With her triumphant renaissance in full swing, it’s time to look at the essential Pamela Anderson films…
Hollywood loves a comeback story. Whether they’ve reappeared after five, ten, or twenty years in the wilderness, some stars make unexpected and triumphant returns. All sorts of once bright lights on a decline have suddenly found themselves thrust into the limelight once again, and what tends to be most pleasing to see is those stars who just seem like all-around good eggs.
From Keanu’s re-emergence as an iconic leading light with John Wick, to Ke Huy Quan returning after 30 years away from the big screen with Everything Everywhere All At Once, it often feels like a well-deserved reward for being a decent human being.
Then, there’s Pamela Anderson, a star who shone so bright in the 90s at a time when that blond bombshell image, running slow motion across sandy beaches (in a snug red swimsuit) was a cash cow. As the industry (at least outwardly) grew and treated hot young actresses less cynically, those stars, who were often exploited and had their image sold based on their appearance, were cast aside. Once objectified and now forgotten.
The problem was, no one was casting Anderson for her acting talents. Critics and fans often dismissed that part of her skill set as non-existent anyway. However, life, experience, the right script and a skilled director all have the ability to pull a great performance from anyone, and finally, Anderson has been able to show that.
Before The Last Showgirl, Anderson had stayed out of the spotlight for the best part of the 21st century, but the Baywatch big screen reboot (as bad as it was) suddenly brought Anderson into passing conversation. Pam and Tommy, though not endorsed (or particularly liked) by Anderson, also made many who grew up idolising her and who lived the sex tape pop culture explosion suddenly take a more sympathetic look back. Finally, Anderson wasn’t merely a sex object and a subject for mocking; the drama offered a depiction that compelled people to empathise with the grotesque nature of the tapes’ release.
That coincided with a fascinating documentary, Pamela: A Love Story that showed Anderson as being far more complex, artistic and intelligent than the image that was cultivated by everyone but her, as ditzy. It could be billed as a reinvention, only really isn’t. It’s a reveal. A truth. It’s the real Pamela Anderson, and she’s impossible to dislike; her triumphant return is impossible not to love.
All that said, some of her films of yesteryear do still deserve some attention and even reappraisal in some cases, and so here are the essential Pamela Anderson films…
Raw Justice (Good Cop, Bad Cop)
Anderson has just become part of the Naked Gun franchise, once of the Zucker brothers. Their other most famous spoof was Airplane!, starring Robert Hays, and here he is in Raw Justice, alongside Anderson. She was on a steep rise thanks to Baywatch, and he was on the way down. Now, by any objective view, Raw Justice isn’t a particularly good film. It’s a pretty standard 90s video action thriller. The kind that probably saw plenty of tapes shift at Blockbuster because Anderson was placed on the cover (though in reality, she’s not the headline show in this).
However, the film is a pretty fun buddy up film with Hays becoming tied up with David Keith (that’s David Keith, not Keith David) as he finds himself the chief suspect in a murder case. Pammy comes on scene, as effervescent as usual, but not given the most in-depth of characterisations (she, of course, becomes a love interest). Still, she gets in on the action, there are car chases, gun fights and explosions. Many discovered it in the dead of night on cable, and like many of those passable traschtaculars, it actually looks pretty good compared to today’s actionless, awful-looking DTV action thrillers. Add in Chuck Napier and Stacy Keach for added gravitas.
Naked Souls
Anderson was an undoubted sex symbol following the breakout success of Baywatch and her short-lived but memorable role on Home Improvement. The transition from small screen to big proved more difficult, though, with producers often looking to exploit her popularity with the male demographic and placing her in the kinds of films booming in the wake of the Basic Instinct-inspired erotic thriller boom.
So naturally, Anderson found herself offered the types of roles that were going to actresses like Shannon Tweed, who were big on video and cable. Naked Souls, dips an unsubtly leaden foot into erotic thriller territory, but with an odd Sci-fi twist. It’s schlocky nonsense, but the concept is so ridiculous as to make the film compelling.
