Film Review: Bolero (1984)

In late 1970s and early 1980s Bo Derek enjoyed the reputation of ultimate sex symbol. She owed it mostly to her film roles, despite not displaying much of an acting talent in each of them, with possible exception of her iconic appearance in Blake Edwards’ 10. In 1984 her status of Hollywood star came to spectacular end in Bolero, period romantic drama written and directed by her husband John Derek.

The plot is set in early 1920s and Derek plays Ayre “Mac” MacGilvary, 23-year old rich American heiress who has just graduated from exclusive British school. Inspired by films starring Rudolph Valentino and frustrated by her own status of virgin, she decides to travel the world in a search of a perfect man who would take her virginity. Accompanied by her friend Catalina (played by Ana Obregón) and loyal chauffeur Cotton (played by George Kennedy) she travels first to Morocco, where she meets handsome young sheikh (played by Greg Bensen). Their romantic encounter, however, ends disastrously because young man fails to perform. Seeking better luck, she goes to Spain where she encounters Angel Sacristan (played by Andrea Occhipinti), young and handsome landowning aristocrat who also happens to be an accomplished bullfighter. Both of them are attracted to each other, but it would take a lot of time, patience and seduction before Angel finally deflowers her. Two of them are madly in love, but their happiness is cut short by incident in which bull gores Angel in a way that could make him impotent.

Bolero, with the title obviously inspired by Maurice Ravel’s eponymous orchestral piece being used in 10, was universally panned by critics, “won” number of Razzies, turned out to be box office flop and to this day is high on the lists of the worst things ever made. Like in many such cases, such extreme reputation isn’t completely justified. While Bolero is indeed a bad film, it’s not disastrously bad and its quality can be best judged when compared with previous Dereks’ film Tarzan, the Ape Man. Direction by John Derek is noticeably better, with clever use of close ups that prove more suitable for performers with limited acting ability like his wife and which also hide relatively low budget provided by The Cannon Group. The plot, which serves mostly as an excuse to have Bo Derek naked as much as possible, is generally light-hearted and Bolero in the hands of slightly more capable film maker could have delectable period erotic comedy like Sirens. Unfortunately, John Derek missed that opportunity and the lack of his talent is even more apparent in couple of sex scenes which are supposed to be steamy, but only end up being slightly overlong and somewhat non-erotic. Impression is somewhat saved by diverse and enthusiastic cast, which includes veteran character actor George Kennedy as reliable straight man. Another good addition to film is a musical score by Peter Bernstein and his famous father Elmer Bernstein, which gives Bolero something of a period feel and prevents audience from taking it too seriously.

Disastrous failure of Bolero can be best explained by being made at the worst possible time. Few years earlier Tarzan defied the critics’ onslaught at the box office because the target audience simply wanted to see Bo Derek naked on screen. During the premiere, home video was much more common and the target audience could have enjoyed much more explicit forms of adult content elsewhere. Furthermore, with the advent of PG-13 censorship rating and with American public increasingly turning conservative at the eve of Reagan’s re-election, any film that tried to push the limits of explicitly sexual content could have expected serious backlash. Bolero was additionally harmed by controversies related to Olivia D’Abo who appears nude in the film while being fourteen years old, and it is likely that some viewers might be revolted by that detail even today. Those who watch Bolero might get impression that the cast and crew enjoyed it while making it, but that enjoyment is something unlikely to be shared by the audience.

RATING: 4/10 (++)

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