Mayflower Madam (1987)
Inspired by the explosive sex-for-sale scandal that rocked Manhattan in 1984, the infamous Sydney Biddle Barrows, a driven young socialite, opens an exclusive escort service catering to the wealthy and affluent. From Sydney's rise to become a million-dollar, modern-day madam to her notorious plummet into bankruptcy and public disgrace, experience a private glimpse into the forbidden world of high-class prostitution-where money talks...pleasure sells...and discretion is everything.
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Sorry, this movie sucks
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Although I have read the book about the "Mayflower Madam," I can honestly say this made-for-television movie is not a faithful adaptation of that non-fiction literary work. However, it was both entertaining and provocative. I highly sympathize with Miss Barrows. Though I wouldn't say that this film advocates the legalization of the "escort" profession, it did make feel why does our Society have to demonize it so much. It is, after all, a profession to cater and to be catered by mature adults.Par excellence performance by Candice Bergen.
"Mayflower Madam" is a dull, insipid film about Sidney Biddle Barrows who ran a high-class call-girl ring in 1980s New York. The book by Barrows, on which this movie is based, is far more interesting because it tells the tale of how a well-bred WASP got into the escort service business. The book is prurient and titillating without being offensive. The movie is merely boring. Candice Bergen is miscast as the Mayflower Madam.(Reviewed by Sundar Narayan)