Beauty Knows No Pain on AllMovie

The Kilgore College Rangerettes are a Texas institution, a celebrated women's drill team that's been a part of the half time entertainment at the school's football games since 1940. Gussie Nell Davis was the first director of the Rangerettes when they were formed, and she continued to guide the group until her retirement in 1979. In 1971, noted photographer Elliott Erwitt traveled to Kilgore, Texas to make a film about the Rangerettes, and Beauty Knows No Pain is a short documentary that offers a lighthearted look at the hard work and dedication that goes into the making the team. Davis puts a group of prospective Rangerettes through a grueling two-week audition, seeing who can perform the challenging drills with skill, spunk and a smile, while the second part of the film focuses on a Kilgore student who is trying to make the team but begins to have her doubts despite her best efforts.