The Hot Spot (1990) "I can find it in the dark"

[cigar joe]

Directed by Dennis Hopper (Colors (1988) as actor, Blue Velvet (1986), River's Edge (1986), Black Widow (1987), Red Rock West (1993), True Romance (1993)), based on a hard boiled 1952 novel "Hell Hath No Fury" by Charles Williams, with a screenplay by Charles Williams and Nona Tyson updated to 1989. Cinematography was by Ueli Steiger. An outstanding bluesy soundtrack by John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis, Taj Mahal and many others.


Sunrise


Incandescent

Wind. We see an incandescent sun rising. The gust patterns ripples on naked sand. Broiling heat, a parched desert, enveloping dunes, a topography of the bottom of an ancient evaporated ocean. A silent inferno scored by wind. Our desolate view is pierced by a fleeting raptor. But this raptor is a '50s relic, a sleek, black mechanical sled, chromium trimmed with tail fins. Genus Studebaker, Species Silver Hawk. It cruises. A mirage shimmering down a two lane blacktop. A highway being erased, swallowed by sand and sagebrush. It's driver, a drifter named Harry Madox (Johnson) occasionally stops to take a leak. Dust devils swirl across the landscape. The place Dog Dick, West Texas, the town Landers, the time 1989. So begins The Hot Spot.


A glimpse of the Hawk


Sensuous Dunes


Harry Madox, Don Johnson

The film stars Don Johnson as Harry Madox a cool, suave, shady, drifter. He's a silver tongued devil Don Juan, who makes one too many pit stops in the road movie of his life. Madox, with just C-note in his pocket, blows into Landers for gas. In short order he gets a fill up, a cool beer at a strip joint, a full eyeball of Gloria Harper, and slickers his way into a used car salesman job at Harshaw Motors.


Dog Dick, West Texas


The Hawk and Madox


Madox having a beer at the Yellow Rose with Jack Nance as Julian Ward


a vision of innocence


Harshaw (Jerry Hardin ) and Gulick (Charles Martin Smith)

Jerry Hardin bulls about as George Harshaw a town big shot, a wheeler dealer businessman and used car czar. Charles Martin Smith nails Lon Gulick a nebbish, numbnuts used car salesman, in the kind of part that in Classic Noir would have been reserved for Elisha Cook Jr. or Strother Martin. Jack Nance (Blue Velvet (1986), Barfly (1987), Wild At Heart (1990), Lost Highway (1997)) is Julian Ward a goofy, frail, bank manager by day and a salacious tittie bar lounge lizard by night. Barry Corbin plays the Sheriff.


Jennifer Connelly as Gloria Harper

Jennifer Connelly (Once Upon A Time In America (1984), Mulholland Falls (1996), Dark City (1998) Requiem For A Dream (2000)), plays the sweet nineteen year old Gloria Harper a doe eyed, demure, damsel in distress. She's the townie girl next door with a past. Frank Sutton (William Sadler) is an oily sidewinder who scratches out a living at his backwoods shack doing Landscaping, Oil Field Service, Deer Processing. He's a squirrel eating, desert pack rat, dirtbag.


Desert Rat Frank Sutton (William Sadler)


Sutton  with Gloria


A slick squirrel eatin' blackmailing dirtbag

Sutton, an amateur photographer, is also supplementing his income slinking about as a window peeper and voyeur taking nudie pics and beaver shots of the members of Landers Ladies Club making him a squirrel eating, desert pack rat, BLACKMAILING dirtbag.




Sutton's blackmail photos


Dolly Hardshaw (Virginia Madsen) about to pounce on Harry


Harry and Gloria watching Dolly


Dolly the tease

Virginia Madsen torches this hicksville down as Dolly Harshaw the round heels trophy wife of George.  She's a split tail, sausage jocky, that cruises the main drag in a hot pink 59 Caddy convertible passing out nookie tickets everywhere she goes. As soon as Dolly sees Harry she's dripping ready to play hide the salami.

Continued....

[cigar joe]

continuing....


Dolly Harshaw: There's only two things to do in this town. You got a TV?
Harry Madox: Nope.
Dolly Harshaw: Well then, you're down to one. Lotsa luck!

Only Harry, an accomplished ass wrangler, has already been scoping out his drilling prospects with Gloria. Giving Dolly the impression that she's getting the brush for Gloria sets up a classic "hell hath no fury as a woman scorned" plot point. Dolly doubles down on her seduction of Harry who's all to happy to do the tube steak boogie with her while chipping away at Gloria. Dolly invites Harry to visit after dark.


Dolly's Lair Sex Game Sequence







While all this burying the bone with Dolly is going on at night, Harry is scheming during the day about robbing the Landers bank. You see back when Harry was a "just got in town Jasper" there was a fire at the local burger joint. The whole town went to watch, and the tellers were all volunteer firemen leaving the bank empty save for Julian Ward (Nance) the manager who was taking a dump. Harry had stepped in to open an account, and talky Julian revealed that they hadn't hooked up the surveillance system yet. From that day on Harry began cooking up a plan to set another fire and clean out the cash.


Empty bank


Julian Ward with a copy of Juggs Magazine emerges from the bank restroom

As Harry gets closer to Gloria gaining her confidence, she reveals that her step sister recently committed suicide the result of Sutton discovering that she had a lesbian relationship with a town teacher and was threatening to tell her mother and the School Board. On top of all that, Sutton also took candid photos of Gloria and her sister skinny dipping together, and implying that Gloria was also in a lesbian relationship with her sister and that he "could just imagine what them two were doing together all those nights they were in their shared bedroom".


