Salsa

Well, I endured watching this thing in my Beloved Island Puerto Rico, and it was all hype, no bang. Worse movie I ever seen. Poorly directed and apparently a cheap casting effort. It seems that it was a bad attempt to legitimize Robbie Rosa as an actor. One thing is being a hit singer with Menudo and a good dancer, another thing is being a descent actor. Robbie was not the latter. He may as well have gone into one of the Friday the 13th sequels, that bad was the acting of everyone in this...."movie". The music is not bad, the rest, goodness!!! Don't get me wrong I am Puertorrican and darn proud of it, but this was a piece of junk movie.

Some really dynamic music and surprisingly effective 1989 level teen romance are just some of the enjoyable parts of this awful Golan Globus production from Cannon Films, the LA/ Israeli based exploitation outfit that simply made D grade knock offs of whatever other hit films there were in cinemas the previous year. In this case DIRTY DANCING from 1988.

The roster of SALSA guest artists is surprising and the Salsa numbers quite dynamic in their Latin way. Talented boy-band dude Bobby Rosa clearly was the indecent obsession of someone at Cannon as he is lust-filmed to the point of near nude as often as possible (especially in the opening ten minutes... (I thought I had the wrong DVD playing)..... We even have a garish nightclub with an orchestra - lots of pink neon and glass blocks -and it's a place frequented by Aunties and their husbands, mum and li'l sisters... a real family affair, as is the whole film... even with backyard parties in the afternoon. It offers a real good look at suburban 1989 Los Angeles... which is interesting in itself.

Occasionally Golan Globus accidentally made something that was actually good (eg RUNAWAY TRAIN) ... and I am very sad to say that today in 2007 this film is rendered quite emotional because of the charming and effervescent appearance of talented 20 year old Rodney Harvey in one of his few good roles before his terrible drug death in 1997. I have seen the string of mug shots of Rodney in decline from sparkling teen to gaunt ghost ...they were printed in Premiere magazine years ago in a run of shots 1-10 showing just his arrested image in horrifying shrivel as his heroin addiction rotted his handsome young face. You can also see him in GUN CRAZY and MY PRIVATE IDAHO. Absolutely tragic. His family and friends must just be grief-stricken still if they see his films today.

I was also reminded by SALSA a lot of the Oz film STRICTLY BALLROOM which was made 4 years later. Some sequences from SALSA are clearly reformatted into STRICTLY, especially the billboard dancing scene. Hmmmmmm.

Hola. I recommend this beautiful movie.Is great.Not only because it talks about Puerto Rico,Is great because the Biggest Cast is our Puertorrican Robi Draco Rosa.So much talent in his past in his present and i hope in his future.And his present wife Angela Alvarado is great they make a team together.As an actor he may be Robby Rosa but in his music he is Robi Draco Rosa.So poetic and so Boricua.Did you see him in the Latin Grammy?.Now that is a actor,singer and a talented person.Puerto Rico loves you Robi Draco Rosa Your The Best. You will always be are Latino,Boricua,Poetic person.

P.Rodz

That movies like this one survive. Never seen such a lousy movie concept such as this. Its a pity that it still fools innocent people and makes them think it is worth to watch. The Celia Cruz and Willie Colon appearance made me wonder, were they really aware they were going to be in this film?

Oh, dear... Robby Rosa?? No, no, no. How DO these things happen?! CANNOT sing, CANNOT act (worse than his singing, mind you). The story isn't so bad and I think Rodney Harvey's handsome appearance in this film is what you're more likely to remember! There's plenty of Salsa in here to help keep you interested. Not anywhere near a 4-star film, but if you like this type of music, it should be fun for you. Robby Rosa came from the pre-pubescent Latino group, Menudo. (God help us all.) Rodney Harvey had been a Calvin Klein model who later passed away rather young (God rest his soul.) Sexy ladies are in here, too. If you're feeling the music and and you appreciate the dance, you'll probably have a good time with SALSA.