Flareup

If you love camp as much as I do, then you will love "Flareup". From the opening credits we know it's a camp fest by the gyrating "go-go" dancer doing the boogaloo around the credits. Opening scene at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas is great, with Raquel and two friends having lunch "al fresco". The hairstyle on the one friend looks as though it needs a building permit. She immediately gets shot by her ex-boyfriend (maybe he thought the hair-do was a little too much as well). He then turns on Raquel (whom he blames for the breakup) and spends the rest of the movie trying to kill her. If you love location shooting then dig all the groovy shots of Las Vegas and Los Angeles before they made both towns into an overbuilt, gaudy mecca that both cities are today. What sends this movie over the top is when Raquel mounts a horse and practically dislocates her head from the throwing back and forth of her mane of hair. AND THIS WAS BEFORE PROZAC! I loved every second of this movie, it has more entertainment value than anything I've seen in the past 10 years.

This is a tedious and decidedly low voltage attempt at an action thriller and vehicle for the then quite popular Raquel Welch.

The main drawbacks are the script which features cardboard characters and implausible situations, along with the leaden direction. The undistinguished cast has little to work with, but Ms Welch must be called to account for one of the worst performances of her career. This is saying a lot considering her body (no pun intended) of work. She is alternately vapid and wooden or hysterically shrill.

Ms Welch "portrays" a Las Vegas exotic dancer on the run from the deranged ex-husband (Luke Askew) of her friend and fellow dancer. It seems the Askew character blames Welch for the dissolution of his marriage, so after he blows away his former wife at an outdoor cafe in broad daylight he seeks to do likewise to poor Raquel.

Welch flees to Los Angeles pursued by the killer and immediately takes up with James Stacy. In watching their scenes together one has the impression that the filmmakers were simply going through the motions of providing the obligatory male love interest for Ms Welch. There is zero chemistry between them and the whole Stacy character seems virtually superfluous.

I found the pace of this film quite slow with little tension or suspense. One never really empathizes with or cares much for the central character. The psycho murderer, instead of being menacing and scary, is merely boring and dull.

Ironically, though she plays a go-go dancer, Ms Welch's considerable physical attributes are not put to good use here. She has one dance number (wearing only a moderately revealing outfit) that is tepid at best. The other dance routines by others (some of which are performed topless) come off much better. In fact these rather brief sequences and some fairly colorful and interesting Las Vegas and L.A. locations are all this misfire has going for it.

Well, Raquel Welch is Raquel Welch, she's not Joanne Woodward or Julietta Masina or Jennifer Jason Leigh. She is beautiful, sexy, cute. That's about it. She may be a great actress, but no film, script, role has been found yet, according to her hidden talent. Here, she's simply embarrassing. As are all the other actors. Very stupid script, super embarrassing acting.

The title sequence treats us two Raquels, as a bikini bar dancer. Her friend, Sandra Giles, is shot to death in front of her and many tourists at a Las Vegas hotel/restaurant, by her estranged, lunatic husband, Luke Askew, who blames her fellow dancers for turning her against him. He resolves to kill them all! Raquel flees to Los Angeles, where she is befriended by James Stacy, handsome enough so we don't resent his good luck. Of course, credulity is strained by this overlong pedestrian script, but there's an obligatory car chase and kindly professionals, both police and doctors. Will Askew prevail? Or will he get to Raquel, despite James's love? The ending is not exactly as expected.

Cars, Go-Go Girls and 60's Vegas. A fun time capsule. Unfortunately a pretty poor movie that would have sufficed being an episode of Police Woman. Worth seeing once if you're old enough to appreciate the time period.

Good, creepy bad guys that you can find in every 70's police dramas like Barnaby Jones or Mannix. This is one of those movies you want to label 'so bad it's good' but it falls short of that. The film stock quality seems to be very good which makes me wonder why so much money was invested in this unworthy effort.

Raquel is nice to look at. Stacy is a decent actor, and there are a few familiar character actors worth seeing. Otherwise, don't worry if you never see this one.