He was meant to be in "It's a Pleasure to Lose", based on the life of Nick the Greek, but instead made "Bolero" (1934), playing a dancer opposite Carole Lombard. Raft refused to do the film until it was re-written; the studio suspended him for a time but he eventually did it and the resulting movie was a big hit. The "New York Times" said "Raft is a vivid and pictorially interesting type, rather than an actor in the technical sense, and consequently he proves unequal to the full implications of the fame-hungry dancer. The exterior attractiveness which Mr. Raft brings to the rôle gives 'Bolero' considerable color, nevertheless."