A Night in Heaven (1983) User Reviews (40)

the 80s at their best!

[houstonia · 3/10 · 23 May 2005]

Christopher Atkins! Lesley Ann Warren!! Eighties top-ten hits! For goodness sakes, the guy who played Tony HOSTED Dance Fever!! I remember that I had a crush on him.

This movie is so totally steeped in Eighties pop-culture. From the first scene where Whitney shuts down the computer (get a load of that thing?) to the hot pants worn by Atkins. The Eighties (especially the early Eighties) was a time when the lines blurred between being gay and straight. Ahh those heady pre-AIDS days...

At one point in the movie, Ricky (Atkins)responds to his sister complaining about his sleeping around, "I'm 21 years old, I'm right where I'm supposed to be..." And the fashions, man, the FASHIONS. The Peter Pan collars worn by Warren. The red dress complete with puffy sleeves when she goes to the strip club for the first time. The big hair! Pick ANY item worn by Tony... All Eighties, all the time!! And finally - the hottest sex scene that is STILL hot by today's standards!! The Big Easy comes close.... close, but not quite.

It's not a great movie. I don't think it's even a mediocre movie. But I DO think it's an IMPORTANT movie. One day our children will watch this movie and think... "what where they THINKING?!??!"

Atkins gets a Warren piece.

[noncentz · 5/10 · 7 August 2005]

Heavenly, this film is not, but I must admit that it is one of my guilty pleasures.

The story centers on a community college speech teacher (Warren) with a recently laid-off husband. Her wild sister drags her to a male strip club one night where she discovers that her lazy student (Atkins) is the star attraction. Wouldn't you know it, eventually the teacher is getting private lessons from the student. It's really about temptation and devotion and the fight between the two.

While the plot and styles are incredibly dated, thee are some things to recommend about this film. Warren gives a strong performance, doing as much with the material as she can. Her transition from constricted and conflicted wife to released vixen is convincing. Her frustrated husband, Logan, also does a fine job. Atkins is Atkins and does nothing more than offer lingering stares and lots of skin.

What makes this film a guilty pleasure is the good use of Bryan Adams' music and one of the more erotic love scenes ever filmed with someone of Warren's stature (this was around the time she blew audiences away with her Oscar-nominated performance in Victor/Victoria). If you never thought of Warren as a sexual dynamo, stick around. Some cuts of the love scene contain a shot of Atkin's manhood, which shocked me even back then.

There are some dramatic elements involving the husband and his frustrations, as well as Warren's inner conflicts, but the film is far too short to go into these too deeply.

It's not a good film by any means but I do think it tried to be something more than the trash it was. Perhaps some of the plot ended up on the dance-room floor.

The same guy directed Rocky

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 10 June 2021]

John G. Avildsen had an interesting career. There are movies like Rocky and three Karate Kid films, along with Save the Tiger, W. W. and the Dixie Dancekings, Lean on Me, Neighbors and this 1983 kind sorta coming of age film.

Rick Malone (Christopher Atkins) is one of the more popular students at his college and used to getting away with just about everything. However, when he makes a joke of his speech professor Faye Hanlon's (Lesley Ann Warren) final, she fails him and forces him to take the class again.

Faye and her husband Whitney are going through a rough patch after he gets laid off, so when her sister suggests that they go to a strip club, she jumps at the opportunity. There, she watches Ricky the Rocket perform and realizes that he's her student. Of course, she's soon going to be cattle-prodding the oyster ditch with the lap rocket, as they say, with Ricky so that he can get his grades up.

Of course, this is going to end with Faye's husband shooting at Ricky on a boat dock while demanding that he strip. So, there's that.

The movie itself may not be much, but the soundtrack has all sorts of great stuff on it, like Jan Hammer composing much of the music, along with Bryan Adams' "Heaven" and "Obsession" by Holly Knight and Michael Des Barres. That song would be covered a year later by Animotion and become a much bigger song.

Deney Terrio, the man who taught Travolta to dance in Saturday Night Fever, the man who hosted Dance Fever, the man who sued Merv Griffith for sexual harassment, the man who sued Hasbro for making a Littlest Pet Shop gecko disco character named Vinnie Terrio is also the man who appears in this film.

Also, for those who care about these kinds of things - you know who you are - Atkins has no underwear on for his love scenes.

