A Night in Heaven
Encyclopedia
A Night in Heaven is a 1983
romance film
directed by John G. Avildsen
, starring Christopher Atkins
as a college student and Lesley Ann Warren
as his professor. The screenplay is written by Joan Tewkesbury
. Film critic
s widely panned the movie.
The original music score is composed by Jan Hammer
, and features two songs that would later be huge pop hits. "Heaven
", re-released in 1985, would become Bryan Adams
' first American number one song. An early version of the song "Obsession
" by its co-writers, Holly Knight
and Michael Des Barres
, would also be re-released in 1985, and become the biggest hit for Animotion
. The film also featured the song "Dirty Creature
" by New Zealand/Australian group Split Enz
. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086011/soundtrack
; he is outspoken and overconfident. Lesley Ann Warren plays Faye Hanlon, Rick's speech professor; she is prim and proper. At the end of his final report for his class, Rick cracks a joke and Faye is not amused. She decides to fail him and make him take the course over again.
Faye is going through a slump in her marriage to Whitney (Robert Logan), a rocket scientist who has just lost his job. Faye's free-spirited sister Patsy, visiting from out of town, takes her to a strip club
to cheer her up. The show features a performer called "Ricky the Rocket," who is none other than Faye's student Rick. When he notices Faye in the crowd, he gives her a very special lap dance
.
The next day, Faye and Rick run into each other at a school function. Initially, Rick is interested only in convincing Faye to allow him another chance at his final and is rebuffed. He realizes that she is attracted to him and begins flirting.
Faye arranges to meet Patsy near her hotel, only to discover that she has been tricked into seeing another performance by "Ricky the Rocket".
Patsy must return home a day early, so she turns over use of her hotel room to Faye, who calls Whitney and lies that she and Patsy are staying at Patsy's hotel together. Coincidentally, Rick's mother works in the same hotel, and while visiting his mother, Rick runs into Faye again; they return to Faye's room and have sex. Faye must leave and in her absence, Rick invites his girlfriend Slick to the room where they have sex. Faye catches them in the shower and, humiliated, flees; she realizes that she's been had.
Whitney, returning home from an unsuccessful job interview
, discovers that Patsy has gone home. Whitney travels to the hotel and catches Rick as he's exiting. Whitney kidnaps
Rick at gunpoint; he takes Rick to a boat at a small dock and forces him to strip. Rick, sobbing, complies. Whitney threatens Rick repeatedly but in the end only shoots holes in the boat, leaving a naked Rick aboard as it sinks.
Faye returns home to find Whitney waiting for her; she apologizes and he forgives her. At the end, the couple talk about their problems and resolve them.
found it a "very confusing movie" that "introduces several themes and relationships, and asks some big questions", but "doesn't pay off on any of them." Vincent Canby
of The New York Times
dismissed the film, writing, "all boredom breaks loose."
grossing only near $6 million on a $12 million dollar budget.
for Worst Actor.
1983 in film
-Events:*February 11 - The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together opens in New York*May 25 - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy, is released. Like the previous films, it goes on to become the top grossing picture of...
romance film
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...
directed by John G. Avildsen
John G. Avildsen
John Guilbert Avildsen is an American film director.-Life and career:Avildsen was born in Oak Park, Illinois, the son of Ivy and Clarence John Avildsen...
, starring Christopher Atkins
Christopher Atkins
Christopher Atkins is an American actor, who became famous with his costarring debut role in the 1980 film The Blue Lagoon.-Early life:...
as a college student and Lesley Ann Warren
Lesley Ann Warren
Lesley Ann Warren is an American actress and singer. She has been nominated once for an Academy Award and Emmy Awards and five times for Golden Globe, winning one....
as his professor. The screenplay is written by Joan Tewkesbury
Joan Tewkesbury
Joan Tewkesbury is an American film and television director, screenwriter, producer and actress. She had a long association with Robert Altman, writing two of his most acclaimed films, Nashville and Thieves Like Us...
