Wild Orchid movie storyline. Young lawyer Emily Reed (Otis) travels to New York City for an interview with an international law firm, which immediately offers her a job on the condition that she can fly to Rio de Janeiro the following morning. Emily agrees and is introduced to Claudia Dennis (Bisset), one of the firm’s top executives. They arrive in Rio to finalize the purchase of a hotel, but angry Claudia must fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to meet the hotel’s owner.
Claudia instructs Emily to cover her date for the night. While viewing the hotel, Emily sees two locals having animalistic sex, which unnerves her and she returns to her own hotel. She meets Claudia’s date; a wealthy man named James Wheeler (Rourke). They have dinner, accompanied by James’ bodyguards.
James intrigues Emily; he is quiet and asks personal questions without being demanding or rude. After dinner, they attend a street carnival; Emily leaves after a masked man who looks like James tries to seduce her. The next morning, Emily wakes to find James watching her. He gives her a bouquet of orchids and denies making advances to her the previous evening, and as an apology, he offers to show her the city. She is initially reluctant but consents; they attend a party with a married couple that they noticed in the restaurant the night before.
Some navy sailors at the party try to make advances on the wife; James fights them and he, Emily, and the couple leave quickly in his limousine. The married couple is having marital problems because of the wife’s infidelity. She wants to reconcile with her husband. James encourages the couple to have sex in the limo, which they do. Emily finds their actions disturbing. Emily and James then visit the hotel that her firm wants to buy, and she tells James that she fears he would disappear if she touched him. When Emily hugs James, he pulls away from her, telling her that he does not like to be touched.
The married couple gives James a necklace; he gives it to Emily. That night, Emily dresses up for the carnival festivities and is propositioned by a man in a mask, who offers her the key to his room. She initially refuses the offer but James encourages her to accept. She realizes James is incapable of acting upon his own emotions and tries to experience passion through others. Emily agrees to the stranger’s proposal and has sex with him.
The next day, Claudia returns to Rio with the hotel’s owner and arranges a meeting at the airport. Emily is humiliated; Jerome (Greenwood), the owner’s attorney, is the stranger she slept with. Jerome uses this information to intimidate Emily to get a better deal for his client. Claudia discovers the truth and uses the information to threaten Jerome; if he does not complete the deal, she will tell his wife about the affair. Claudia and Emily get a very good deal.
After the meeting, Claudia asks Emily about her impressions of James. She tells Emily that James was an only child who stuttered, and is a completely self-made man. Emily says that she has become obsessed with James, but that he would never touch her. Claudia’s assistants tell her that a man bought the deed to the old hotel before the deal was finalized; both women realize it was James, who confirms it was him. Claudia is angry and decides to proceed with the hotel’s sale even though she does not own it, hoping that she will be able to circumvent James’ actions.
ld Orchid is a 1990 American erotic film directed by Zalman King and starring Mickey Rourke, Jacqueline Bisset, Carré Otis, Assumpta Serna, Bruce Greenwood, Oleg Vidov, Milton Gonçalves, Jens Peter and Bernardo Jablonski. A sequel was released in 1992 entitled Wild Orchid II: Two Shades of Blue.
It was shot in Salvador, Bahia, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. King’s original version of the film was deemed too sexually graphic for an R-rating and the MPAA threatened to release it with an X-rating, limiting its commercial potential. King reluctantly removed part of a love scene between Otis and Rourke to comply with the R-rating. The scene was widely rumored in the media to have shown the two actors—who had become romantically involved during production of the film—actually having intercourse.
Wild Orchid (1990)
Directed by: Zalman King
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Jacqueline Bisset, Carré Otis, Assumpta Serna, Bruce Greenwood, Oleg Vidov, Milton Gonçalves, Jens Peter, Bernardo Jablonski
Screenplay by: Patricia Louisiana Knopp, Zalman King
Production Design by: Carlos Conti
Cinematography by: Gale Tattersall
Film Editing by: Marc Grossman, Glenn Morgan
Costume Design by: Ileane Meltzer, Marlene Stewart
Set Decoration by: Leonardo Haertling
Art Direction by: Yeda Lewinsohn, Alexander A. Mayer
Music by: Simon Goldenberg, Geoff MacCormack
Distributed by: Entertainment Film Distributors
Release Date: April 27, 1990
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