BLAZE may be the least sleazy movie about whoring since THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS. Paul Newman stars as Louisiana governor Earl K. Long in this sanitized romance adapted by director Ron Shelton from the autobiography of Blaze Starr, the Bourbon Street stripper who supposedly
stole Long's heart. After tracing the background of aspiring singer-turned-burlesque diva Starr (Lolita Davidovich), the film concentrates on Long's courtship of her (his real-life wife is absent from the film, as is the divorce Starr was going through when she met Long). The proud stripper falls
for the governor, but Long's fortunes decline after his ex-cronies plot to have him committed to a mental hospital and rig an election to oust him from office. Though she leaves him for a time when she becomes a campaign issue, Starr sticks by Long during his forced retirement and, later, when he
runs successfully for Congress. (He died before assuming the post.) BLAZE emerges as a rather tepid affair, largely because of Shelton's failure to find any dramatic focus and to the odd decision to downplay the element of lust between Starr and Long after their randy first meeting. Davidovich
never really convinces as the Bourbon Street queen, while Shelton--after the wit, sexiness, and insight of BULL DURHAM--seems to have transformed into a Director with Something to Say (chiefly a criticism of the press). The film earned an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography.