. Film critic
Film criticism
Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films, individually and collectively. In general, this can be divided into journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, and other popular, mass-media outlets and academic criticism by film scholars that is informed by film theory and...
s widely panned the movie.
The original music score is composed by Jan Hammer
Jan Hammer
Jan Hammer is a composer, pianist and keyboardist. He first gained his most visible audience while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 1970s, as well as his film scores for television and film including "Miami Vice Theme" and "Crockett's Theme", from the popular 1980s...
, and features two songs that would later be huge pop hits. "Heaven
Heaven (Bryan Adams song)
"Heaven" is a power ballad written by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance and performed by Bryan Adams. The song first appeared on the A Night in Heaven soundtrack album in 1983 and was later included on Adams' album Reckless in 1984...
", re-released in 1985, would become Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams, is a Canadian rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, bassist, producer, actor and photographer. Adams has won dozens of awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations. He has also received 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for Best Song Written...
' first American number one song. An early version of the song "Obsession
Obsession (song)
"Obsession" is a 1983 song covered in 1984 by the Synthpop-New Wave group Animotion. The song hit number six in the United States, and number five in the United Kingdom in early 1985, helped by a distinctive video that received heavy rotation on MTV....
" by its co-writers, Holly Knight
Holly Knight
Holly Knight is a songwriter, vocalist and musician of pop and rock music.- Biography :She was born in New York City and started playing classical piano as a young child. She soon became interested in rock music, and left home at about sixteen to pursue her dreams...
and Michael Des Barres
Michael Des Barres
Lord Michael Philip Des Barres is a British actor and rock singer. He is known for playing the recurring role of Murdoc on the television show MacGyver and for replacing the late Robert Palmer in the band Power Station, fronting the band at the 1985 Live Aid concert...
, would also be re-released in 1985, and become the biggest hit for Animotion
Animotion
Animotion is a 1980s U.S. New Wave/synthpop band from Los Angeles, California best known for their songs "Obsession" , "Let Him Go", "I Engineer" and "Room to Move"...
. The film also featured the song "Dirty Creature
Dirty Creature
"Dirty Creature is a single from New Zealand art rock group Split Enz's album Time and Tide. It was written by Tim Finn, Nigel Griggs and Neil Finn and released as a single in 1982....
" by New Zealand/Australian group Split Enz
Split Enz
Split Enz were a New Zealand band of the 1970s and early 1980s featuring Phil Judd and brothers Tim Finn and Neil Finn. They achieved chart success in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada during the early 1980s ‒ most notably with the single "I Got You", and built a cult following elsewhere...
. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086011/soundtrack
Plot
Christopher Atkins plays Rick Monroe, a jock and a popular guy in college in Titusville, FloridaTitusville, Florida
Titusville is a city in Brevard County, Florida in the United States. It is the county seat of Brevard County. Nicknamed Space City, USA, Titusville is on the Indian River, west of Merritt Island and the Kennedy Space Center and south-southwest of the Canaveral National Seashore...
; he is outspoken and overconfident. Lesley Ann Warren plays Faye Hanlon, Rick's speech professor; she is prim and proper. At the end of his final report for his class, Rick cracks a joke and Faye is not amused. She decides to fail him and make him take the course over again.
Faye is going through a slump in her marriage to Whitney (Robert Logan), a rocket scientist who has just lost his job. Faye's free-spirited sister Patsy, visiting from out of town, takes her to a strip club
Strip club
A strip club is an adult entertainment venue in which striptease or other erotic or exotic dance is regularly performed. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or bar style, but can also adopt a theatre or cabaret-style....
to cheer her up. The show features a performer called "Ricky the Rocket," who is none other than Faye's student Rick. When he notices Faye in the crowd, he gives her a very special lap dance
Lap dance
A lap dance is a type of sex work performed in some strip clubs in which a naked or topless dancer performs an erotic dance either in immediate contact with a seated patron, or within a very short distance. With full-contact lap dances, the stripper may engage in non-penetrative sexual contact...
