Butterfly

There was this 15 minute window in the early 80's when a young starlet hit the screen by the name of Pia Zadora, and it was fantastic! Ms. Zadora starred in some of the trashiest, guilty pleasures that would make something like Showgirls feel tame. I recently rewatched the film that introduced the world to her naughty charms, 1982's Butterfly.

In it, Zadora plays this young, Loilta esque type, who travels to the desert to a desolate former silver mining town and ends up on the doorstep of a sad loner, Stacey Keach. She tells him that she is his daughter. He reluctantly lets her stay with him in hopes of getting to know this child that has been absent from his life. But he finds it hard to fight of the desire he is also feeling.

This film feels like a Tennessee Williams play, that is if Williams didn't just hint at the sexual undertones and would just drop trau. Despite her reputation, I also felt that Zadora was a pretty good actress. Especially with this kind of material. And Keach is quite good as well, especially since he has to rely on facial expressions mostly since his character is a man of few words. The legendary Orson Welles also pops up in a glorified cameo as a sleazy judge. He seems to be having a blast in one of his final performances.

Butterfly was mired with controversy upon it's release, and not just for it's incestuous undertones. Supposedly the producer of the film, who also happened to be Zador's husband at the time, bribed the foreign press into giving his wife and the film some awards at the Golden Globes. This not only cast a dark shadow over the movie, but also over the Globes as well.

Is Butterfly a great movie? Not really. But if you are looking for some trashy fun with great acting, then Butterfly might be for you.

It's available. on dvd.