Flunks In The Classroom, Passes In The Bedroom

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 13 April 2009]

A Night In Heaven rates right up there as one of the trashiest films ever made. But Christopher Atkins is so goldarn sexy in this I have to say that this film is a guilty pleasure of mine.

The Blue Lagoon Boy with no curls any longer plays a trailer park kid who is the main attraction at a male strip club named Heaven located in Titusville near Cape Canaveral. He's also going to community college where Professor Lesley Anne Warren flunks him in her Speech class. At the same time Warren is not getting any attention from husband Robert Logan and she's frustrated.

On a girl's night out, she takes one look at Atkins and Atkins sees the look Warren is giving him and the results are inevitable. I think you can figure where this is going, it doesn't take a genius. But the climax I will say rates high in the ludicrous cinema department.

Interestingly enough while Christopher Atkins won the Razzie Award for worst actor, A Night In Heaven wasn't nominated for Worst Picture. It was probably unfair to Chris since all he was asked to do was look sexy and be seductive. He succeeded admirably on both counts. I suppose the Razzies are as inscrutable as the Oscars.

But if your taste runs to trashy movies, don't let this one get by.

If You Expect the Worst, You May be Surprised

[rosaliez · 16 August 2001]

I rented this movie as a total goof with a friend about a year after it came out, expecting it to be as cheesy and pathetic as the trailer. This is not great cinema by any means. But some actual thought went into the making of this and it was a lot better than I ever anticipated. In fact, back in the day, Siskel and Ebert actually gave this two thumbs up, for the chemistry between Lesley Ann Warren and Christopher Atkins. It has been said that he was so into his character that after the filming it took him a long time to get over his costar. Lesley Ann Warren's shocked expressions are priceless. The great Bryan Adams songs are relevant; not just tacked on because they are cool and will sell soundtracks. This is not a movie you would ever want to admit aloud that you like. But you may be surprised to find that you're secretly admitting it to yourself.

Talented cast and crew, but a shoddy enterprise...

[moonspinner55 · 2/10 · 23 February 2007]

With a direction from John G. Avildsen ("Rocky") and a screenplay by Joan Tewkesbury ("Thieves Like Us", "Nashville"), one might expect more from this turgid drama about a married community-college teacher who discovers to her embarrassment that a male stripper she sees one night in a dance-club is actually one of her students. Lesley Ann Warren does what she can with a nearly unplayable role, but even her personal style can't dress up this flick with much class. The poorly-produced and edited film has become something of a cult item--mainly due to Christopher Atkins' nude shots--but the script and surrounding melodrama are inept and unfulfilling. * from ****

Saturday Night Flu

[TheFearmakers · 5/10 · 25 April 2019]

Why would a movie centering on a young male stripper and an uptight, slightly older woman begin with... and continue through the entire opening credit sequence on... an average guy who works at NASA?

Leslie Ann Warren's mousy housewife Faye Hanlon is married to the NASA engineer: she's who he comes home to. Robert Logan plays Whitney Hanlon; he's been down lately... not giving his wife a good time after hours, or wanting to work for the military (sound familiar?). She's got a wild sister, played by the always cute and energetic Deborah Rush, and both wind up spending a night at... Let's back up a bit...

Faye is a community college speech teacher/professor who fails a student too flaky and optimistic for his own good. That would be hot property Christopher Atkins, famous for his role opposite Brooke Shields in THE BLUE LAGOON and, as Ricky "The Rocket" Monroe he appears in a space suit on stage, eventually stripped down to the bare essentials and providing special attention to women who give him an F during the daytime... This is how our May/August romantic-interests connect, and yet their windswept romance is hardly enough to base an entire movie on...

The problem with this RAZZIE nominated clunker directed by ROCKY Oscar winner John G. Avildsen (partnered with otherwise talented NASHVILLE writer Jan Tewkesbury) is there's no chemistry between the leads, nor is there a point to their relationship. Meanwhile, the guy who opens the film winds up losing his job, buying a gun and scaring the piss out of the womanizing boy toy (the NASA worker facing off with a dude named Rocket, get it?)...

Which provides Atkins an opportunity to really act as he cries naked on the deck of a boat, but alas, he winds up embarrassing himself more than ever. (Farewell, movie career, you're headed to television.) What's really impressive is how they make the gorgeous Leslie Ann Warren so homely in the beginning before the sexy/sultry transition for two "heavenly" nights...

That first strip club outing and then in a hotel room during a steamy yet ponderous sex scene between lovers more suited to a fantasy driven porno... at least as the simplistic storyline goes...

