Backtrack
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Movie Reviews of Backtrack
Movie Review: A minor disappointment
Summary: 3 Stars
I had seen the movie before and thought the story to be off-beat and quirky enough to be enjoyable. However, I was curious why the DVD version seemed to have been abbreviated. By my recollection, you saw a little more of Jodie Foster preparing for her shower scene, a lot more of her in lingerie in a motel room with Dennis Hopper and the original final scenes included an exchange between Fred Ward and a departing Vincent Price that is not on the DVD. Again, if my memory is correct, the apparent editing was a bit disappointing.Movie Review: WARNING!
Summary: 3 Stars
A word to the wise from one who got burned: the Artisan DVD release is the expurgated cut. The story makes no sense once they've trimmed the Jodie/Dennis sex scenes, so don't buy it. Shame on Artisan.Movie Review: Gimme a break
Summary: 2 Stars
BACKTRACK is unbelievably dopey. Its only redeeming factor is that Jodie Foster shows an eye-popping amount of flesh - and it's no body double. And what a great set of legs! That's why I'm awarding two stars, one for each gam, which just goes to show the sophistication level of the film (AND my review of it).Anne Benton (Foster) is a "conceptual artist", which means, in the wacky Southern California milieu in which she has her gallery, she creates pieces using message board displays. You know, those where one line of illuminated text moves right to left across a long and narrow screen. Anyway, one night after experiencing a flat tire on the freeway, she witnesses a mob hit on the premises of an oil refinery. (For those LA viewers, it's the one just off the 405 south of LAX where the freeway curves to the east above Palos Verdes.) Like a good citizen, she goes to the police, who realize that they have in Benton a valuable witness against organized crime, and specifically against Big Boss Mr. Avoca (Vincent Price). But after her apartment is invaded and her boyfriend (a quickly expendable Charlie Sheen) shot to death, Anne realizes neither the cops nor the Feds can protect her, so she flees town and establishes a new identity and career. To hunt her down, mob goodfella Leo Carelli (Joe Pesci) hires the saxophone-playing assassin Milo (Dennis Hopper), who tracks her across the West using computer databases. The thing is, he begins to obsess about Anne after finding photos of her (un)dressed in dominatrix accessories. Milo has issues.
The plot has a Keystone Cops quality as law enforcement seeks to retrieve Benton by following Milo. And after the latter severs communication with his employers in favor of his own agenda of infatuation, Leo's thugs go after Milo and Anne by following the cops. Even then, the storyline might've been redeemable if it hadn't taken such a Bonnie and Clyde twist, and the conclusion (at that same refinery) is positively ludicrous.
Hopper as Milo is almost the caricature of a mob hit man. Where did he get those clothes, that hat, and that accent? And speaking of accents, Leo's lawyer John Luponi (Dean Stockwell) has to be one of the most over-acted roles in recent memory. If it didn't get a Razzie Award, it should've.
Perhaps even the cast realized what a disaster BACKTRACK is. Joe Pesci, whose role is not insignificant, isn't even listed on the ending credits. I wonder if he tried to buy up all the prints?
A dedicated Jodie fan will perhaps wax rhapsodic over her nude shower scene. Beyond that, don't bother.
Movie Review: BUYERS BEWARE
Summary: 2 Stars
READ ALL REVIEWS BEFORE YOU BUY. If I had taken the time to read the warning about the cut DVD version, I never would have bought this DVD. Too late schmart. It's a hatchet job. Very sad and SO maddening that an intriguing film in which one could luxuriate has been turned into a goofy trivialization. And I can't return it because I've opened it.Movie Review: Good cast but horrible script -- a real waste of talent!
Summary: 1 Stars
I expected to like this quirky 1990s film. It's directed by Dennis Hopper and has a list of great actors and an intriguing theme. A woman artist witnesses a Mafia murder and goes to the police. However, she recognizes one of the cops as one of the hit men and goes on the run. The bad guys want her dead and even hire their own hit man who becomes obsessed with her. That's the kind of story I like, especially as Jodie Forster is cast as the woman and Dennis Hopper is cast as the hit man. Also in the cast are Dean Stockwell as the crocked cop, Bobby Dillon as a fellow artist, John Tuturro and Tony Sirico (Paulie on of The Sopranos fame) as mobsters, and there's even a cameo by Vincent Price.
My expectations for this film didn't pay off, however. From the very beginning, when Jodie Foster's car breaks down and she witnesses the mob hit, I found myself annoyed. There she was, leaving her car, wearing high heels and a skimpy dress and not even carrying a purse. Later, it was just too easy for her to change her identity. She went to a cemetery, found a gravestone of a woman who would have been her age, and applied for a birth certificate and a social security card. Also, the technology of the time (1990) was certainly not sophisticated enough for Dennis Hopper to go to a computer screen and track her identity change.
All the characters came across as exaggerated comic strip caracatures and I found myself laughing out loud when they tried to be serious. Perhaps this was the director's intention, but the film just couldn't hold my attention. I wanted to turn it off after ten minutes but hoped it would get better. Somehow I watched for another forty minutes before ejecting the DVD disk with disgust at such a waste of talent.
If you've never heard of this film I can well understand why. It was simply a dud. I have only one thing to say about this film. Forget about it!