Call Me: The Rise and Fall of Heidi Fleiss (2004)
The story of Heidi Fleiss, known as "The Hollywood Madam", who was the daughter of a prominent Los Angeles doctor and eventually became a prostitute for a well-known Los Angeles madam. She took over her boss' operation and soon was raking in $300,000 a month by hiring only the most beautiful and highest-class hookers and catering to wealthy Hollywood types, European and American corporate executives and Arab sheiks. Her operation was broken up by Los Angeles police in 1993, and she eventually went to prison for income-tax evasion.
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Wild child Heidi Fleiss goes from party girl to queen of Hollywood commercial sex - but the careless house-of-cards soon starts to wobble. Based on an over-reported true story.Money. Sex. Power. Like cherries on a one armed bandit when they line up you should give a decent pay-out. Here, however, they barely give out a profit.For a start sex on the mainstream screen is all about foreplay, tease and aftermath rather than the act. The power soap operas like Dallas and Dynasty used sex with far more effect than these producers because they knew the audience could fill in the blank between the bedroom door and next morning themselves. Here we are forced to watch a coupling only being performed for financial gain. There is no before and no after. Nothing has changed. We learn nothing. Does the fact that big money is being exchanged add anything or change anything? Is it any more dramatic (or different) from what goes on in a motel room on the wrong side of town? Jamie-Lynn Sigler was good (as the questioning daughter) in the Sopranos, but that was an undemanding role. Here she plays a complex women who is supposed to be smart and yet at the same time very dumb. Well dumb if not going to jail is one of your high priorities in life. She also mixed selling drugs with selling sex - one of the golden no-no's. She all but painted a cross on her forehead. Add her refusal to pay bribes/inform to the police and you have a perfect "how not to do it." Nick Bloomfield's documentary was far more interesting as it played her life as unscripted comedy and tragedy. A bizarre version of the American dream where being famous and being infamous are pretty much the same. I am all for the legalisation of prostitution, but if these are the people that are going to benefit then maybe things are not so bad as they are...
This came on a late night on U.S.A. and I immediately noticed Jamie-Lynn DiScala from the Sopranos so I decided to watch. I was rather surprised to see her in a role like the one she had in this. Had a nice little plot that kept me tuned in, had some really sexy scenes for a movie that comes on USA...Very reminiscent to Boogie Nights and Blow, Jamie-Lynn holds her own as a cut-throat businesswoman in a surprisingly flashy movie - for a TV movie, this one DOES contain some nudity and heavy drug use.nice movie about the high class prostitution rings from the eyes of a young woman - Lynn DiScala's character was nicely developed throughout the movie and she brought Heidi Fleiss's story to life cool, decent stuff 8/10
Over the years there have been many movies and TV films about the oldest profession, CALL GIRLS and MADAMS!!! Jamie-Lynn DiScala(Heidi Fleiss),"Death of a Dynasty",'03, showed her great acting skills in letting everyone see the two sides of being a CALL GIRL with lots of MONEY and more men than you can HANDLE!! However, it also showed the down side with drugs and the horrible price one has to pay for living this type of life. Robert Davi(Ivan Nagy),"One Last Ride",'03, gave a great supporting role as a two timing PIMP, who only used Heidi Fleiss for his own pleasure and $$$$!! There never will be a happy ending to this type of film in the movies or in real LIFE!!! There is always a Price to be PAID.
Of all the made for television movies I've ever watched, this was one of them. Jamie-Lynn DiScala gave a performance worthy of this film. She showed her range, moving from the known quantity of Meadow Soprano to the sleazy world of satisfying Hollywood players. But even still, this movie was all about Jason Stewart. Slap another mole on that boy. "Ivan, Ivan! Just a couple, please!" When I heard that line, I truly believed he was a paparazzi. Now it doesn't even matter that I didn't really see any photographers themselves, so I couldn't point him out. But all I needed was to hear that line. Perhaps we are better off having not seen him, but the outside of that nightclub came alive when JStew shouted. Well done, phone-slap.