The Hot Spot [DVD] [1990]

The hot shot (not to be confused with the hot spot, which is located...well, on the person of Dolly Harshaw, as you'll see) is Harry Madox (Don Johnson) who has just arrived in Podunk, Texas. What he's hot about is selling used cars and bedding floosies. He scans the small town scene to see what's available. He's a hunk with a gift of the macho and an ability to move clunkers off the lot. What he finds is the used car lot of George Harshaw (Jerry Hardin) in need of a salesman. George has a bad heart and a young and sexy wife, the aforementioned Dolly Harshaw (Virginia Madsen, who once played in a movie called "Zombie High" or "The High School that Ate My Brain"). She's a woman who always gets what she wants, and once she sets her rapacious eyes on Harry, Harry is what she wants.

Harry has other plans however. There's this bank in town that he just happens into as there's a fire going down the street. The bank is wide open and there's nobody there but this blind old black guy and the bank manager. Seems that the surveillance system isn't working and what's more all the tellers are off fighting the fire because they all belong to the volunteer fire department. This gives Harry ideas.

One more complication. Doing the books for George is Gloria Harper (Jennifer Connelly at 19) looking about as tasty as pie a la mode and as ripe as a peach about to fall off the tree. Harry soon discovers that she is as sweet as Tupelo honey and nearly as innocent as a small town girl can be with one strange problem. It seems that a country degenerate named Frank Sutton (William Sadler) has got some kind of hold on her.

So what we have here is a setting for film noir circa 1990 done up in color with a lot of upper body and tail end nudity and plenty of steamy sex. Will Harry pull off the bank job and retire to the Caribbean? Or will he put on George's shoes and service the very serviceable Mrs. H? Or will he succumb to the charms of Gloria? Or will he end up afoul of the local law or meet foul play at the hands of Frank Sutton? Stay tuned. I know I did even though this is not exactly a masterpiece.

Top three reasons to see this diversion are:

(1) Virginia Madsen, who is as hot as the barrel of an AK-47 as it unloads with a mind devious enough to delight the devil himself.

(2) Jennifer Connelly, who is pretty enough to awaken the libido of the dead.

(3) The nice twist at the end in which we learn that life has a certain perverse logic to it, proving that the hero may not get what he wants, but hey, things could be worse.

I guess I should also mention the direction of Dennis Hopper who has garnered over 200 film credits in a career going back to the fifties. Can you believe he played in the classic teen angst film Rebel Without a Cause from 1955? Here he just panders shamelessly to the prurient interest of the audience while moving the action along at a spritely pace.

One problem for today's sophisticated viewer: beware of being overcome with a constant stream of cigarette smoke. I mean, did the tobacco industry front the cash for this?

It is really worth to spend two hours for watching this strong drama. I had seen it before on a French channel and I enjoyed, and I watched it again recently in England and I enjoyed again.

The director Dennis Hopper is known for his film cult 'Easy Rider'. The Hot Spot, as a Film Neo-Noir, is although very different from Easy Rider in its style and its story.

A man drives into a small Texas town that seems to be very quiet. However too many dirty plots of sex, money and murder are happening here and along all the film you will be asking yourself
-'So who is good (if anyone) and who is bad?'
-'Who is right and who is wrong?'
-'Who is reliable and who is not?'.....

This moral ambiguity is one of the characteristics of Film Noir. Another main ingrediants of Film Noir is that, whether 'good' or 'bad', the female characters have in hand the destiny of the male characters.
Enjoy!

great acting from all the actors & good story line & good music choice my kind of film loved it