Bolero (1984) [ Blu-Ray, Reg.A/B/C Import - Spain ]

Nice Movie worth buying

Lovely Bo Derek embarks on an awkward, sensual quest to lose her virginity in the roaring 20's. Armed with a huge inheritence, her trusty chauffer (George Kennedy), an adventurous college friend (Ana Obregon), an extravagant wardrobe and a seemingly endless supply of black eyeliner, Mac (Bo) travels around Europe looking for a sheik like Rudolph Valentino. Director John Derek, once again, focuses more on his wife's magnificent beauty than the outrageous story. By this point in her career (1984) we've already seen Bo exhaust the "innocent virgin" role (Fantasies 1974 and Tarzan, the Ape Man 1981). The script is completely ridiculous (which is really o.k. because most of the actors have thick accents that are incomprehensable) but the scenery is gorgeous! Bo tangles with an opium-addicted sheik, a jealous gypsy, and a handsome bullfighter (Andrea Ochinpinti) who wins her heart and her virginity. After he is gored by bull in the privates(!), Bo becomes a bullfighter on horseback and eventually proves that "love conquers all" when it comes to mending a broken, er..heart! Despite the raging controversy that followed this film, the love scenes are all beautifully photographed and not the least bit pornographic. But this IS a Bo Derek film, which means lots of nudity(!!!). For me, the best scene is when Bo fights the bull in the film's slo-motion climax. Her skill as an equestrian and "humane" approach to bullfighting are the most interesting part of this film. Campy and unintentionally funny in some parts, BOLERO is a great choice for a cheesy midnight movie at home. Bo didn't score a "10" with this silly film, but she seems like she had fun making it. You'll never look at "milk and honey" the same way again...

A great Bo Derik movie. It came fast and in new shape.

"Bolero" from 1984 is one of the worst wide release films ever made. Written and directed by John Derek starring his wife Bo Derek, its main claims to fame are the scene where Bo rides a horse bareback completely nude and a controversial standing bathing scene in which Olivia d'Abo, who was only 14 at the time of filming, is completely nude in graphic detail. George Kennedy looks embarrassed to be in this trainwreck and the plot is at times nonexistent. The movie is shot pretty well which is the best I can say about it. The sex and nudity are frequent but the movie is strangely boring and aloof. As far as the sex scenes go in particular, things are taken about as far as it gets in terms of softcore while stopping just shy of verging into full blown pornography in a couple of select instances. Fans of so bad its great cinema may find something to like here but many will likely have given up at some point.The 2024 bluray re-release by MGM is barebones but does feature the completely uncut and uncensored 104 minute version of the film. Picture quality and detail are solid though it is obvious that this is an older HD master. It is presented in its theatrical 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Sound is in 2 channel stereo. English subtitles are included for the hearing impaired.Fans of Bo Derek and Olivia d'Abo might find something of interest in "Bolero" due to their nude scenes but the film is a true chore to get through in my opinion. Watch at your own risk.

So rediculous, such bad acting, but fun as heck to watch, and of course all the eye candy for both sexes is always a plus.

I was just about to sell my copy of this DVD. They are a few marks on it, but nothing affecting playback. Then, I started watching it again. OMG! What was I thinking? This film is a treasure just because Bo delivers everything that every man was dying to see. No more than 20 minutes into the movie, Bo is in the sack being drenched in honey which is licked off of her body.... Sorry, I must keep this film. Oh, the whole flick is dumb, but it still delivers. Nudge, nudge; wink, wink; say no more...lol.

