Flashback

Dennis Hopper is one of my favorite actor's. I was too young to appreciate him during his Easy Rider youth, but I really got into his work during my teens. This was when he was making a comeback in films like Rumble Fish, My Science Project, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Hoosiers, River's Edge, and my personal favorite, Blue Velvet. Hopper was on a hot streak. But with classics like Hoosiers and Blue Velvet, it's easy for some of his other great work to be forgotten. Case in point, the 1990 action comedy Flashback.

Hopper plays Huey Walker, a 1960's radical in the mode of Abbie Hoffman. Back in the late 60's, he played a harmless prank on then Vice President Spiro Agnew which puts him on the FBI's most wanted list. He goes into hiding for the next 20 years till the FBI finally captures him. Assigned to escort Walker cross country for his trial is John Buckner, Kiefer Sutherland, a young, uptight agent.

Buckner transports him by train, which gives Huey the opportunity to trick Buckner into thinking that Huey has drugged him. During this chaos, Huey steals Buckners clothes and assumes his identity. They have a short layover and he hands Buckner over to a corrupt, local sheriff, Cliff DeYoung, and plans to escape. When two, hippy wannabees, Michael McKean and Richard Masur, botch this for him, Huey and Buckner find themselves together again and on the run from the sherrif. A former flower child, Carol Kane, gives them solace in her commune while they plan their next move. The two begin to bond and realize that they have more in common than they think.

Hopper seems to be havng a lot of fun with his role and it was a nice change of pace from the heavier roles he was doing at the time. He and Sutherland work well together too. Kane, McKean, and Masur add a lot of humor and DeYoung plays his creepy role well. The film was directed by Italian legend Franco Amurri. It's kind of strange that this guy, who at one time was Fellinni's right hand man chose this as his American debut. What's even stranger is that he followed it up with Monkey Trouble. He does a great job with it.

Flashback is available on dvd and is streaming on Amazon Prime now. It is a funny flick that deserves a look.

I would also like to give a shout out to Scott and Jennifer Surface, who saw this on one of their first dates and are still together 25 years later. That's the power of the Hopper I guess.