Paraíso em Chamas

This movie has a pretty lame plot. Keep in mind that most of her films had a pretty lame plot. If you like Raquel Welch you can get past that. She is absolutely gorgeous at 48 or 49. Be patient the big payoff is towards the end of the movie. I saw this movie on TV many years ago and had no idea the name of it. I did a little research on IMDb and then rented it. I am not sorry I did. After 15 or more years my memory was not fuzzy. She was worth seeing in this film again. It is without a doubt a prime example of classic beauty and why the world went nuts over her in the sixties. Keep in mind this movie was made in 1989! So if you can sit through a generic plot to observe one of, if not THE, most beautiful women in show business ever, spend the two bucks to rent it.

Boozy Australian sailor and the shapely widow of a US Diplomat leave Japan for San Francisco on a cargo ship and are promptly capsized by a typhoon. The crew doesn't survive (it's not clear why), but stars Raquel Welch and Jack Thompson do, along with his nonplussed canine. This teleplay from writers Robert Sherman and Ben Marshall, working from Sherman's "original" treatment, is rather like a goofy "Swept Away"--or maybe the two men just wanted to imagine being marooned with Raquel Welch for 100mns! She plays the high-fashion, high-maintenance pain in the ass for the first 30mns, but slowly begins to thaw and is soon skinny-dipping in the lagoon. Raffish Thompson is a good match for Welch, and they have a few nice scenes together, but the twist finish involving the widow's dead husband is flatly handled by director Di Drew. Filmed in Australia, this "remote" island doesn't look uninhabited at all, not with all those footprints in the sand--plus a rickety pre-World War II house up the path complete with a kitchen and bedroom (with clean pillows for the bed!). The results are, as they say, Troubled. *1/2 from ****

Shot on location in Queensland, this is as implausible a piece of film making as you are likely to see anywhere. Jack Thompson is at his oafish best and Ms Welch still looks pretty good, considering she was in her late 40s when this was shot. The storyline is non-existent and poor Nicholas Hammond looks embarrassed throughout the movie.

Apparently, the filmmakers decided a MILFy Raquel Welch wearing lingerie and a wet, torn dress was sufficient to make this film. What they went with is a middle-age Blue Lagoon. Plot optional.

They even toyed with the audience by putting an actual turkey on the set of this turkey.

Who hasn't daydreamed of being marooned on an island with Raquel Welch and a bottle of Stoli that magically refills overnight? Raquel looks amazing, and that is the entire point of this film. There is literally no other reason to watch this movie. Somehow, it is almost sufficient justification.

"Trouble in Paradise" succeeds fully in only one area: it proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Raquel Welch is an ageless sex symbol who can still look fantastic in her late 40s. Beyond that, the film is a mediocre variation on the "bickering couple" romantic comedies of the classic Hollywood era. The man is rugged and boozing, the woman is loud and prissy, they get stranded on a deserted island, gradually they warm up to each other, etc., etc. Neither character is particularly endearing, which is a problem when they're the only ones on the screen for about 90% of the running time. It was an interesting idea to pair up Raquel with a male actor of her own age (and not younger), but I can't really say that these two have a lot of chemistry. This one is only for her completists. ** out of 4.