I found it hard to believe that Jonna Lee's character of Pauline couldn't find a liveable wage job outside of the world of nude modeling and eventually porn. She is shown with high school pal Kris Kamm going in and out of various businesses and constantly turned down. She refuses to take anything that just pays minimal wage, even to start gaining experience, and when she does find a profession where the salary for modeling provides a nice wage, she's soon disrobing, and that leads to adult loops and eventually Penthouse and theatrically released adult entertainment. When mother Melinda Dillon discovers this, she is repulsed, even more so when Lee returns home for Christmas, boasting about her real work, of course leaving out the fact that she is doing drugs. This of course takes her life further into deeper dark places, from which there is only one escape.
Typical TV movie fare that we'd seen in the 70's, greatly hinted at in precode films of the 30's, and while this is certainly a good reminder for young ladies to be wary of, it only shows the surface dangers, not the real despair and degradation that comes with this life. Lee manages to show her downfall quite realistically, and through that, you can tell she's desperately trying to stay nice. John Pleshette, Richard Cox and Stephen Schnetzer are also very good as some of the more respectable men in her life, warning her of how her habits could destroy her. Dillon could have played the mother with more judgment, but she makes the character more than just a one dimensional prude. The ending is obvious but that doesn't make it any easier to feel bad when it happens.
Typical TV movie fare that we'd seen in the 70's, greatly hinted at in precode films of the 30's, and while this is certainly a good reminder for young ladies to be wary of, it only shows the surface dangers, not the real despair and degradation that comes with this life. Lee manages to show her downfall quite realistically, and through that, you can tell she's desperately trying to stay nice. John Pleshette, Richard Cox and Stephen Schnetzer are also very good as some of the more respectable men in her life, warning her of how her habits could destroy her. Dillon could have played the mother with more judgment, but she makes the character more than just a one dimensional prude. The ending is obvious but that doesn't make it any easier to feel bad when it happens.