Miss Firecracker (1989)

Carnelle isn't happy with her life, so in order to improve herself she enters a local beauty contest, trying to emulate her cousin Elain's win many years ago. Few think she can win, even ... See full summary »

Director:

Thomas Schlamme

Writers:

Beth Henley (play), Beth Henley (screenplay)

Stars:

Holly Hunter, Mary Steenburgen, Tim Robbins

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Holly Hunter	...	Carnelle Scott
Mary Steenburgen	...	Elain Rutledge
Tim Robbins	...	Delmount Williams
Alfre Woodard	...	Popeye Jackson
Scott Glenn	...	Mac Sam
Veanne Cox	...	Tessy Mahoney
Ann Wedgeworth	...	Miss Blue
Trey Wilson	...	Benjamin Drapper
Amy Wright	...	Missy Mahoney
Kathleen Chalfant	...	Miss Lily
Robert Fieldsteel	...	Tommy Turner
Greg Germann	...	Ronnie Wayne
Avril Gentles	...	Mrs. Biggs
Bert Remsen	...	Mr. Morton
Angela Turner	...	Caroline Jefferson

Storyline

Carnelle isn't happy with her life, so in order to improve herself she enters a local beauty contest, trying to emulate her cousin Elain's win many years ago. Few think she can win, even her closest friends and relatives (e.g. slightly mad cousin Delmount) think she's heading for a big disappointment, but Carnelle is ever hopeful, seeing a win as a ticket to escape her small town in Mississippi.

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Plot Keywords:

mississippi | small town | beauty contest | contest | dysfunctional family | 

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Taglines:

An explosive comedy!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 January 1990 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

En tjej med glöd

Filming Locations:

Yazoo City, Mississippi, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$1,852,655 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Corsair Pictures, Firecracker Company, Guadalupe Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Delmount Williams: Please, don't make me treat you like dogs. I don't want to treat you like common dogs.

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Connections

References Gone with the Wind (1939)

User Reviews

Independence Day for Miss Firecracker

"Physiognomy": the act of judging people by their physical appearance.

As in her first film, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Crimes of the Heart, Beth Henley has created a collection of off-beat Southern Gothic characters. These characters seem familiar like old friends (or more like black-sheep cousins), ut the film goes beyond its representation of these endearing characters to explore deeper themes, to ask whether appearances are really important.

The Miss Firecracker Contest, is superficially, a comedy about a small town Southern beauty pageant, in which Henley reflects in a sardonic manner on how and why women put themselves through such contests. The pageant, however, merely frames the action. The play is ultimately about appearances. Henley introduces the idea that women shape their identities and bodies in terms of the opinions of other people, and the more important issue of breaking away from stereotypes in order to discover your personality. The beauty pageant is even held on the Fourth of July -- Independence Day.

All of the women in this play, except Popeye, define themselves in relation to the contest. Staying with Henley's successful formula of an insecure heroine who searches for acceptance from society and her family, The Miss Firecracker Contest is dominated by the beauty queen "wannabe," Carnelle Scott (a role created on stage by then little-known Southern actress Holly Hunter). Carnelle is not merely competing for the crown; she wants to win the contest so that she can win acceptance from the town of Brookhaven, Mississippi, shed her tawdry reputation, and leave the town in a "crimson blaze of glory." Carnelle's own name even expresses her sexual nature -- the derivation of her name, "carnal," means pleasures of a sexual nature.

Her cousin and idol, Elain, is a self-absorbed former pageant winner -- a Scarlett O'Hara for the twentieth century -- still living off the glory of her youth. Even Tessy Mahoney, one of the two ugliest girls in town, takes pleasure in the authority of the whistle and clipboard she wields as pageant coordinator. Of the women, only Popeye -- with her coke-bottle glasses -- is more concerned with "seeing" than with being seen. An admirer of beauty that transcends physical appearance, she serves as a mirror through which others may see their own self-worth.

The Miss Firecracker Contest continues Beth Henley's examination of the South -- and especially of small-town Southern women. In pursuing this theme, she is following in the steps of earlier Southern playwrights, such as Lillian Hellman and Tennessee Williams. And like Southern author William Faulkner with his fictitious county of Yoknapatawpha, Mississippi, Henley appears to be establishing a physical universe and a cast of familiar characters for her canon of plays.