Here's proof that the term "Cougar" wasn't invented to mean what it does now, back in 1983 when Joan Collins, famously considered the iconic DYNASTY Cougar i.e. seducer of younger men, describes how she sees Jon-Erik Hexum's would-be model, who she had talked into going from a manly Texas stuntman to a New York model: "A cougar," she describes, "ready to pounce."
And also dated is when Hexum's Tyler Burnett complains about gay men when Collins, as successful agent Kay Dillon, points out that it goes with the show-biz territory: one that Hexum is able to realistically combat, and with enough reluctance to not seem awkward that such a perfect-looking guy wouldn't have considered modelling in the first place...
So the best scenes occur as he learns the ropes and begins to climb the fashion rungs, leaning on Jeff Conaway's gay, has-been roommate for Shakespearean-delivered advice while hitting auditions and strategic disco nightspots.
But it fails with another hard if impossible device to grasp (or recover from): That Hexum, star of the series VOYAGERS and soon cast in COVER-UP (before his famous accidental death), would fall so pathetically hard for Joan: The rest of the Movie-of-the-Week melts into a sappy Lifestyle Channel romance, in reverse...
Here it's a dude that... despite quickly hitting it off with gorgeous girl-next-door Tamara Stafford, the next year's scream queen in THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II... trades sappy, love-crushed seats in a role usually written for the ingenue...
"Turned around," Joan says, "with an accent on you men," and in that, would have given the actress an interesting performance rather than Joan simply floating down river while Hexum, by wielding his laidback, humble persona, keeps from drowning in it.
