Product Details

• Actors: Mickey Rourke, Jacqueline Bisset, Carré Otis, Assumpta Serna, Bruce Greenwood
• Directors: Zalman King
• Writers: Zalman King, Patricia Louisianna Knop
• Producers: Amy Kastens, David Saunders, Howard Worth, Jim Dyer, Lester Berman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Language: English, Portuguese
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Polygram Video
• VHS Release Date: October 20, 1998
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305165823
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,964 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Back when he wasn't relegated to the lesser cable channels, soft-porn meister Zalman King uncorked this howler of a drama on moviegoers, who were initially titillated by the ratings battle, but then shrugged and went off in search of the next cheap sensation. Model and subsequent Mickey Rourke squeeze Carré Otis plays a brilliant young attorney--well, we're told she's brilliant, although watching her in action, straining to wrap those puffy lips around her legalese dialogue, definitely conjures up other adjectives. She's dispatched to Rio de Janeiro under the guise of real-estate law and ends up seduced both by the exotic culture and by a brooding, highly misunderstood and frighteningly orange-skinned multimillionaire (Rourke). Kinky (for the time) sex games and deliriously mannered dialogue make this a rather pretentious exercise, unleavened by any truly erotic sensuality. Fun for taunting purposes, though. --David Kronke

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

90 of 95 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wild Orchid - both versions, April 23, 2002

By 

Brett D. Cullum (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wild Orchid (DVD)

WILD ORCHID was released in 1990 surrounded by controversy that the sex scenes between Carre Otis and Mickey Rourke were not faked. They were a couple at the time, and it is possible that there is some truth to the rumor, but in the end does it matter?

It's a typical Zalman King affair -- rather thin plot revolving around some business intrigue and mostly a sexual awakening of a girl from the country traveling to Rio. The setting provides incredible material for the brilliant cinematography, and the music is sexy and moody. A very fun role for Jacqueline Bisset, but unfortunately too little for anyone else to do other than pose and preen ... and ... well... do love scenes. Zalman King movies are soft and sensuous, and revolve around mood and sex scenes. Don't expect anything more than well-photgraphed love scenes, and you will be fine.

To all you DVD geeks out there (like me) -- edge enhancemnet is at an all-time high here. Colors are good, and its nice to see this movie in widescreen format. You get both the R-rated version and the unrated versions, but this is done on sides of the disc and not by branching. You get a 2 channel stereo mix that is not very good, but probably the original soundtrack without any remastering (pity because this one needs the extra ooomph in the sound department). Grain and print flaws are obvious, the film shows its age in the transfer. But at the low retail price fans of the movie will like it, but certainly not a demo disc by any means.

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well, now., December 29, 2003

By 

Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wild Orchid (DVD)

This one isn't quite mainstream, to say the least. Soft-porn probably would describe it well, but still, I enjoyed it lots, esp the scene in the weird half-abandoned building with the couple making love under a trickling stream of water.
Mickey Rourke, fresh from 9 ½ Weeks, again plays a brooding screwed-up millionaire. Lots of kinky sex and titillating background action and dialogue make it fun to watch with someone special. Good sound track, too.

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than Meets the Eye, April 9, 2006

By 

C. Seybold - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Wild Orchid (DVD)

Wild Orchid. Most people think its some smut movie with no plot. No one ever looks between the lines. It may have sex, and some crazy acting, and even a bogus plot, but the theme of it is important. True love. Call me sentimental and a hopeless romantic, but this movie touched me. Emily and Wheeler, opposites in every way, somehow find love, together. I wish everyone was as lucky. To find happiness where you least expect it. I wish I could be as happy as those two. Look around you. Do you see people with this kind of passion and love? It's sad, too, because we know what happened to the actors who played these lovers. I hope that someone out there has a relationship like this so that we have more to cling to then fiction. It may not have been the best movie, but it had an important message: When you find true love grab it with both hands and never let go.