Butterfly from 1982

History: Butterfly is a 1982 film directed by Matt Cimber, based on the 1947 novel The Butterfly by James M. Cain. The starring cast includes Stacy Keach, Pia Zadora, Ed McMahon, and Orson Welles. The original music score was composed by Ennio Morricone. The film was financed by Pia Zadora's husband, Israeli multimillionaire Meshulam Riklis, at an estimated cost of US$2,000,000.
The movie was almost universally panned by film critics. It received 10 nominations for the 1982 Golden Raspberry Awards including "Worst Picture", with Pia Zadora winning "Worst Actress" and "Worst New Star", and Ed McMahon winning "Worst Supporting Actor". Nevertheless, Zadora won "Best Female Newcomer" at the Golden Globes for her role, over Elizabeth McGovern and Kathleen Turner. This occurred after her husband flew members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to Las Vegas to watch Pia sing, producing accusations that the award had been "bought".This English language movie was filmed in color and ran for 108 minutes. It received a MPAA rating of R.

"Butterfly" is a film that seems to be generally disliked by most who watch it. I have never seen much more than a few glimpses of it as a kid, only sneaking a peek as it was one of those films that my parents forbid me to see. Growing up I knew it had some sort of history behind it, but never really bothered to look it up...until now.Now with the history lesson done, I still don't know if the film is as bad as some say it is. Perhaps I'll try to track it down one day (it's still not on DVD that I'm aware of) and give it a shot. One thing not up for debate though is the wonderful soundtrack by Ennio Morricone. It's your typically beautiful score that you would expect from the Maestro. The final track "It's Wrong For Me To Love You" is sung by Pia Zadora and I suppose could be another topic of debate, but I think she does a good job. To be honest though, I think even I might sound decent with Morricone backing me up.