, her age, the audition, lying about her age, the music? And the return to this sequence as the show was closing?
5. Shelley, 57, 30 years as a dancer, her long speech explaining to her daughter her love for the show, what it meant, the glamour, the costumes, the impact for the audience? Hannah and her criticism, the showgirls being one of 80, not individuals, and her mother’s choice of this way of life while neglecting her in her growing up?
6. Shelley’s explanation of ordinary regular people, doing what they can with the tools that they have? Audience sympathy and understanding for her?
7. The background of the of the girls, their age, Jody and her age, her family, separations, seeing Shelley as something of a mother figure? Friendships, clashes, reliance? Especially with the show closing? Mary Anne, age and background, age, auditions, bond with Shelley?
8. Eddie, a different role for Dave Bautista, his long-time with the show, relationship with the girls, timing, his announcements, the show going on? The conversations with Shelley? The realisation that he was Hannah’s father, but nobody knowing, his admiration for Shelley but her not responding to him except as a friend and professionally? The invitation to the dinner, the conversation, the past, the tensions, Shelley leaving?
9. Hannah, her life, her mother, with the other family, moving to choose and, visiting her mother, her hard attitude, yet wanting to understand, the discussion about the commitment to the show compared with commitment to family, her eventually seen the show, her dismissing the show, her mother just wonder amongst 80? Her later returning, seeking out her mother, some kind of understanding, and needs for her mother, reconciliation?
10. The friendship with an net, her being a shadow dancer, age, gambling habit, in the pit, finance, her make-up and dress, the bonding and chats with Shelley, and the significance of the long dance sequence and her costume?
11. The repeat of the audition sequence, Shelley and her dance, explaining she was a dancer, her answering back to the man auditioning, her defiance?
12. Sequences her partner bird in Las Vegas, her posture, the dance movements?
13. The film keeping the show and the dance and the staging until later, the emphasis on the costumes, elaborate, their weight, the dances and the poison movement?
14. The film showing the end of the show business era, and its effect on those concerned? And the challenge for the committed Shelley to imagine a different way of life and future?