It's when pointless characters, like Rocket's hardworking waitress mother and his banal actress girlfriend... and completely useless subplots are added... that the pace really meanders, turning what could have been a guilty pleasure into an exercise in humiliation, for the actors and especially editor/director John G. Avildsen. But a year later he'd redeem himself ROCKY style by waxing on and off with that winning underdog sports theme in THE KARATE KID. Which couldn't have happened at a better time.

Chippendull

[JZvezda · 5/10 · 13 March 2003]

It just cracks me right up when people mention "A Night in Heaven" and the word "plot" in the same sentence. Yeeping yimminy, take a look at the box cover! All they ever promised us was Chris Atkins in his Xanadu disco-slut-wear, pulsating and gyrating and waving his goodies at the camera. A male nudie flick. That's what they promised us, and that's what we got!

Mr. Blue Lagoon prances about the entire movie wearing nothing more than a cheap self-tanner and dental floss. The direction is nothing more than an endless string of tight close-up shots of Mr. Atkins' generously lathered nether-regions. Pure smut. That's what they promised us, and that's what we got!

Word of caution: This flick is where that "Obsession" song came from ("I will have you, yes I will have you..wah wah wah...") It's not the Animotion version either, it's, gasp ...even worse. It sounds like it was recorded at one of those amusement park "You be a Star!" karaoke-style "recording studios". Shudder.

But that's irrelevant. As is the acting, the cinematography, the editing, the lighting and most of all Lesley Ann Warren. "A Night in Heaven" is all about an oiled-down Atkins, a few clutzy dance moves, and a skimpy boy-toy thong. That's what they promised us, and that's what we got.

Yay them!

Makes for one boring night

[Tito-8 · 2/10 · 19 May 1999]

This pathetic film barely runs eighty minutes, yet the plot is too thin to even fill up the short running time. Lesley Ann Warren tries hard, but unfortunately for her, she is stuck in a dull story, and even worse, she has to share the screen with Christopher Atkins. The only good thing about this movie was that it happened to contain some good music by Bryan Adams, and obviously, I could've heard them somewhere else. His songs were a pleasant distraction, but the remaining seventy-five minutes are about as boring as a film can get.

Effective study of a troubled marriage

[Falconeer · 6/10 · 24 October 2014]

It's really too bad that people think of "A Night In Heaven" as 'the male stripper movie,' because it's really not that at all. Yes the wife has an affair with her student, who happens to be a stripper, but this accounts for maybe 10 minutes of screen time. At it's center is a believable study of a marriage on the rocks, after a husband loses his job, and begins to completely alienate his wife. Lesley Ann Warren is good in her role as Faye, the wife who begins to feel insecure, and undesirable after her husband shuts her out. When she finds herself attracting the attention of one of her young, handsome students (Chris Atkins) she resists as best she can, but soon an affair ensues, that might possibly have some serious consequences.

The interesting thing about the movie is how the husband and wife interact. They have such different views of what is really happening. "A Night In Heaven" doesn't dissolve into a smutty exploitation film, nor does it deteriorate into some 'revenge flick' at the end. The husband is actually perceptive enough to see that his wife's affair was perhaps, his fault. Directed by the man behind the original "Rocky," some qualities of that film are evident here, as well as some themes. It's physical, and passionate, and it has a kind of urban grittiness about it. An odd, obscure film from the 80's, worth seeing for some quality drama and good performances...and yes, some very sexy scenes too..

young men, older Women, eighties hairstyles and Chris Atkins taking it off for money.

[triple8 · 5/10 · 1 April 2006]

SPOIlERS THROUGH:

There are a lot more movies made about female strippers then male. In fact I can count on one hand the number of movies I've heard of, made about men taking it off and this is the only one I can recall that wasn't made for television. So, being that this is not a subject that has been overdone, you'd think the movie would have been more interesting then it ultimately turns out to be.

First off the flirtatious male stripper is played by Chris Atkins. Now I don't think he's a terrible actor, not at all, and he is a handsome guy. But I didn't buy him in the role at all, mainly because his character just doesn't seem like a male stripper-he's almost to innocent. He always just seemed like a kid with a crush on an older woman. That's it. It's difficult to get into a movie about a male stripper if you don't believe the fact that the Guy Is, in fact, a male stripper. That's not Atkins fault, it's his character himself but the believability aspect was not there on that end.

