Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5687 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-09-16
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English, Portuguese
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 106 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Soft-porn impresario Zalman King's Wild Orchid is supposed to be an "erotic drama", but it fails because there isn't the faintest semblance of chemistry between the three main players. "From the creators of 9 ½ Weeks comes the most eagerly awaited film of the year", trumpets the voice-over on the trailer, but therein lies the problem: in 9 ½ Weeks Mickey Rourke smouldered with Kim Basinger. In Wild Orchid, things have wilted before he even gets on screen. There is a vague semblance of plot: young, naïve, beautiful multilingual lawyer Emily (Carré Otis) is hired to help the obnoxious Claudia (Jacqueline Bisset), a big-time developer, to close a major property deal in Rio. Wheeler (Mickey Rourke) is the poor kid made good who proves the fly in the ointment.

Bisset is supposed to have developed an obsession with the emotionally constipated Rourke after he rejected her. And Otis is supposed to be the one who eventually gets under his skin. But child-model turned actress Otis seems to be having trouble getting her swollen lips round a whole sentence at a time, let alone acting. The film dates from 1990 yet seems firmly stuck in the 1980s, from the obsession with all things commercial to the ludicrous fashion-sense (Rourke: big jacket, no shirt, lots of gold jewellery; Otis: virginal flowing dresses and tresses to match). And the sex scene, when it finally arrives in the dying moments, is brief and entirely unerotic. Brazil looks good though.

On the DVD: Wild Orchid on disc has acceptable sound and picture, but the lack of any extra features is not impressive. When you get bored you can always amuse yourself by selecting from the substantial list of subtitles. --Harriet Smith

DVD Description
DVD Features:

Picture Format: 1.85:1 widescreen Theatrical trailer
Soundtrack languages: English, Italian, Spanish
Subtitle Languages: Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish

Synopsis
In WILD ORCHID, Emily (Carre Otis), a beautiful young attorney, undergoes a sexual awakening after traveling to Rio de Janeiro. She takes a job as the assistant to Claudia (Jacqueline Bisset), a no-nonsense, extremely successful businesswoman. As part of her duties, Emily must travel with her boss to Brazil during carnival. There, the lawyer meets Wheeler (Mickey Rourke), a mysterious American tycoon who is instantly attracted to her. The two of them become romantically involved but Wheeler wants Emily to take part in a series of unusual erotic games....

Customer Reviews

Hot & Steamy Off-The-Wall Romance - A must for Rourke fans!
This movie should really be in a soft-porn category! It has some explicit sex scenes which for any Mickey Rourke fan will be almost too much to bear... It's set for the most part in Brazil and is all the better for this. The atmosphere and sounds of Latin America make this film. Mickey Rourke plays a Billionaire who has a peronality disorder where he doesn't trust anyone & never gets close to anyone...(Or does he???) The soundtrack alone is worth it's weight in gold, at times almost haunting. I highly recommend this film to one & all.

Not a movie but a collection of 'moments'
As a movie, it's terrible.
Acting? Don't mention it.
But as you watch it, there are several moments that will be with you forever. If someone mentions 'Wild Orchid', it's these moments you recall, and not the bad acting. See it, it's worth it. The music is worth it too. Just don't try to 'glue' the moments to form a coherent 'story'. There is none. And by the way, just how many coherent stories did YOU live through?

The worst movie i have ever seen
Easily the worst movie i have ever seen. No joke. It is laugh out loud bad. As a M.Rourke and a 9 1/2 weeks fan I am astonished that Rourke and the once famous Jacqueline Bisset (Bullitt- S.McQueen) appeared in this soft porn, badly made movie.

Director Zalman King's should have been arrested for crimes against Cinema-goers after the movie's release. Rourke stars as an aloof gazillionaire named Wheeler who longs for the human touch. Carre Otis is Emily,a naive,virginal American high-flying Lawyer who knows six languages (but can't act) and Jacqueline Bisset is Emily's scheming mother Claudia. It's set in the beautiful city of Rio de Janeiro. Though the movie opens with multiple shots of the Christ of the Andes, this movie doesn't have a prayer.

One of Emily's first experiences is watching a couple make love underneath a leaky drainpipe in an abandoned building. It turns out she's not the only voyeur in Rio. After snuggling up to her wearing a silly bear mask, Wheeler makes her watch a couple get intimate in a limo. He also makes her lose her virginity to an Ugly American dude. There's plenty of pretentious dialogue and a few cheesey love making scenes. Wheeler whines about how unloved he is and doesn't trust anybody,while Emily is inarticulate and stares blankly.

"Wild Orchid" was infamous for the consummation scene between Wheeler and Emily... but it's not a sexy movie. Rourke for example with his 16 inches of applied suntan, gitano bandana and Harley Davidson. He wines and dines Emily, asking challenging questions like 'Have you ever felt that primal, insatiable hunger?' How long can she resist? Even within its own terms the film is a disaster: all the acting is pathetic, the pacing poor, and the pay-off copulation scene merely mechanical. Its more like a bad comedy. In fact i laughed more during this than i did during "Meet the Fockers". For all the sex and nudity,"Wild Orchid" is an unintentional hoot.
Brendan Clarke.