Sisters

Harry's actions with Gloria leaves Dolly stewing and she begins upping the ante with more sex. One night Harry, all steamed up, leaves the Yellow Rose and passes by the car lot. Dolly is lying in wait in the backseat of one of her husband's sedans displaying to Harry everything she's got and looking for some tongue in groove action.

Back Seat Action Sequence







On another occasion Dolly sets up a rendezvous at an old defunct sawmill, for a session of "lust in the sawdust." Harry succeeds at freeing Gloria from Sutton"s clutches but at a terrible price. As in the best Noirs events go spiraling out of control for Harry. Dolly proves to be more than his match, she's better and more ruthless at it, and in the end they both reach their own level. Torrid sex, lustful losers, sleazy insinuations, along the highway of broken dreams. Bravo Dennis 9/10

Noirsville

[dave jenkins]

Joe, you're really selling me on this! 

[noodles_leone]

How many of these neo noir have they done in the 90's? I need to clear some time to check out quite a few of them.

[cigar joe]

How many of these neo noir have they done in the 90's? I need to clear some time to check out quite a few of them.

Here's my list for the 90s 89 through 2001 some are on the cusp Neo Noir but 33 so far

Kill Me Again (1989)
The Grifters (1990)
The Kill-Off (1990)
The Hot Spot (1990)
Wild At Heart (1990)
Impulse (1990)
Dick Tracy (1990)
Delicatessen (1991)
Delusion (1991)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
Romeo Is Bleeding (1993)
True Romance (1993)
The Wrong Man (1993)
The Last Seduction (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Blink (1994)
Se7en (1995)
Fargo (1996)
Mulholland Falls (1996)
Hit Me (1996)
Jackie Brown (1997)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Lost Highway (1997)
This World, Then the Fireworks (1997)
Dark City (1998)
A Simple Plan (1998)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Payback (1999)
Night Train (1999)
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
Mulholland Drive (2001)

[titoli]

One of those movies which take their time in  getting to the point. In facts, it could have lasted another couple of hours, when it could have been better with half a hour cut (most of the sex or schmaltz scenes with the two women). I had to watch it in two sessions. But it proves that Hopper was a better director than an actor (not that it took much). Madsen plays the role of femme fatale as one set to ape the femme fatales seen at  movies. So one is never certain if she does it on purpose or not.  In both cases she's not convincing and looks ridiculous. Connelly plays Connelly. Johnson is good. I'll check the novel 7/10 

[dave jenkins]

Here's my list for the 90s 89 through 2001 some are on the cusp Neo Noir but 33 so far

Kill Me Again (1989)
The Grifters (1990)
The Kill-Off (1990)
The Hot Spot (1990)
Wild At Heart (1990)
Impulse (1990)
Dick Tracy (1990)
Delicatessen (1991)
Delusion (1991)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
Romeo Is Bleeding (1993)
True Romance (1993)
The Wrong Man (1993)
The Last Seduction (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Blink (1994)
Se7en (1995)
Fargo (1996)
Mulholland Falls (1996)
Hit Me (1996)
Jackie Brown (1997)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Lost Highway (1997)
This World, Then the Fireworks (1997)
Dark City (1998)
A Simple Plan (1998)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Payback (1999)
Night Train (1999)
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
Mulholland Drive (2001)

Uh . . . Red Rock West? U-Turn? Devil in a Blue Dress? The Underneath?

[cigar joe]

Uh . . . Red Rock West? U-Turn? Devil in a Blue Dress? The Underneath?

Yea, It's an early list when I was just adding films, agree about Red Rock West,  U-Turn, Devil in a Blue Dress. The Underneath I didn't care for, it didn't click enough with me, a very pale remake of Criss Cross. I also left out The Public Eye (1992) but I want to watch it again before I add it.

Kill Me Again (1989)
The Grifters (1990)
The Kill-Off (1990)
The Hot Spot (1990)
Wild At Heart (1990)
Impulse (1990)
Dick Tracy (1990)
Delicatessen (1991)
Delusion (1991)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
Romeo Is Bleeding (1993)
True Romance (1993)
The Wrong Man (1993)
Red Rock West (1993)
The Last Seduction (1994)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Blink (1994)
Se7en (1995)
Devil In A Blue Dress (1995)
Fargo (1996)
Mulholland Falls (1996)
Hit Me (1996)
Jackie Brown (1997)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Lost Highway (1997)
This World, Then the Fireworks (1997)
U Turn (1997)
Dark City (1998)
A Simple Plan (1998)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Payback (1999)
Night Train (1999)
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
Mulholland Drive (2001)

[dave jenkins]

Jackie Brown (1997)

Well, if you're going to include this, why not the other two Elmore Leonard adaptations that together with JB form a semi-official trilogy: Get Shorty and Out of Sight? (You'll recall that JB and OoS even have a character in common, played by Michael Keaton).

[cigar joe]

Well, if you're going to include this, why not the other two Elmore Leonard adaptations that together with JB form a semi-official trilogy: Get Shorty and Out of Sight? (You'll recall that JB and OoS even have a character in common, played by Michael Keaton).

How Visually Noir-ish are they? I haven't seen them in a while, they don't stick out in my memory.

[dave jenkins]

How visually noir-ish is Jackie Brown? The template for that film is Blaxploitation (plus a nod to The Graduate at the beginning).

[cigar joe]

How visually noir-ish is Jackie Brown? The template for that film is Blaxploitation (plus a nod to The Graduate at the beginning).

It clicked more than the other two mentioned but it's pretty borderline noir-ish.  I remember the ending sequence and the sequence at night with Ordell with the shotgun and the car. There may be more but I'd have to watch it again.

[T.H.]

It's like Night Moves in some way in which the idea for the ending looks much better on paper and isn't executed all that well.

It's been some time since I've seen this but the pace is way, way off. I agree with Titoli in that it easily could lose a half hour.