Bolero Blu Ray Review (MGM)

Bolero is a 1984 drama written, shot, and directed by John Derek (Nightmare in the Sun, Fantasies, Ghosts Can’t Do It, Tarzan the Ape Man, and Once Before I Die). It was produced by Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan (Death Wish franchise, Missing in Action franchise, Ninja franchise, New Year’s Evil, The Last American Virgin, Invasion U.S.A., Lifeforce, Cobra, Superman IV, and American Ninja franchise) for Cannon Films. It was nominated for 10 Razzies and it won 6 in 1985. The budget was $7,000,000 and it grossed $8,914,881 worldwide at the box office. In the 1920s, Ayre “Mac” MacGillvary (played by: Bo Derek from Tommy Boy, 10, Orca, The Master of Disguise, Sharknado franchise, and Malibu’s Most Wanted) is a 23-year-old virgin that just graduated from an exclusive British college. She is set up for life when it comes to money. She is determined to find the right man for her first sexual encounter. She brings her best friend Catalina (played by: Ana Obregón from The Naked Eye, Save The Zombies, and The A-Team) and her chauffeur Cotton (played by: George Kennedy from The Naked Gun franchise, Airport, Cool Hand Luke, Death Ship, Just Before Dawn, Creepshow 2, Small Soldiers, and Uninvited) for this life changing journey. Ayre first travels to Morocco where she meets an Arab sheik (played by: Greg Bensen) but it doesn’t work out for her. Ayre decides to go to Spain next, she ends up meeting Angel (played by: Andrea Occhipinti from The Sea Inside, Control, Running Away, and Night of the Fox) but he gets injured during bullfighting so she has to wait a little longer to find out if he’s the one she’s been waiting for. Catalina decides to lose her virginity during this vacation and she falls for Robert Stewart (played by: Ian Cochrane from The Longest Winter) while her best friend is still trying to figure stuff out. Ayre decides to learn bullfighting herself while she waits for Angel to recover. The Sheik tracks her down here and he tries to seduce her again but she turns down temptation. Will she finally find the one with Angel? or Is it a mistake????

Bolero was a passion project from husband and wife from the Derek family. John got behind the camera and Bo was the lead actress. They worked together on two previous films before this one and both of them performed well so they decided to put this together for the legendary Cannon Films. Bolero has some nice visuals, locations, and production design but it doesn’t offer much more after that. The script is a complete mess and most of the cast doesn’t have much experience before doing this erotic drama. Let’s be blunt, the only reason to ever watch Bolero is to see Bo Derek get raw and uncut here. She isn’t shy at all and she spends a good amount of the film nude. Bo was always top notch eye candy and she looks amazing in this. She’s the best thing here but you do have to sit through this train wreck to experience it. I can see why this won so many Razzies the year it was released because it’s honestly one of the worst films that I’ve ever seen. I will say that George Kennedy actually gives a good performance here and Ana Obregón looks great in this. There’s a few reasons to check it out one time at least but that’s about the only positive things that I can say about it besides Bo Derek. Let’s discuss this high definition presentation from MGM! This 1080p (1.85:1) unrated transfer is solid, it appears to be the same restoration as the previous Shout Factory release. It has an English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track on the disc. The audio is better than expected here. All of the dialogue is very clean, the sleaze is elevated, and the music has a nice boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. Don’t let the artwork fool you, this is a pro pressed home video release and it’s not a BD-R. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!