The alternate title for the film Bolero (1984) is Bolero: An Adventure in Ecstasy...after watching the film last night a better one might have been Bolero: An Adventure in Stupidity...written and directed by the late John Derek (Tarzan, the Ape Man), the film starred his most current wife at the time Bo Derek (10, Tarzan, the Ape Man). Also appearing is George `Anything for a Buck' Kennedy (The Dirty Dozen, Cool Hand Luke), Andrea Occhipinti (Conquest), Ana Obregón (Monster Island), and Olivia d'Abo (Conan the Destroyer, "The Wonder Years"), in one of her first roles.Bo Derek plays Ayre `Mac' MacGillivery, a woman who (get this) is preparing to graduate from an English college and once she does, she'll trade in her diploma for a vast inheritance. Once that happens she plans to travel the world and learn the ways of love because, as you see, she's still a virgin. Okay, wait a minute...Bo's pushing thirty and she's just graduating from college? I can buy off on that, but I'm having a much harder time with the notion she's untouched, I mean seriously...anyway, after seeing one too many Valentino films (the film is supposed to be a period piece, set in the early 20th century I guess), Mac hits the road with her trusty chauffeur Cotton (Kennedy) and college friend Catalina aka `Cat' (Obregón), the trio heading towards the Middle East as Mac thinks it would be the ginchiest to get bagged by a real, honest to goodness sheik. After a failed attempt (the sheik got stoned on magic smoke and passed out, but not before covering a nekkid Derek in warm honey), Mac, with entourage in tow, makes her way to Spain with the intent on hooking up with a handsome matador, and she finds one named Angel (Occhipinti), who, when not faux fighting bulls or shagging fourteen year old gypsy girls produces wine, and lots of it. With the help of Angel's tagalong gypsy girl named Paloma, played by Ms. d'Abo sporting a ridiculous Spanish accent, Mac worms her way into Angel's bed after agreeing to use her vast fortunes to buy his wine, the deal sealed with a good shagging (I find Spanish business negotiations quite agreeable). Following this there's some more idiocy, capped off by Angel getting his doodle gored by a bull, and now unable to perform, much to Mac's dismay (no more zoom zoom in the boom boom). So anyway, while Cat's getting friendly with Mac's kilted Scottish lawyer and Cotton gets his groove on with Angel's sassy cook, Mac tries to draw Angel from his depressed funk in the hopes she'll be able to cure his condition by prancing around his room nekkid. When not sadistically teasing a man who can't perform, Mac begins taking up bullfighting for some odd reason or another.Okay, I first saw this film back in the mid 1980s on cable I was in the hormonally charged state of a teenager coming into his own, so my main focus was obviously on Derek's nekkidness, of which there's quite a bit. After watching this film again some twenty years later, I find I still enjoy the nekkidness, but I have to say the rest is probably one of the more ridiculous efforts I've seen in a long time. I think the intent was to create a rich, erotic drama, but the film fails miserably mainly for the fact Bo Derek cannot act, at least not enough to carry a film. She's certainly attractive, but her ditz factor is incredibly high, not helped any by her husband's completely rotten and moronic scripting (the film comes off like a poorly written Harlequin romance novel). Speaking of her husband, how creepy is that, knowing he wrote and directed the film, especially given the sequences where his wife is getting it on with other guys (he filmed her in some equally steamy sequences in the 1981 moron-a-thon Tarzan, the Ape Man)? The man was pushing sixty at the time (while Bo wasn't quite yet thirty), so the maybe wedding tackle didn't function the way it used to which resulted in his willingness to let his wife dally about on screen with other men (a couple of the intimate sequences looked pretty realistic)...I don't know, but whatever...a good part of the story has Bo's character talking about her virginity like it was some sort of gift she was willing to impart, which, after awhile, got really old (at least she didn't refer to it as her `flower, but she did refer to it as `her fruit' at one point), which ends, mercifully, after she gets her shag on with Angel. As far as the rest of the cast they didn't fare much better. George Kennedy seemed kind of lost, hanging about to pick up a check and see some nekkid broads I suppose, and Olivia d'Abo appeared simple-minded as the young gypsy girl stuck on Angel (eventually she gives way to Mac as she realized she couldn't compete). One of the biggest mysteries for me, besides the actual point of the film, is why it ran an hour and forty-five minutes. Once you get by the juicy stuff (the attractive people being a nekkid), the rest just drags under the unbearable weight of its' own harebrained idiocy. Perhaps the funniest scene in the film comes near the end, as Mac and Angel are getting it on (seems Mac's desirability is such that it can cure a broken doodle) and they're transported to, get this, a smoke-filled plane of reality. Right in the middle of their routine a large, purple neon sign appears behind them spelling out the word EXTASY, as if to really bring it home (yeah, I know it's spelled wrong but that's how it was in the film, intentionally so). All in all if you're looking to see Ms. Derek in the raw, then this film is right up you alley as she's got about five or six scenes, but if you're looking for anything remotely resembling an actual movie (plot, interesting and engaging characters, etc.), best to keep on looking.The picture on this DVD, presented in widescreen (1.85:1), enhanced for 16X9 TVs, does looks clean and clear, and the Dolby Digital Stereo Surround audio comes through well. As far as extras there isn't much except for a theatrical trailer and subtitles in English, French, and Spanish.Cookieman108By the way, did I mention how creepy (and skeevy) I found it for a man to write and direct a film featuring his really hot wife enjoying the pleasures of other men? Maybe he took some weird sense of pride in showing the world how, even at his age, he could still get with really attractive women...