The Forbidden Dance (1990)

Director:

Greydon Clark

Writers:

Roy Langsdon (screenplay)
John Platt (screenplay)

Release Date:

16 March 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

LAMBADA...If it got any hotter, it wouldn't be dancing!

Plot:

Filmed during the Lambada dance craze (if there really ever was one), this film tries to have a social conscience...

Plot Keywords:

Dance | Lambada | Beautiful Woman | Independent Film

Cast

Laura Harring	...	Nisa (as Laura Herring)
Jeff James	...	Jason
Barbra Brighton	...	Ashley
Miranda Garrison	...	Mickey
Sid Haig	...	Joa
Ángela Moya	...	Carmen (as Angela Moya)
Richard Lynch	...	Benjamin Maxwell
Shannon Farnon	...	Katherine Anderson
Linden Chiles	...	Bradley Anderson
Ruben Moreno	...	The King
Gene Mitchell	...	Cutter
Kenny Johnson	...	Dave
Connie Woods	...	Trish
Tom Alexander	...	Kurt
Steven Williams	...	Weed (as Steven Lloyd Williams)

Also Known As:

Lambada, the Forbidden Dance (Philippines: English title)

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | Finland:S | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 | Philippines:PG-13 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Avenue, Arcadia, California, USA

Company:

21st Century Film Corporation

Trivia:

Written in 10 days, based on an idea writers John Platt & Roy Langsdon came up with in the car on the drive to producer Menahem Golan's office. The script was commisioned in December of 1989, was in production by the end of January, 1990, and hit theaters on March 17th that same year, all in an attempt to beat rival lamdada flick Lambada (1990/I) to theaters. Both films were eventually released on the very same day!

Quotes:

Nisa: You want to see the lambada? I'll SHOW you the lambada!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Santa Claus (#6.21)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Hand to Hold You Over

Amazingly bad, from what I remember

Ten out of ten stars? Sure, for AMAZINGLY BAD and HIDEOUS. OK, I'm going from memory, but in 1990 I was a projectionist at a six screen multiplex theater in NH for about 6 months before I moved to NYC Those few months allowed me to witness some horrendous films I would never volunteer to go see like "Joe vs the Volcano" (rember that hilariously putrid waste of celluloid? Funniest part was seeing Abe Vigoda dressed up to play a native chief. Honest.) Well, "Forbidden Dance" was easily the worst film I had seen that year (maybe in years), thus becoming one of the best unintentional comedies I had seen up to that point. Incredibly stupid dialog, horrendous acting, terrible script, absolutely ignorant and insulting to Brazilian culture (which disturbs me now to think of, but at the time I just saw it as another element of ineptness and stupidity exercised by the director/writer/producers.) Anyways, I raved about this film to friends, as in "Ya gotta see this, it's unbelievable, goes beyond the bottom of the barrel." Alas, it stayed maybe a week at the theater, so the planned orgy of a gang of us laughing our heads off at the abomination never materialized.

So I'm going by memory now. Is the film as horrendous as I remember it? I have half- hearted plans to try and dig up a copy to see again and show my wife how truly bad films can be. Yeah, OK, I'm one of those "gotta see a horrible film now and then to get some laughs at its expense" sort of guy, though as I get older, maybe I have a little less time to waste doing that. I am going to try and rent this if I can, to see if it is as hilarious as I remember it. One sad note: one of my favorite character actors, Sid Haig, is in it. A low point in his movie career. All is forgiven, Sid!!!!!!