Beverly Hills Madam (1986)

Although by no means as facile as Co-Ed Call Girl, Tori Spelling's subsequent entry in the don't-be-a-hooker TV-movie subgenre, this 1986 effort is notable for its star power. A post-Mommie Dearest, pre-Barfly Faye Dunaway injects 100-watt intensity into the title role, treating the morally simplistic material like it's Ibsen -- or at least Robert Towne. With Dunaway on board, the film assumes a degree of gravity that its script and production values otherwise wouldn't be able to muster. Surrounded by a gaggle of lovely ladies-for-hire (played credibly by such thesps as former Virginia Slims model Dani Minnick and Head of the Class starlet Robin Givens), the Oscar-winning actress manages to re-invigorate the tired archetype of the striving, possibly frigid, but still romantically hopeful prostitute. Full of grandstanding, catfights, and glamorous power struggles, Beverly Hills Madam doesn't exactly maintain its dignity. But it does offer fans of trashy, Jackie Collins-style fare a regal alternative to the real-life tackiness of Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide