Salsa

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.

I just wanna say that Salsa is a pretty good movie..the best ever dance movie is Dirty Dancing..and salsa is the next one..it moves..it`s sensual..it makes you wanna be in the movie!!

While this movie is pure 80's cheese the dance sequences and the soundtrack to this film are without a doubt the best things about this. The plot line is a bit predictable and some of the acting is laughable but this movie is all about the dancing and if you were a fan of movies like dirty dancing and lambada be sure to give this one a go as you will not be disappointed with the dance sequences. The soundtrack is awesome if you like Latin music and Robby Rosa's song Under my skin is quite good so too are Margarita and Puerto Rico. Unfortunately this film could not piggy back off the success of Dirty Dancing but it is still a film that you should see if like I said earlier you are a fan of Latin music and dance films. The final 10-15 minutes is really good viewing and while my rating of 7 might be a bit generous it is simply because I am a big fan of Latin music and do like a lot of the dance orientated films no matter how cheesy they are.

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

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.