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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Bland Jan can act, 24 May 2002
10/10
Author: doctardis from New York, New York

I saw this when it first aired as a tv movie, and have also seen it on tape. This is a much better the average TV movie. Parts are very compelling as you watch this young runaway evolve into a streetwalker. I was shocked to find out that the actress that played Dawn also played Jan Brady. This role is a great departure for her, and she plays it very well. She can act, and she has sex-appeal. The ending is pure TV movie soap, but the middle and beginning are an intense drama. It is quality television that holds up well over time. This far better then the sequel which was more of soap.

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Eve Plumb one-ups Linda Blair!, 14 January 2001
6/10
Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca

Eve Plumb gives a soft but rather touching performance as a naive teen from the sticks who ends up working the Hollywood Boulevard. I loved it when Dawn and her troubled roommate Alexander finally get electricity to their dump ("Bottled sunlight", Dawn says), and the brief scenes where Alexander is tempted by his gift-giving gay customers are handled with surprising resonance and taste. It's not an especially campy movie, despite the glitter rock songs (The Runaways screaming "Cherry Bomb!") and the presence of a Brady Buncher playing a prostitute. Rather, the film has good location work, interesting characters and editing. It would be easy to tag the film as TV-styled exploitation, yet it has its heart in the right place. In its day, this was a bigger ratings winner than Linda Blair's "Sarah T.: Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic" which started fresh a timeworn cycle: the teens-in-trouble genre.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Release this movie on video - NOW!, 13 August 2000
Author: Chris-1042 (smythc@talk21.com) from London, England

Great stuff! It's a pity this movie and its sequel - 'Alexander: The Other Side of Dawn' are not available on video - (Perhaps we could lobby the studio!) Eve Plumb and Leigh McCloskey (where are they now?) are superb in the central roles. I couldn't imagine a successful remake of these movies as the naivety of the teenagers just wouldn't be credible in the 21st Century - or would it? Incidentally, I seem to recall a Disney movie entitled 'Blind Sunday' circa 1976, which featured Leigh McCloskey. His character was, in some ways, a precurser to the character of Alexander.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
See Jan Brady play a teenage hooker., 8 June 2000
Author: jeff-150 from Reno, NV

Why won't they release this on video! This is the role where Eve Plumb finally buried Jan Brady and showed she had range. A little weird seeing Jan working it to the sounds of "Cherry Bomb" by the Runaways but an absolute classic.

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Entertaining, but weak 70's TV movie..., 13 October 2008
6/10
Author: asgardsrei1 from Deutschland

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The 1970's were a truly amazing time for "made for TV" movies. Some of the most powerful, gritty and shocking stuff came out of this decade. Who can ever forget Linda Blair in "Born Innocent," the brutal tale of an innocent young runaway, corrupted by the system which was supposed to protect her? Not to mention that shocking toilet plunger rape scene, something that would never see the light of day in these PC times. Films like "Death of Richie," about the teenage boy whose manic depression makes him turn to drugs, and destroy his life in the process. As powerful today, as it was 30 years ago. Unfortunately, "Dawn" is not one of those special films. It is hampered by too much melodrama, and Eve Plumb's atrocious performance, as the teen runaway, who changes from innocent girl to hardened hustler in the blink of an eye. The story is bland, and has been told so much better before. Most importantly, films like "Born Innocent" pulled no punches, and refused to cop out with the traditional and unrealistic "happy ending." "Dawn" leaves one with the false message that everything always turns out OK in the end, when this is rarely the case. Still this is worth a watch for the nostalgia quality. The classic scenes of a Hollywood Blvd. that no longer exists, the 70's fashions, the Runaways song "Cherry Bomb," etc. Hell, its worth the price of admission to see Jan Brady turning tricks! Just don't expect to be emotionally blown away by this standard TV movie.

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Marcia, marcia, marcia, why is everyone so interested in her?!, 4 February 2007
4/10
Author: tbundrick from New York, USA

A slew of movies-of-the-week appeared during the 1970's, aimed primarily at scaring teens away from: 1) underage sex 2)drugs 3) everything else Eve Plumb (Jan in THE BRADY BUNCH) is the teen runaway who ends up on the streets. The movie is maudlin, chauvinist, and downright silly. If you believe this movie, you should never leave home, do whatever your parents tell you, don't be a fool, stay in school, and just say no to drugs and everything else.....

A good triple bill of classic 1970's TV movies about the dangers of sex, drugs and free-thinking:

GO ASK ALICE, where Alice smokes weed, which leads to pills, which leads to acid....you know, that old chestnut. Bill Shatner (Captain Kirk) plays the dad......

TRIBES, where a young hippie is drafted into the Marine Corps and must erase all free-thinking. Darrin McGavin is particularly good here.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
It jerked my tears!, 28 June 2000
8/10
Author: Grand from United States

Although a bit tame by today's standards, "Dawn" was quite the thing when it came out. In my opinion, the most memorable character is not Dawn, herself, but her hustler friend Alexander, played by Leigh J. McCloskey, whose performance was so deeply moving that he scored a sequel of his own: "Alexander: the Other Side of Dawn" (1977) (TV). Unfortunately, the sequel wasn't up to the original when it came to presenting Alexander. This was a landmark movie to many of its audience members, some of whom I know can STILL remember its EXACT title, a quarter century later; such was its impact on the post-Vietnam, post-Watergate generation.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
I want to buy the movie!, 4 June 1999
10/10
Author: regina janicki (reginaed@worldnet.att.net) from united states

This movie portrays the life of a teenage runaway. Fortunately, the outcome of this made for tv movie is a positive one. It does show however, that those teens who wish to 'make it big in hollywood' does no necessarily end up that way. Prostitution and disease is a reality that must be stressed to teens.

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4 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
A Troubled Teen, 11 October 2001
Author: dlp from El Dorado, Arkansas 71730

Young girls who, run away from home, don't see danger. Pimps hang out in bus stations and airports, to catch these young girls, and lure them into prostitution. The young guy, who befriended her, gave her good advice to go back home. Even the Sheriff took Dawn, to the morgue and tried to convince her, that prostitution is dangerous. I would recommend, this movie to all teenagers. Church groups and Police departments, should use this movie, as an example, to our youth.

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3 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Delicious Piece of Trash, 1 February 2001
6/10
Author: Noah Arceneaux

I have to admit, I'm rather shocked by the other comments left for this movie. I watched it on video last night, and greatly enjoyed it, but it's by no means a "great film."

Eve Plumb's acting is truly atrocious. I never really paid attention to her acting on the Brady Bunch, but she's absolutely wretched in this movie, (in an oh-so-enjoyable way.) The dialogue is also hilariously bad. And, any movie that has a midget in the opening few minutes is a winner in my book.

Yes, this is definitely a camp classic. Worth seeking out for fans of bad movies.

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