Then there's the chemistry of Atkins and Leslie Ann Warren which is next to none. If this movie wasn't going to have a lot of depth at least it should have had unforgettable chemistry between the leads and that never happened. I didn't buy Warren in this role either and the two together didn't quite fit.

Then there's the fact that the movie itself just wasn't that....well....interesting. You'd think it would at least be a little compelling since the subject matter is a little off the beaten path and there aren't many movies about this topic. But the movie, even though it's relatively short, is not compelling, not at all. It isn't bad, or unwatchable but it is just not that interesting.

The scenes of the male strippers stripping were completely over the top and not very sexy. But again they should have been. Instead they almost become campy at times. This is a movie that had great potential but somehow it just never comes together. I think the idea of this movie is actually a great one, (after all there are so many movies about female strippers). It would never have been an Oscar winner but had potential as something really different or at least could have explored the Infidelity aspect in the way of a film like "Unfaithful" but it never happens.

Then there's the ending. The scene where the husband kidnaps the male stripper on the boat added nothing to the movie and actually took it down a notch. I didn't buy the reconciliation at the end either. Again this isn't a terrible movie but it is disappointing.

It is fun to see all the eighties hair styles and other eighties stuff but I wasn't that into the movie. My vote is 5 out of 10.

The Body Beautiful!

[hilljayne · 10/10 · 8 September 2005]

Here's another movie that gets a bad rep. What happens is every 10 years or so a film comes along tailor made for women (and gay men) and people (most likely straight men) go berserk. They weren't trying to remake Gone With The Wind but were simply trying to please the audience with the assets and charms of that beautiful 1980s underrated heart-throb Christopher Atkins. Forever regulated to "the blonde haired guy in the Brooke Shields movie"(the Blue Lagoon), this was his chance to shine. And he DOES! But of course, men reviewers and maybe some uptight female ones slammed the movie. It is actually entertaining with a good and subdued performance from Lesley Ann Warren not playing her usual "nervous broad" type role here. There is even a featured role by 1970s and 1980s Dance Fever host Deney Terio. The chemistry between Chris and Lesley is incredible and undeniable. Their sex scene is like a taking a peak in real life....was that a tongue he slipped her? Awesome soundtrack featuring the song Heaven by Bryan Adams and an early version of the hit song Obsession, later to be recorded by Animotion. But the real star is of course Christopher. What he is presumed to have lacked in thespian quality he more than makes up for, not only with his gorgeous looks, but also charisma. He never wanted to be Spencer Tracy...he simply wanted to entertain us...and in A Night In Heaven - he DOES! Viva Atkins!

Everything is wrong with this film except for Christopher Atkins!

[Sherazade · 6/10 · 12 May 2006]

I saw this film one night on the Fox movie channel and the title nearly put me off but I had just gone through two and a half hours of Oscar and Lucinda so I needed something to cheer me up.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a film chock full of male strippers and decadent soccer mums willing to throw caution to the wind by (almost nightly) flocking to go see these men strut their stuff. That's what got me to watching this film, the fact that it was so unusual because nowadays, when you hear the word "stripper" especially on film, it's usually a girl or several throwing their bits about the screen.

Anyhow, Lesley Ann Warren plays a married college speech instructor who can't seem to get around a student of hers (played by the delicious looking Christopher Atkins from Blue Lagoon) who is flunking her class but trying to use his charm to get a better grade. One night, LAW, her friends and sister decide to abandon their husbands and go visit a strip club where the sexy main attraction "Ricky the rocket" is none other than the same Ricky (Atkins) in LAW's class. Ricky spots his teacher in the crowd, but rather than be ashamed he is amused as he begins to work the crowd and eventually works his way up to her. The sensual vulgarity sparks fly once he's in front of her and it isn't long before the two are full-fledged making out just as the French intended. LAW is stunned by what is happening but also becomes jealous when Ricky continues to work the crowd after their little session and begins to make-out with every woman in the room. LAW and her sister take their leave, much to the delight of Ricky's girlfriend who had been watching from the sidelines, but Ricky is pleased too because he knows he has awakened something in his teacher and he likes the fact that he can toy with her emotions just as she toys with his grade in class.

The rest of the film then deals with the instructor (LAW) coming to terms with this blooming affair between her and her student and the repercussions that ensue once her husband discovers what's going on.

