Heiße Hölle Acapulco

I remember being very upset when Farrah left TV and started making movies. It was before VCRS and DVDS so once she was gone there was no way to see her every week. The movies that she made once she left didn't help with getting your Farrah fix. She still looked beautiful, but they didn't capture her personality the way her TV show was able to. This is a starring role for Farrah Fawcett (her second film after leaving Charlie's Angels) but it is Joan Collins who turns out to be the sexier of the two and who steals the film despite her small role. Charles Grodin is seriously miscast and makes the film hard to watch. Luckily the scenery is beautiful and so are the two women. This was the movie that made me realize how sexy Joan Collins really is. Watch her vamp it up in her Pre-Dynasty days.

A forgettable easygoing romp in the rich tourist section of Mexico, this movie was hamstrung from the beginning with its insurance scam plot - not an exciting prospect. Grodin is the maverick investigator whom the head of the insurance company wants on the job even though he caused them some problems in the past. Grodin plays this sort of slack jawed throughout, to the point of annoyance. Farrah joins up as his make believe wife. This was Farrah in her prime, just post the silly Angels TV show and before she got into serious actress mode. It's her middle film in the 'S' trio - all of which bombed. She & Grodin are incompatible, in more ways than one, and the fact she does end up in bed with him feeds the fantasies of many a middle-aged males. Art Carney's a private eye employed by Grodin; he brings in the usual feisty old man humor. Joan Collins shows up as a rich, horny wife. A lot of the scenes are plain stupid, such as Grodin dressing up in a night prowler outfit for no reason, other than to appear stupid. But, since all of this takes place in hot weather, Farrah usually wears something skimpy. There's also a fairly exciting car chase in the last third, including a run-in with a bull - some of those shots looked very realistic, to the detriment of the bull.

In 1979's strangely toned "Sunburn" insurance investigator Charles Grodin hires Farrah Fawcett to pose as his wife while he probes a dodgy death in Acapulco. There they're drawn into a bland plot involving blackmail & the mob with the likes of Joan Collins, Art Carney & Seymour Cassel. Director Richard C Sarafian and writers John Daly, Stephen Oliver & James Booth may have thought they had the best of both the mystery thriller & jaunty rom-com genres - but ended up falling between the two as neither funny nor tense: just pretty lame & pointless. What it DOES having going for it in retrospect though is its nostalgic Seventies feel - but that's not enough. Disappointing fare.

After capturing the hearts and minds of most teen boys in America, Farrah Fawcett branched out into posters and films. Leaving behind "Charlie's Angels" and fame and fortune, Farrah embarked on her "S" trilogy. The middle installment in the trilogy was aptly titled "Sunburn"(the other two movies were called "Somebody Killed Her Husband" and "Saturn 3") and involved Miss Farrah's teaming with Charles Grodin and their ability to portray themselves as husband and wife. The reason for the elaborate ruse is to clean up a phony suicide claim. Insurance fraud has never seemed more exciting as it does here, where you can walk outside into the streets of Acapulco or slip into a million dollar chateau for a cocktail party. Speaking of posters this film has one of the best: Farrah in a one-piece that defies gravity, Grodin with a sidearm and Art Carney parachuting in on a pair of sunglasses with the ocean in the background. Oh, well, maybe you should purchase the poster instead. But if you don't wish to watch three straight Farrah Fawcett films on a summer' afternoon, pair this one up with the Mexican-set, Neo-Noir classic, "Against All Odds."

Despite being labeled as a comedy, "Sunburn" really isn't one - its aim seems to be a light-hearted mystery. But there really isn't much mystery in this movie - much of the footage is more or less padding. I started to grow impatient as the movie progressed. I didn't find any of the going-ons amusing in any way. Also, there is some very bad editing that really sticks out like a sore thumb.

I was prepared to hate F.F.'s performance, but I was surprised. She isn't great, but her acting is a lot better than you'd think. And it's nice that her character isn't the expected bubblehead, but someone with average intelligence, and isn't a screaming wimp. However, the romantic pairing of F.F. and C.G. is one of the strangest and most unlikely pairings in motion picture history!