A mad scientist switches bodies with a young artist. Said artist’s girlfriend (Anderson) then tries to find a way to reverse it and save her fella. It’s clear what the film was largely sold for (and Anderson does strip off), and it’s not the finest example of Anderson the actress, but her presence is certainly a strong point, whilst David Warner as the evil scientist is able to steal the movie with relative ease. By the time the film came out, Baywatch was just starting to see a decline, and Anderson was seeking pastures new, but this certainly wasn’t the film to get her there. In hindsight, however, it’s a fun and goofy B movie.
Barb Wire
The film that was supposed to make Anderson a big screen star was Barb Wire, a slight retool of Casablanca, filled with action, guns, weird water sequences (to drench a near-naked Anderson as she gyrates on stage). Based on a cult comic book, but made prior to the comic book boom, this one went the same way as The Shadow, The Phantom and Tank Girl…it tanked. Anderson was ridiculed, and the film was trashed by critics who thought the whole thing was daft.
But did they miss something? There’s been a little reappraisal over the years with Barb Wire, over its quirks and strange tone and dialled up performances. Much like Tank Girl, the humour of Barb Wire seemed to get missed, and it doesn’t merely feel like an accident. Anderson plays it a little wry and dialled up. It’s wildly over the top with its ass kicking set pieces, and as such, the film has almost slipped nicely into the more recent trends of the girl-boss action film. Barb Wire feels a bit more attuned to the cinema of the last decade or so than it did in 1996. Yet it also has the 90s aesthetics, the practical action sequences and soundtrack.
It’s not perfect. Is it good? Maybe it is, and more intentionally than some might credit it. It’s fun and it’s probably a lot better than you remember. Again, not least because with its meat and potatoes, in-camera pyrotechnics, eclectic cast and a more competent (than she was credited) Anderson, it’s better than a lot of comic book and genre films these days.
The Last Showgirl
Anderson popped up with the occasional fun walk-on, with a good cameo in Superhero the Movie and Scary Movie 3. For a time, it felt like she’d be confined to doing wave and smile walk-ons. Then came Gia Coppola and the role of a lifetime for Anderson, The Last Showgirl.
Anderson plays an ageing showgirl and long-time star of her old-fashioned, if dated show. Now facing the prospect of the show being cancelled and replaced with something more modernised, she inevitably faces the fact that she’ll likely be replaced with someone younger too.
Coppola’s melancholic and intimate drama, shot beautifully on 16mm, did something for the first time; It believed in Anderson as a rounded character actor capable of nuance and range. In return, she duly delivered a career-transforming performance. She’s backed up by Dave Bautista, again demonstrating his surprising depth and the inimitable Jamie Lee Curtis. It’s Anderson’s film, though, bringing an incredible amount of pathos and likability to the role, so much so that she was given a deserved Golden Globe nomination and was in the conversation for an Oscar nomination (sadly overlooked).
The Naked Gun
This all brings us to the here and now, with The Naked Gun, the sequel/reboot to the iconic spoof franchise. This time, Liam Neeson takes on the role of Frank Drebin Jnr and excels at the kind of straight-faced obliviousness that Leslie Nielsen had perfected.
With comedy feeling like a rare extravagance on the big screen, not least when it’s actually funny, Naked Gun felt like a refreshing dive into familiar, nostalgic waters. The days when you could go to the cinema and laugh consistently. It’s rare, and rather than 5-6 films a year, we’re at maybe 1-2 (on a good year) that tickle the funny bone.
Then there’s Anderson. She’s shown herself adept in this space in small doses, but as the main love interest for a (hopefully) new run of films, she steals the show. Anderson lights up the screen with a radiance she still has in abundance, but she’s also pitch-perfect at delivering a role with comic timing, physical comedy and sincerity. She steals the film but also acts as a perfect partner for Neeson on screen (and evidently, and delightfully, off screen). There’s a danger that, being as good as she is here (potentially a second Globe nomination good), there may be a feeling that comedy is her bag, over quietly compelling drama. It would be a crime for her not to jump between both, and certainly be interesting to see if she can maintain the dramatic weight she showed in The Last Showgirl.
What’s your favourite Pamela Anderson film? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Tom Jolliffe