.
The next day, Faye and Rick run into each other at a school function. Initially, Rick is interested only in convincing Faye to allow him another chance at his final and is rebuffed. He realizes that she is attracted to him and begins flirting.
Faye arranges to meet Patsy near her hotel, only to discover that she has been tricked into seeing another performance by "Ricky the Rocket".
Patsy must return home a day early, so she turns over use of her hotel room to Faye, who calls Whitney and lies that she and Patsy are staying at Patsy's hotel together. Coincidentally, Rick's mother works in the same hotel, and while visiting his mother, Rick runs into Faye again; they return to Faye's room and have sex. Faye must leave and in her absence, Rick invites his girlfriend Slick to the room where they have sex. Faye catches them in the shower and, humiliated, flees; she realizes that she's been had.
Whitney, returning home from an unsuccessful job interview
Job interview
A job interview is a process in which a potential employee is evaluated by an employer for prospective employment in their company, organization, or firm. During this process, the employer hopes to determine whether or not the applicant is suitable for the job.-Role:A job interview typically...
, discovers that Patsy has gone home. Whitney travels to the hotel and catches Rick as he's exiting. Whitney kidnaps
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
Rick at gunpoint; he takes Rick to a boat at a small dock and forces him to strip. Rick, sobbing, complies. Whitney threatens Rick repeatedly but in the end only shoots holes in the boat, leaving a naked Rick aboard as it sinks.
Faye returns home to find Whitney waiting for her; she apologizes and he forgives her. At the end, the couple talk about their problems and resolve them.
Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Christopher Atkins | Rick Monroe |
| Lesley Ann Warren | Faye Hanlon |
| Robert Logan | Whitney Hanlon |
| Deney Terrio Deney Terrio Denis George Mahan , better known as Deney Terrio, is an American choreographer, former film actor and one-time host of the television musical variety series Dance Fever from 1979 to 1985... |
Tony |
| Deborah Rush Deborah Rush Deborah Rush is an American actress.Rush has worked in television, film and on Broadway. In 1984, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for Michael Frayn's comedy Noises Off. She also acted in Stephen Adly Guirgis' The Last Days of Judas Iscariot... |
Patsy |
| Sandra Beall | Slick |
| Alix Elias | Shirley |
| Carrie Snodgress Carrie Snodgress Caroline "Carrie" Snodgress was an American actress.-Biography:Snodgress was born in Park Ridge, Illinois. She attended Maine Township High School East in Park Ridge then Northern Illinois University before leaving to pursue acting. Snodgress trained for the stage at the Goodman Theatre, in Chicago... |
Mrs. Johnson |
| Andy García Andy García Andrés Arturo García Menéndez , professionally known as Andy García, is a Cuban American actor. He became known in the late 1980s and 1990s, having appeared in several successful Hollywood films, including The Godfather: Part III, The Untouchables, Internal Affairs and When a Man Loves a Woman... |
T.J The Bartender |
Critical response
Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
found it a "very confusing movie" that "introduces several themes and relationships, and asks some big questions", but "doesn't pay off on any of them." Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
dismissed the film, writing, "all boredom breaks loose."
Box Office
In addition to the extreme negative reception and panning of film critics, the film itself was also a box office bombBox office bomb
The phrase box office bomb refers to a film for which the production and marketing costs greatly exceeded the revenue regained by the movie studio. This should not be confused with Hollywood accounting when official figures show large losses, yet the movie is a financial success.A film's financial...
grossing only near $6 million on a $12 million dollar budget.
Accolades
Atkins won the 1983 Golden Raspberry Award1983 Golden Raspberry Awards
The 4th Golden Raspberry Awards were held on April 8, 1984 at Third Street Elementary School in Los Angeles, California, to recognize the worst the movie industry had to offer in 1983.-Awards and nominations:-See also:*1983 in film*56th Academy Awards...
for Worst Actor.