Pamela Andersonis a true Hollywood survivor. She gained international fame for playing the role of lifeguard Casey Jean Parker on the frothy television drama seriesBaywatch. The iconic sex-symbol status that Anderson received fromBaywatchin the early to mid-1990s enabled her to make her feature-starring debut in the 1996 superhero filmBarb Wire, in which Anderson plays the title character, a sexy but lethal nightclub owner who moonlights as a bounty hunter and mercenary amid a Second American Civil War in 2017.
Intended to be a trash classic,Barb Wire, which is based on the Dark Horse Comics character of the same name, provides an agreeable dose of frantic energy and mindless fun for indiscriminate viewers. However, instead of becoming an instant cult classic,Barb Wirewas derided by critics and virtually ignored by audiences. In the aftermath of the scathing commercial and critical failure ofBarb Wire, Anderson’s feature-starring career was proclaimed to be dead, as indeedAnderson’s disparate and one-dimensional assortmentof film and television acting appearances over the next 20 years provided little opportunity for Anderson to demonstrate any growth as an actress.
FollowingBarb Wire, and extending to Anderson’s 2018 appearance as a contestant on theDancing with the Starsfranchise, the idea that Anderson would ever be taken seriously as an actress seemed laughable and unfathomable, thus making her recent career rebirth all the more triumphant.
‘Barb Wire’ Is a Futuristic Remake of ‘Casablanca’
Barb Wireis set in 2017 in Steel Harbor, which is described as being “the last free city” in a version of the United States that’s been ravaged by war.In Steel Harbor, Pamela Anderson’s titular character owns the Hammerhead, a nightclub that serves as a shadowy refuge from the war. The outwardly mercenary Barb, who formerly fought for the resistance against government storm-troopers who serve a fascist dictatorship known as the Congressional Directorate, ostensibly doesn’t want to get involved with the conflict, until she eventually does. After discovering that the Directorate intends to destroy the resistance with an HIV derivative called Red Ribbon, Barb agrees to help the resistance, which is represented by her former lover and his scientist wife.
The most inspired and interesting aspect ofBarb Wireis how closely the film’s plot follows that of the immortal 1942 World War II romantic drama filmCasablanca, in whichHumphrey Bogart plays Rick Blaine, an American expatriate who runs a gambling den and nightclub in the titular city, where he’s forced to choose between indulging his great love for a woman, Ingrid Bergman’s Ilsa Lund, and helping her resistance leader husband escape the city to continue his noble fight against the Nazis.
Besides the equivalent romantic triangle, the most recognizableCasablancacharacter in Barb Wire is Willis, an agreeably crooked police chief who, as played by Xander Berkeley, is based on Claude Rains’ enjoyable corrupt police captain Louis Renault inCasablanca. As Renault and Rick do in the unforgettable final scene inCasablanca, Barb and Willis perform their final scene on a foggy, rain-drenched tarmac, in what seems to mark the beginning of their own beautiful friendship.Barb Wirealso features a Sydney Greenstreet character in the form of Big Fatso, a corpulent junkyard boss who seems at least equallyinspired by Jabba the Hut.
‘Barb Wire’ Was a Big Box-Office Bomb
Barb Wiregrossed approximately $3.8 million at the box office during its brief theatrical run. While this dismal performance was offset by a modest $9 million production cost,the utter audience rejection ofBarb Wirewas so severe that the comic book series it was based on was canceled shortly after the film’s release. The $3.8 million figure easily represents the worst performance fora Dark Horse Comics-basedtheatrical feature film, followed by the 2014 action crime anthology filmSin City: A Dame to KillFor, which finished its theatrical run with a worldwide box-office gross of $39.4 million.
The failure ofBarb Wirewas solely attached to Pamela Andersonand the belief that while Anderson was a magnet for publicity in her personal life, she had virtually no box-office appeal as a leading feature-film actress. Moreover, to the degree thatBarb Wirewas expected to find an enthusiastic audience on cable television and home video, this didn’t materialize. It was instead completely forgotten.
Pamela Anderson Is the Comeback Queen
While Pamela Anderson has undoubtedly worked very hard to achieve success throughout her career, much of Anderson’s initial fame was grounded in appearance and spectacle, instead of professional achievement and talent.However, in just the past two years, Anderson has reinvented her legacy while proving herself to be a talented actress. This shocking transformation began with Anderson’s acclaimed performance in the 2024 drama filmThe Last Showgirl, in which she plays Shelly Gardner, an aging Las Vegas showgirl who struggles with impending professional extinction while acting as a mother hen figure to her younger co-stars.
This performance, which is entirely worthy ofthe Academy Award speculationthat arose from it, is the kind of performance that completely changes one’s previously hardened perception of a performer. While an Academy Award nomination wasn’t forthcoming,The Last Showgirlbrought Anderson a level of credibility that seemed (unfairly) unthinkable just a few years ago. With her recent comedic performance inThe Naked Gun, in which Anderson plays a crime novelist who partners with Liam Neeson’s bumbling cop Frank Drebin, the now 58-year-oldAnderson has demonstrated the abilityto poke fun at her public image while staying in character. While Anderson certainly teased her sex-symbol persona inBarb Wire, she now has audiences laughing with her instead of at her.
