A Night in Heaven (1983)

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..

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!

I know that in no means I'm trashing eighties movies. I grew up on eighty movies, and I have seen a lot of trash and a lot of superb films. When I think of A Night In Heaven, I think of Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, even that flunky movie Johnny Depp did with Morrow....Private Resort or something like that! I would depict this movie and dissect it with criticism, but I can't because I actually enjoyed this movie. What separates this movie from others that were in the eighties junkyard is that this actually had a convincing plot. Yes, I think Lesley Anne Warren is sexy, no I don't think Christopher Atkins is a heartthrob and I don't see what the big deal about him was, considering he is just that star that appeared with Brooke Shields in The Blue Lagoon.What I like about this movie is that it doesn't play out as your ordinary dumb film like most eighties movies. You don't see anyone you think is from Revenge Of The Nerds or Just One Of The Guys(which I must confess I liked also), there's not much stupidity, no brain cells should be damaged in the process of watching this and one of my favorite scenes is actually in the beginning with Logan on the funky bike while Bryan Adams sings the theme song...after that I figured I was in for a 80 minute treat that I consider a very underrated, tarnished, bashed movie that didn't make the grade for reasons I believe just had that quality of being toooooo eighties!!! I recommend A Night In Heaven for it's chemistry between Lesley and Christopher and for something that's not monotonous and filled with low humor and bad acting, I recommend it also for how poignant love is between this teacher and her student and by the way who said she passed him just because she made love to him?Oh and by the way you will love the ending which is another ingredient to the mix of this very, very underrated movie!!!

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!