The Hot Spot

In the mid 80's, Dennis Hopper made quite the comeback on screen in films like Blue Velvet and Hoosiers. The Easy Rider director saw this as an opportunity to make a comeback from behind the camera as well. And he did just that with the 1988 hit Colors. The movies he helmed after that however didn't attract the audiences that Colors did, but still might have been his most interesting work. I thought I would take a look back at some of those films over my next few posts. First up is 1990's The Hot Spot.

While drifting thru a sleepy little town, con man Harry Maddox, Don Johnson, takes a job as a salesman at a small car dealership. His bosses wife Dolly, Virginia Madsen, has designs on him, and against his better judgement starts up an affair with her. It doesn't help matters that Harry is attracted to the car lot's office secretary Gloria, Jennifer Connelly. Even though he is up to his eyeballs in women, Harry finds time to plan a bank robbery and also help Gloria get rid of a blackmailer. But when a jealous Dolly gets the dirt on Harry, she threatens to expose him.

This is great noir and, in my opinion, Hopper's best directorial effort. All three of the leads are great, especially Madsen who totally vamps it up as Dolly. Johnson, in a role that was originally intended for Robert Mitchum, butted heads with Hopper during filmmaking. Hopper had issues with Johnson's entourage. Madsen also butted heads with Hopper over the amount of nudity required. Hopper rounded out the supporting cast with some terrific character actors like Charles Martin Smith, William Sadler, Barry Corbin, and Jack Nance.

Even with clashing egos on set, Hopper was still able to make a smart and sexy flick. A great piece of film noir.

It's available on dvd and blu ray.