Joe D'Amato was one of the most prolific of all the exploitation directors. He made nearly 200 films, which included the "Black Emmanuelle" series, cannibal gorefests, the "Ator" flicks, everything you can imagine. The marketing "geniuses" are taking advantage of his cult reputation now, releasing any D'Amato film they can get a hold of, and promoting it as a "lost cult classic". Well, I'm writing this comment to warn you: for "Blue Angel Cafe" only the word "lost" applies. This movie cannot be taken seriously as either a domestic drama (it's not believable) OR as a soft-core flick (the sex scenes are comically short, under even a minute long). The male lead has no screen presence and is an embarrassment to the word "actor" (and the guy who plays his friend, the one with the glasses, is even worse!). If it weren't for Tara Buckman's nicely toned body and decent acting, I'd give this movie an even lower rating than....*1/2 out of 4.
4 Reviews
A romantic drama that even women won't enjoy!
The_Void12 May 2009
Joe D'Amato will always be loved by cult film fans for his best sleazy films (most of which starred Laura Gemser and were released during the seventies); but he surely wont be loved for this film. Object of Desire is an Italian film but made in an American style; what we end up with is an extremely cheap piece of soft-core porn that is much more likely to bore it's viewers than turn them on. The tired plot focuses on a politician with an ideal life. This is turned upside down one day when he meets Angie; a sexy bar singer and the two soon begin an illicit affair. The film isn't sleazy in the slightest and feels like something you might find on some low rent American TV network. The score rips off just about every romantic film ever made and is extremely tedious and painful. This matches the plot perfectly; as this is also tedious and painful, and the two together make this film a chore to sit through. Neither of the main characters or their situations are interesting in the slightest and the film was clearly made simply as a cash in for everyone involved. The film doesn't even have its sex scenes to fall back on; as these are extremely tame and very short anyway. Overall, Object of Desire is a tame and boring romantic drama and not even Joe D'Amato's hardcore faithful should bother tracking this garbage down!
Angie's affections misplaced
mjstock22 April 2002
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Cafe singer (Buckman) seduces up-and-coming candidate for governor (Richard Brown). When they are exposed, his political career and marriage are ruined. Angie and Richard try to make a life together. But their financial fortunes and, eventually, their affection for each other spiral downward throughout the latter two-thirds of the movie. After they split up Richard finally sobers up and takes a mundane job typing uninteresting data into a computer. Kate, former wife (Jayne Gray) comes for a visit to Richard's more than humble dwellings. At first he thinks she's come to gloat; but she really seems to care for him, still! They get back together and reestablish their home, considerably down scale from "pre-Angie" times. The movie ends with a chance (not likely) meeting between Richard and Angie in front of his new home. Kate watches the encounter from a distance on their front porch which ends in a sad, but permanent, good-bye.
Oh man, Joe does it again!
BandSAboutMovies14 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
You can say what you want about Joe D'Amato's movies, but the guy knew a very important fact: if you get someone as talented as Enzo Sciotti to paint the poster to your film, people will want to see it.
That said, this is the kind of D'Amato movie that fascinates me, as it stars Tara Buckman, an actress who has obsessed me since Night Killer, in a movie that's at once closer to reality than that movie and also still so far away from the world that you and I live in.
Shot in Virginia - I assume right around when the aforementioned Mattei movie was made - Buckman plays Angie, a cabaret singer who steals the heart of Raymond Derek, a rich man with political aspirations, a gorgeous wife and a path toward the upper one percent. Their love takes it all away, yet when she fights for him, he reacts in the most pompous and entitled way possible. Truly, she is too good for him, even if she's the traditional bad girl.
Look, this is a movie so confident of its sexiness that Laura Gemser shows up and keeps her clothes on. And also one so in love with its theme song that Buckman sings it four times.
I kind of love that you expect Buckman's character to just be someone out to get the money out of our lead protagonist, but she's better than everyone else in this movie put together, willing to use her body to keep her man going, selling every bit of herself and still remaining strong and whole in a world where everyone else is a compromised individual.
Yeah, alright, I get a lot out of Joe D'Amato movies. Perhaps more than you do. You may just watch this and laugh and say, "What a piece of junk." I invite you to see the world through more positive eyes, a place where a softcore movie by a jaded porn-making hack can teach you a lesson in life.
That said, this is the kind of D'Amato movie that fascinates me, as it stars Tara Buckman, an actress who has obsessed me since Night Killer, in a movie that's at once closer to reality than that movie and also still so far away from the world that you and I live in.
Shot in Virginia - I assume right around when the aforementioned Mattei movie was made - Buckman plays Angie, a cabaret singer who steals the heart of Raymond Derek, a rich man with political aspirations, a gorgeous wife and a path toward the upper one percent. Their love takes it all away, yet when she fights for him, he reacts in the most pompous and entitled way possible. Truly, she is too good for him, even if she's the traditional bad girl.
Look, this is a movie so confident of its sexiness that Laura Gemser shows up and keeps her clothes on. And also one so in love with its theme song that Buckman sings it four times.
I kind of love that you expect Buckman's character to just be someone out to get the money out of our lead protagonist, but she's better than everyone else in this movie put together, willing to use her body to keep her man going, selling every bit of herself and still remaining strong and whole in a world where everyone else is a compromised individual.
Yeah, alright, I get a lot out of Joe D'Amato movies. Perhaps more than you do. You may just watch this and laugh and say, "What a piece of junk." I invite you to see the world through more positive eyes, a place where a softcore movie by a jaded porn-making hack can teach you a lesson in life.
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