I gave the film 6 stars because it was okay for an 80s film. Everything is dated by now but there is a genuine unforgeable honest chemistry between the two main actors and they transcend this to their characters commendably well.

In this day and age, LAW couldn't dream of trying half of the stuff that's done in the film but I guess that's where the decadence comes in. Nowadays when you hear about teacher-student relationships, you can't even begin to imagine the attraction talk less of the affair, but this film puts it all into perspective for you.

NOTE: Most of Atkins scenes feature him in the buff. Full frontal buff. What a man!

Has its moments--but not enough!

[preppy-3 · 3/10 · 27 March 2010]

Uptight university teacher Faye Hanlon (Lesley Ann Warren) has a husband (Robert Logan) who ignores her and she can't get through to him. One night her friends drag her to a male strip club where she sees incredibly hot Rick Monroe (Christopher Atkins) stripping--and he just happens to be a student she's failing in her class! Nonetheless he falls for HER and tries to seduce her. She tries resist him but she has trouble not giving in...

This was written by a woman and what was originally (I heard) a well-written story about a woman coming to grips with her failing marriage and attraction to a younger man. Sadly it was turned into a silly pointless movie just made to show off Atkins' body. There are glimpses here and there of a good story trying to break free but they're always undermined by showing Atkins nude (no frontal shots but they come close). I don't blame Atkins for this--he was a very handsome man, had a great body and was easy on the eyes. He can't act but when you look like that who cares? I blame the studio for this. The movie looks like it was heavily edited (look at the short running time) and entire plot lines are left dangling. Worst of all is the ending.

PLOT SPOILERS!!!! Atkins was left alone and nude on a boat and we don't even hear Warren and Logan discussing their marriage! I don't believe it was written that badly for one second. END PLOT SPOILERS! All that's left is an excellent performance by Warren, a great 80s soundtrack (especially "Heaven" that became a huge hit a year later), hysterically bad 80s clothes and Atkins nude scenes. I doubt we'll ever see a complete version of this film which is too bad. I can only give this a 3.

Heavenly Eye Candy

[robc-11 · 7 April 2004]

This is a terrible movie, but if you want to drool over a beautiful hunk of man, this flick can't be beat. Christopher Atkins, a GORGEOUS young actor who hit it big in the 80's by posing shirtless in teen magazines, semi-nude in VANITY FAIR and ROLLING STONE, and completely nude in a PLAYGIRL spread. He's a drop-dead hunk, and that seems to be the only reason for this stupid film. This movie runs for barely 80 minutes, and I think that everyone involved in this project decided that they really didn't have a movie, so they turned it into a Christopher Atkins flesh-fest. Lesley Ann Warren stars as Faye, a community college teacher who fails Atkins in her speech class. Faye's wild sister from Chicago comes to visit and drags Faye to a male strip club, where the star attraction is "Ricky the Rocket..." CHRISTOPHER ATKINS! Faye thinks twice about failing him after he seductively strips in front of her, grabs her hand, and puts her hand on his penis. What follows is Warren becoming addicted to watching Atkins strip, while her marriage crumbles. Throughout this very brief movie, we see Atkins shirtless, in underwear, nude and soapy in the shower, and nude while humping Lesley Ann Warren, who remains fully clothed. Atkins also prances around in short-short-short hot pants in the scenes that he's not nude. Directed by John G. Alvidsen ("Rocky!" "The Karate Kid!")

Not too "Heaven"-ly....

[Mister-6 · 1/10 · 12 June 2000]

Okay, "A Night in Heaven". It has big name stars in it like Warren, Garcia (in a bit part), Snodgress, Atkins, Deney Terrio (you wondered what happened to him, here he is.) - good director in Avildsen (!!!!!) - decent writer (Joan Tewkesbury; I'm serious, look for yourself!). So, why is it you haven't heard of this film unless you caught it at 3 or 4 am on Showtime?

Well, I'll tell ya.

Seems college teacher Warren (yeah, that's right) is flunking student Atkins, who happens to dance at this male strip bar called The Odyssey, where Warren's friends happen to drag her one night, whereupon she notices him - this being a weak moment in her life, as she and her husband (Logan) are having marital problems, and she thinks Atkins is rather hunky as he prances around in his g-string, and she begins to have some un-teacher-like thoughts about him, while her husband is considering having an affair while....

But I forget the most important part of the whole movie: with all these plot points to mull over, this thing STILL clocks in at under 90 minutes! WHAT the.... It is mind-boggling that so much plot can be truncated in to so little of a movie, and I mean that not only in substance but in IQ points as well.

