Here is a head-scratcher of a movie. I recall when this first came out, it was marketed only as a movie about a teacher who sees a strip performance from one of her students, then has an affair with him. Yes, that does indeed happen, but the movie is as much about her husband and his midlife crisis. Also thrown in for good measure is her sister's (I think it was her sister) marital troubles, some uninteresting back-story about the stripper and his friends. Also the stripper wanting to start a career in hotel management, so he can support his tired old mother who has been a waitress her whole life and is now exhausted. All of that in just over 80 minutes! Needless to say, a lot of the principal photography of this one probably hit the cutting room floor, and most of what was left dealt with the sexier ideas of the story.
The movie stars capable actress Lesly Ann Warren as the teacher and Chris Atkins of Blue Lagoon fame as the sexy young stud student. Gone is his late 70s white man's afro from Blue Lagoon. In this one, he looks more like Luke Skywalker from The Empire Strikes Back. Not terribly muscular, either. Whatever. I've never completely understood why women find some men so sexy. Warren looks like a frigid librarian when in class, but of course looks beautiful when in a nice dress and out with her friends at the strip club. Her marriage is not going well... at least not total bliss. Her husband (named Whitney, no less) works at NASA, and seems conflicted from the first moment we see him. It appears now (because its the 1980) they want him to develop weapons instead of launch rockets into the far reaches of space. That evil warmonger Ronald Reagan! Oh, you mean the one during who's presidency was perhaps the most peaceful time (certainly during my lifetime) in all of human history? That Ronald Reagan? You mean the one who took down the Soviet Union WITHOUT firing a shot at them? That warmongering Ronald Reagan? Yeah.... well, never mind the facts. Anyway, Whitney isn't happy, and it certainly isn't helping their sex life. All it takes is a night at the strip club known as Heaven (get it?) and Warren and Atkins are bound to hook up.
With Warren, her motivation is clear. She is a frustrated house wife who sees a chance and takes it. With Atkins, however, the motivation is not as clear. Is he doing it so she'll pass him in the speech class after originally flunking him? Maybe at first, but he really does seem smitten by later in the film. Maybe he has had so much sex with girls his age, he sees the older woman as more of a challenge. While their affair is going on, Whitney seems to have a chance to fool around too with an old friend. Whether he does is not clear, or maybe it hit the cutting room floor. The conclusion of this film is a little bit suspenseful, but ultimately logical. Just too damned abrupt. This director, the late John Avildsen, had some big hits and much bigger titles on his resume. Rocky, Karate Kid... This finished product seems beneath his talents. I'm guessing the studio is to blame. Events are so randomly thrown in, at first I didn't even think I was watching the right movie. The whole opening sequence shows some of NASA's finest hardware, and Whitney riding his bike past it on his way home from work. Until I saw Atkins and Warren's names go by in the credits, I was convinced it was not the same movie I remembered seeing commercials for in 1983. There is some decent sex in the film, I will give it that. But once it was over, about the only thing it made me do is play some old Bryan Adams music! The overall film is not very residual. 4 of 10 stars. The Hound.
The movie stars capable actress Lesly Ann Warren as the teacher and Chris Atkins of Blue Lagoon fame as the sexy young stud student. Gone is his late 70s white man's afro from Blue Lagoon. In this one, he looks more like Luke Skywalker from The Empire Strikes Back. Not terribly muscular, either. Whatever. I've never completely understood why women find some men so sexy. Warren looks like a frigid librarian when in class, but of course looks beautiful when in a nice dress and out with her friends at the strip club. Her marriage is not going well... at least not total bliss. Her husband (named Whitney, no less) works at NASA, and seems conflicted from the first moment we see him. It appears now (because its the 1980) they want him to develop weapons instead of launch rockets into the far reaches of space. That evil warmonger Ronald Reagan! Oh, you mean the one during who's presidency was perhaps the most peaceful time (certainly during my lifetime) in all of human history? That Ronald Reagan? You mean the one who took down the Soviet Union WITHOUT firing a shot at them? That warmongering Ronald Reagan? Yeah.... well, never mind the facts. Anyway, Whitney isn't happy, and it certainly isn't helping their sex life. All it takes is a night at the strip club known as Heaven (get it?) and Warren and Atkins are bound to hook up.
With Warren, her motivation is clear. She is a frustrated house wife who sees a chance and takes it. With Atkins, however, the motivation is not as clear. Is he doing it so she'll pass him in the speech class after originally flunking him? Maybe at first, but he really does seem smitten by later in the film. Maybe he has had so much sex with girls his age, he sees the older woman as more of a challenge. While their affair is going on, Whitney seems to have a chance to fool around too with an old friend. Whether he does is not clear, or maybe it hit the cutting room floor. The conclusion of this film is a little bit suspenseful, but ultimately logical. Just too damned abrupt. This director, the late John Avildsen, had some big hits and much bigger titles on his resume. Rocky, Karate Kid... This finished product seems beneath his talents. I'm guessing the studio is to blame. Events are so randomly thrown in, at first I didn't even think I was watching the right movie. The whole opening sequence shows some of NASA's finest hardware, and Whitney riding his bike past it on his way home from work. Until I saw Atkins and Warren's names go by in the credits, I was convinced it was not the same movie I remembered seeing commercials for in 1983. There is some decent sex in the film, I will give it that. But once it was over, about the only thing it made me do is play some old Bryan Adams music! The overall film is not very residual. 4 of 10 stars. The Hound.