Bolero Review

As soon as you see the film certificate reading 'Bolero (revised)', you know that you are going to be in for a big disappointment, and yes, that's exactly what you get. The movie practically puts you to sleep.

The story seems to be set somewhere in the 1930s, what with the theater showing silent movies and young men all dressed up like gentlemen. Bo is a young girl (what else?) who is looking for new thrills and experiences in life. The day she graduates from high school, she feels this compulsive need to dance topless in the school grounds, much to her principal's embarrassment.

She then decides that she wants to meet an Arabian Sheikh, just because they look so sexy and macho in the movies. She does so, only to be disappointed. The very sexy Sheikh is actually an Oxford graduate, has been to his country only thrice, and can't ride horses like the 'men' in the movies do.

So then she wants to go to Spain to check out the matadors there. There is a lot of bullfighting shown, and Bo decides that she wants the matador guy. A very young looking George Kennedy (remember him as Julia's other friend in My Best Friend's Wedding?) takes to her, and a lot of totally boring stuff ensues.

Somewhere in between, she decides to try opium because her friend tells her that it acts like a love potion if taken in small doses. They end up getting high on the stuff and just lie about for a while in the opium room. This sequence was probably just to remind the audience of Bo's fascination for new thrills.

Suddenly the story goes back to her thing with the matador. She makes friends with a girl (Olivia D'Abo) who hopes to become 'his woman' in due course of time. She decides to help Bo, and to cut a long story short, she seduces him, they have sex, and they get married.

John Derek seems to get some sort of perverted pleasure from showing off his wife's assets (remember Tarzan The Apeman?). Olivia D'Abo, who is now a well known star in her own right, is shown topless in the only 'scene' in the entire movie. This 'revised' version is very, very boring. This one is an absolute nothing movie.