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Blame it on Rio
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Blame it on Rio is a 1984 romantic comedy film, written by Charlie Peters and Larry Gelbart and directed by Stanley Donen. The original music score was composed by Kenneth Wannberg. Cast members included Michael Caine, Joseph Bologna, Valerie Harper, Michelle Johnson, José Lewgoy and Demi Moore.
The film was shot on location in Rio de Janeiro, and the scenery is one of the film's highlights. Some people consider Blame It on Rio to be an unofficial remake of the French film Un moment d'égarement (A Moment of Distraction) which follows the same basic plot of a man having an affair with his best friend's daughter while on holiday.
The film was marketed with the tagline "She's the hottest thing on the beach.
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Encyclopedia
Blame it on Rio is a 1984 romantic comedy film, written by Charlie Peters and Larry Gelbart and directed by Stanley Donen. The original music score was composed by Kenneth Wannberg. Cast members included Michael Caine, Joseph Bologna, Valerie Harper, Michelle Johnson, José Lewgoy and Demi Moore.
The film was shot on location in Rio de Janeiro, and the scenery is one of the film's highlights. Some people consider Blame It on Rio to be an unofficial remake of the French film Un moment d'égarement (A Moment of Distraction) which follows the same basic plot of a man having an affair with his best friend's daughter while on holiday.
The film was marketed with the tagline "She's the hottest thing on the beach. She's also his best friend's daughter!"
Plot synopsis
Victor (Bologna) and Matthew (Caine) are best friends who work for a major corporation in São Paulo, Brazil. Both are having problems in their respective marriages — Victor's wife wants to divorce him, while Matthew has no idea what is wrong in his marriage, and is baffled & irritated at his wife's decision to take her vacation elsewhere than Rio, separate from her husband and daughter.
They decide to take a holiday in Rio de Janeiro. With them are their teenage offspring: Matthew's daughter Nikki (Moore) and Victor's daughter Jennifer (Johnson). They rent a beautiful vacation home with a somewhat taciturn & disapproving housekeeper, and soon go to the beach.
Jennifer is told by her father to cover her bare breasts but refuses, instead dragging her father and Nikki into the water to play. Matthew does not join them and seems uncomfortable, both in the scene and in his narration, with the partial nudity displayed by Jennifer and other women on the beach.
Matthew gets drunk with the amorous Jennifer during a Brazilian wedding, where she discloses to him that she has always had a "crush" on him since she was a child, and they embark on a secret (and somewhat one-sided) sexual relationship. Victor becomes furious when he finds out that there is an 'older man' in his daughter's life, and he sets out to hunt down the mystery man with the aid of Matthew.
Matthew is reluctant to lead Victor on a wild goose chase, but goes through with it until he figures what to do. He tries to talk to Jennifer about letting go, but she is determined to never give him up. Eventually, Matthew discloses the truth to his best friend, but only after Victor has caused a barroom brawl targeting an innocent man. Oddly, though, Victor is not as angry as Matthew expects. In the climax of the film, it's discovered that Victor has been having an affair with Matthew's wife, Karen (Valerie Harper).
Meanwhile, as the truth of this comes out, Jennifer tries to commit suicide with an overdose of birth control pills; needless to say, she survives. The whole incident brings them all closer together, and Karen and Matthew decide to work on their marital problems.
Jennifer begins dating a boy her own age, and Victor remarries his estranged wife.
Matthew's final line of summation is: "You only live once, but it does help if you get to be young twice." However this last line of the screenplay should not be seen as a justification for his selfish behavior in sleeping with his best friend's daughter, because the moral of the story ( for essentially this is a Morality Tale ) is the dialogue said to Jennifer in her hospital bed by Karen : " For everything you want in life, there is a price to pay - and somebody has to pay it; it might not be you, but the price will have to be paid."
Production notes
- The film portrays toplessness on a Rio beach at a time when it was illegal.
- Michelle Johnson appears topless is several scenes and there is even one scene of total frontal nudity even though she was underage when the movie was filmed. According to press reports, the fact that she was only 17 meant that a court had to give her a special dispensation to perform naked.
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