Warren is the only one here worth watching (as is usually the case), and as an actor, Atkins is a good dancer. But if the main part of a movie you remember is the end theme (Bryan Adams' "Heaven"), you not only have a bad movie on your hands, but a bad movie that no amount of re-casting, plot-padding, double-billing or sex scenes can make enlightening.

"A Night in Heaven", huh? Gee, I was thinking more the opposite....

One star, for Bryan Adams' music. Hope they didn't make him watch it while he sung, or he WOULD have found it hard to believe he was in "Heaven".

A Night In Hell

[BrettErikJohnson · 2/10 · 20 May 2002]

In "A Night In Heaven", Lesley Ann Warren plays a college professor named Faye. Christopher Atkins is Ricky, a student in her class. At the end of his final report for his class, Ricky cracks a joke and Faye is not amused. She decides to fail him and make him take the course over again.

The next thing you know, Faye goes to watch some male strippers with some friends of hers. Who is one of the strippers? Ricky! Anyway, they develop one of the dreariest affairs I have ever seen. No sparks whatsoever.

There is also a dull side plot involving Faye's husband(!). He quits/is fired from his job. He puts 2 and 2 together and figures out that his wife is seeing the stripper. What does he decide to do? You'll just have to see in the exciting, I mean boring, climax.

I'm not really sure what the point of this movie is. There is no passion in anyone's performance. There is no actual plot and the romantic part of the film is tedious. Only recommended for fans of Christopher Atkins naked body. 2/10

Are they kidding?

[mojo2004 · 5/10 · 29 June 2006]

I remember when the "Ladies Night" in clubs with male strippers became popular.One scene in "Mr Mom" and this entire movie made the male stripping industry for females really take off.Afterwards Every TV sitcom of the 80's on had at least one episode with the male stars doing a strip and the females stars catching them and dragging them off the stage or going crazy and spending tons of money like Peg Bundy. That said this movie was corny.Only because Christopher Atkins was the boniest,non-dancing male stripper I've ever seen.Clearly he was chosen to capitalize on the "teen hunk" factor and "The Blue Lagoon" movie which he starred.Lesley Warren is dressed like a school marm in the 1880's until she gets a make-over up by a girlfriend to hit the club and snap!She's a hot mama in a snazzy red dress with her hair down and plenty of make-up on.What she doesn't know is a student she flunked recently (Chris) is the star stripper in the club she goes to and he knocks her off her feet with a super sexy kiss.Oh yeah-She's married to a fuddy-duddy older than she is. It's an okay film to catch on cable.Just don't expect any deep acting by anyone and you'll be fine.

very cheesy

[SnoopyStyle · 3/10 · 21 February 2015]

Whitney Hanlon (Robert Logan) works at a Florido rocket launch site. His wife Faye (Lesley Ann Warren) is a community college professor. Rick Monroe (Christopher Atkins) is a womanizer college student. Faye fails him for joking around in his presentation. Her sister Patsy (Deborah Rush) drags her out on a night out to a male strip club. One of the strippers turns out to be his student Ricky the Rocket. Whitney refuses to work for the defense department and gets fired. Their marriage struggles and Ricky starts flirting with her.

This is a total cheese fest. There is no other way to describe it. John G. Avildsen is a very uneven director. He made some of the finest movies of the 80s and some of the worst. This is one of the worst. The movie is setting up something darker but the cheesiness keeps blocking it. Avildsen doesn't know what to make here. He keeps trying to make little unfunny jokes. Logan is not much more than an empty suit. Warren tries her best but it's such a badly written character. Atkins is more of the same. There are some erotica but it's not about that either. Nothing really works in this one.

Theater in hysterical laughter!

[hannahp1 · 4/10 · 3 June 2019]

I seen this movie when it was in the theater and remember how bad it was but what i remember the most was the audience. During the sex scene with Warren and Atkins-Warren was going so over the top with her moaning and growning that the friend that was with me started laughing real loud in the theater which made me start cracking up. When I stopped laughing I realized that the whole audience was laughing too started by us. And we laughed even louder. I know it was not intended as a comedy but ended up being for all of us.

Great 80's memories!

Eye candy!

[dr71956 · 6/10 · 15 May 2004]

Especially for the ladies, this movie gives a good look at one of the best looking actors ever - Christopher Atkins. The movie is not overly deep but what do you expect?

