JON-ERIK HEXUM IN THE TV-MOVIE 'MAKING OF A MALE MODEL'

Year: 1983 Rating: ***1/2

Here's proof that the term "Cougar" wasn't invented to mean what it does now, back in the 1983 television movie 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'd talked into going from a manly Texas rancher to a New York model...

"A cougar," she cries out in victorious delight, describing what she plans to eventually make of him, "ready to pounce!"

And also dated is when Hexum's Tyler Burnett complains about gay hairdressers when Collins, as successful agent Kay Dillon, points out that they go 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: and he'd soon meet a cool, unpretentious gay guy that'd become his best friend...

Male Models Jeff Conaway & Jon Erik Hexum

That being the just-left-TAXI Jeff Conaway as a has-been model roommate for Shakespearean-delivered advice while hitting auditions and strategic disco nightspots. But MAKING 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 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 guy 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, it 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.

Jeff Conaway in The Making of a Male Model

Tamara Stafford in THE MAKING OF A MALE MODEL

Robert Walker Jr. in Making of a Male Model

Jon-Erik Hexum in Making of a Male Model with Greta Blackburn

Jon-Erik Hexum in Making of a Male Model with Joan Collins

Jon-Erik Hexum in Making of a Male Model with Heather McNair

Joan Collins and Jon Erik Hexum in MAKING OF A MALE MODEL

Ted McGinley and Jon Erik Hexum in MAKING OF A MALE MODEL