Independent Films, Film Profiles

A Night in Heaven
by John G. Avildsen

A Night in Heaven is a 1983 romance film directed by John G. Avildsen, starring Christopher Atkins as a college student and Lesley Ann Warren as his professor. The screenplay is written by Joan Tewkesbury; film critics widely panned the movie. The original music score is composed by Jan Hammer, and features two songs that would later be huge pop hits. "Heaven", re-released in 1985, would become Bryan Adams' first American number one song. An early version of the song "Obsession" by its co-writers, Holly Knight and Michael Des Barres, would also be re-released in 1985, and become the biggest hit for Animotion.Christopher Atkins plays Rick Monroe, a jock and a popular guy in college in Orlando, Florida; he is outspoken and overconfident. Lesley Ann Warren plays Faye Hanlon, Rick's speech professor; she is prim and proper. At the end of his final report for his class, Rick cracks a joke and Faye is not amused. She decides to fail him and make him take the course over again.Faye is going through a slump in her marriage to Whitney (Robert Logan), a rocket scientist who has just lost his job. Faye's free-spirited sister Patsy, visiting from out of town, takes her to a strip club to cheer her up. The show features a performer called "Ricky the Rocket," who is none other than Faye's student Rick. When he notices Faye in the crowd, he gives her a very special lap dance.The next day, Faye and Rick run into each other at a school function. Initially, Rick is interested only in convincing Faye to allow him another chance at his final and is rebuffed. He realizes that she is attracted to him and begins flirting.Faye arranges to meet Patsy near her hotel, only to discover that she has been tricked into seeing another performance by "Ricky the Rocket."Patsy must return home a day early, so she turns over use of her hotel room to Faye, who calls Whitney and lies that she and Patsy are staying at Patsy's hotel together. Coincidentally, Rick's mother works in the same hotel, and while visiting his mother, Rick runs into Faye again; they return to Faye's room and have sex. Faye must leave and in her absence, Rick invites his girlfriend Slick to the room where they have sex. Faye catches them in the shower and, humiliated, flees; she realizes that she's been had.Whitney, returning home from an unsuccessful job interview, discovers that Patsy has gone home. Whitney travels to the hotel and catches Rick as he's exiting. Whitney kidnaps Rick at gunpoint; he takes Rick to a boat at a small dock and forces him to strip. Rick, sobbing, complies. Whitney threatens Rick repeatedly but in the end only shoots holes in the boat, leaving a naked Rick aboard as it sinks.Faye returns home to find Whitney waiting for her; she apologizes and he forgives her. At the end, the couple talk about their problems and resolve them.