Leslie Ann Warren is very good in her role as a sexually frustrated married woman. Not to mention, she is beautiful!

It's a movie - it does not have a deep message but then again, VERY few movies do. When you hear an actor, actress, or writer talk about the "meaning" of a film - they're lying! :)

With very few exceptions, movies are made for one reason - to make money. Don't let Hollywood fool you into believing anything else.

Anyway, this movie is much better than most pinheads give it credit for.

An early advancement for the female gaze in film/tv

[shteachtx · 5/10 · 19 November 2023]

"A Night in Heaven" is an intriguing film to discuss in the context of the female and gay male gaze, particularly when compared to "For Ladies Only" the "other" male stripper film from the time, created to capitalize on the sudden rise and popularity of the Chippendales in the early 80s.

The film, set in Titusville, Florida, revolves around a college student, Rick, who works as a stripper and his professor, Faye Hanlon, who is going through a marital slump. Their worlds collide when Faye, taken to a strip club by her sister, sees Rick perform.

In contrast to the other film, "A Night in Heaven" delves into a more complex and emotionally charged narrative. It attempts to explore the dynamics of desire and power from a female perspective, with Faye's character finding an unconventional escape from her unfulfilling marriage. However, the film has some challenges, particularly vis-a-vis plot and dropped/unresolved storylines. In this way, the execution might not have fully captured the nuances proponents of the female gaze seeks in storytelling.

While "For Ladies Only" focused more on the spectacle and excitement of male strippers, primarily serving as entertainment for the female gaze without deeply engaging in complex emotional narratives. "A Night in Heaven" aimed higher as a film, trying to venture beyond just the physical appeal of its subject. But, to be honest, it struggles in cohesively articulating its themes, potentially limiting its impact on advancing the female gaze in cinema, but not negating it.

Fabulous Film! As a 30 something I REALLY can identify!

[an80sgirl · 9/10 · 13 November 2003]

I saw this when I was young, and never really got it until I was 30 something. The writer really identifies with the conflict someone the lead female feels at this age. How lonely and stagnant marriage can be, the urges and desires you can feel you missed out on when younger. Great soundtrack by Jan Hammer and Bryan Adams. Every time I see this film I cry because I can really identify with every woman in this film, from Slick, Patsy, Faye, and even Rick's mom. I have yet to see a film that encaptures everything a woman can be...housewife, vixen, mother, sister...etc. I have been with one person for 8 years and will ALWAYS look for my "Night in Heaven" PS LOVE the way Atkins nibbles on his cookie while looking at Warren!

A good looking teacher and a hot young STUDent - what's bad?

[dr71956 · 6/10 · 10 October 2002]

I know that a lot of people who write reviews always try to find some deeper meaning and/or raised consciousness from the silver screen. However, some movies appeal to nothing more than our base instincts.

In this case, there is not a guy reading this that hasn't fantasized about a good looking teacher. On the other hand, there probably are no female teachers who did not find a single young man as attractive, appealing, and worthy of a few fantasies herself.

That's all this movie represents. I think that's all it ever meant to be. I enjoyed it - but then again I think Lesley-Ann Warren is hot!

The first cinematic hen party.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 24 May 2023]

Ladies nights out are a mixed bag, but add liquor and exotic male dancers, and they'll be climbing the walls. That's what this this wild 80's women's drama insinuates, especially when it surrounds a sexually unsatisfied college professor (Lesley Ann Warren) whose husband (Robert Logan) neglected her for his work and continues to neglect her even after he's been fired. A night out with her wild sister puts her in proximity of golden boy failing student Christopher Atkins who has a secret night life as Ricky the Rocket, fantasy playboy of many a sexually unsatisfied older woman, giving powerful lap dances that get an A even if Warren gave him an F in class.

I found this to be fun 80's trash, with a female focus yet concentrating on the sexual prowess of younger men after slightly older women. Quite a different film for both leads from Warren in her Oscar nominated "Victor/Victoria" (reluctant cougar due to her prim and proper self image) and Atkins, teen heartthrob who couldn't score magic with Kristy McNichol while singing Gilbert and Sullivan. Very much a product of its time, unintentionally funny on occasion but frequency eye rolling. Who'd believe this as a huge flop for "Rocky" director John Avieldsen? The type of film that creates a legendary guilty pleasure if you're in the right mood for it.