Paradise (1982) AVCO Embassy/Drama RT: 91 minutes Rated R (nudity, sexual content, some violence) Director: Stuart Gillard Screenplay: Stuart Gillard Music: Paul Hoffert Cinematography: Adam Greenberg Release date: May 7, 1982 (US) Cast: Willie Aames, Phoebe Cates, Tuvia Tavi, Richard Curnock, Neil Vipond, Aviva Marks, Joseph Shiloach. Box Office: $5.5M (US)
Rating: ***
See if you can guess the movie based on the plot. Two attractive teens get stranded alone in a beautiful paradise and discover the joys of sex. If you said The Blue Lagoon, you are correct. You could have also said Paradise and been right. Released two years after Lagoon, the only real difference is that it’s set on a desert oasis instead of a tropical island. In fact, the two movies are so similar, Columbia Pictures sued the makers of the later movie calling it a “blatant and inartful copy”. The case was eventually settled out of court.
I was 15 when I saw Paradise on cable TV. I liked it a lot probably because I was 15. At that age, I was too preoccupied with the copious nudity to notice how lamebrained it is. Let’s face facts, Phoebe Cates is hot enough to make a guy forget his own name. I think she’s why I ended up watching it more times than I should have. I was 15, what can I say?
I’m not sure when I watched Paradise last but it’s been a while. I decided to revisit it this week. I was surprised to discover that the only available copy, the “Showtime Library Print”, runs about 10 minutes shorter than the original 100-minute version. I don’t know what got cut out but all the nude scenes seem to be intact. If anybody knows, please clue me in. I can’t find anything on it through Google. At least they left in the closing theme song by Cates. I always liked it.
PLOT? WHAT PLOT? The story, which takes place in the Middle East circa 1823, concerns a boy and a girl who are part of a caravan traveling from Baghdad to Damascus. David (Aames, Eight Is Enough) is the son of Christian missionaries. Sarah (Cates, Fast Times at Ridgemont High) is heading home to England with her chaperone Geoffrey (Curnock). En route, they’re attacked by “The Jackal” (Tavi, Death Before Dishonor), a white slaver who wants to add Sarah to his harem. Everybody except David, Sarah and Geoffrey is killed (he dies a little later). The kids eventually find their way to an oasis that they name “Paradise”. This is where they start learning about their bodies, their urges and things like that. The monotony of daily life in their desert paradise is broken every once in a while by The Jackal coming for Sarah.
Reportedly, Aames and Cates were displeased with the amount of nudity called for in the script. They felt Paradise was good enough that it didn’t need to use nudity as a hook. Apparently, the studio felt otherwise as they went ahead and had the makers film additional nude scenes with body doubles. The actors were understandably upset when they saw the final print. Cates was so mad, she refused to have anything further to do with the film. You can tell where the doubles are used.
I still like Paradise but now for a different reason. It’s a movie so bad, it’s great. At times, it’s absolutely laughable. Let’s start with the bad acting. Aames, who was dishonored with a Razzie nomination for his terrible performance, looks more like a rock star than a 19th century teenager. It has to be the mop of Peter Frampton hair he sports throughout the movie. He fails to deliver a single convincing line of dialogue, not that any of it is any great prize anyway. He sounds the same whether he’s talking to Cates’ character or the two chimps that cohabitate with them. Cates fares a little better because of her good looks. I didn’t really buy the whole Brit thing. She doesn’t even attempt an accent. Maybe that’s good, maybe it’s not; we’ll never know. Tavi doesn’t just play an Arab baddie or a stereotypical Arab baddie; he plays a one-dimensional stereotypical Arab baddie. It all starts when he tries to buy Sarah and goes on from there. He makes the same moves as every Arab villain in every movie that has one. If Paradise wasn’t so damn ridiculous, it would be offensive.
There’s a lot of lush oasis scenery in Paradise, a perfect fit with the two attractive leads. It was filmed in Israel at locations like the Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee and the caves of Bebit Jobrim (the scene of a great waterfall scene with Cates). It’s really a good-looking movie. So what if it’s empty-headed as well? It’s like a trashy romance novel made into a movie. It’s the first feature film written and directed by Stuart Gillard who would go on to bigger and better things like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III and RocketMan (the dopey 1997 comedy NOT the Elton John biopic). He also wrote the screenplay for the teen comedy Spring Fever if anybody cares.
Although I feel no smarter for watching Paradise again after all these years, I don’t regret it either. I got a few laughs out of it albeit the unintentional kind. Phoebe Cates is VERY easy to look at too. It makes me a little nostalgic for this kind of movie, often referred to as “Make Out Movies” for the activity teens typically engage in while watching such entertainment. It’s not like they’ll miss some important plot point anyway.
