激情沸点

Dennis Hopper’s side hustle as a movie director is sporadic and overshadowed by his prolific credits and versatility in front of the camera (we shall never forget he is also the helmer of EASY RIDER, 1969). THE HOT SPOT, the penultimate feature film he directs, didn’t set the world on fire when it was released. It is a slow-burning neo-noir fantasy showered in dramatically saturated hues, a mixture of THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946), BODY HEAT (1981), DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) that highlight a femme fatale with her hapless prey of the opposite sex, its source is a Charles Williams’ hardboiled novel that dates back to 1953.

Our antihero Harry Madox (Johnson) is so level-headed that not for a minute, can he be fooled by Dolly Harshaw (Madsen), the wife of his boss George Harshaw (Hardin). He knows she is a trouble at the glance, but it takes one to know one. There is no smoke and mirrors in Dolly’s wiles, she is an open book, she wants Harry because they are cut from the same cloth. A woman like Dolly cannot survive without a man in her life, so she carefully chooses a virile Harry as George’s successor, the only hurdle is, Harry thinks he deserves better, manages to sweep the feet of a 19-year-old girl Gloria Harper (Connelly), whose purity seems inviolable, he plans to marry her and start a new life somewhere else (interestingly, the connotation that Gloria might be swinging both ways doesn’t seem to bother him at all).

Were it not for his ambition, Harry might have a chance to wangle his holy grail, a drifter with no past fetching up in a small Texas town, Harry is conferred with the gift of gab, but he is not satisfied to live on the straight and narrow as a used car salesman, after carrying off an ill-conceived (and ridiculously easy) bank robbery, the local sheriff (and by extension, almost everyone around him) is much smarter than he reckons, his fate is sealed.

But just when feminine manipulation and masculine misogyny reach the boiling point near the end, tragedy seems ineluctable, Hopper asserts himself as a mischievous nonconformist, the send-off takes a u-turn and any attempt of moralization is dispelled. Dolly always gets what she wants, unlike Matty Walker in BODY HEAT, who also gets what she wants, Dolly has no disguise, she doesn’t pull wools over Harry’s eyes, and their tryst is also for her pleasure, she is unapologetically true to herself and her evilness has grits in it. Madsen arouses us with stunning sultriness, along with her discordant southern accent; Johnson is so singularly hard-nosed, when he fights off a sleazy deadbeat in the person of William Sadler, the type once he leeches off on you, he will not let you off the hook, you dread he doesn’t pull punches, and Sadler certainly knows how to take a beating and play a stiff convincingly. Connelly, on the cusp of adulthood, is as gorgeous as hell albeit Gloria doesn’t necessarily belong to that milieu, she is a lady!

On the minus side, THE HOT SPOT is weighed down by a lackluster tempo, especially during the first half, and a slapdash reveal (Gloria’s change of heart is noticeably contrived). Also it becomes quite conspicuous that Hopper’s characters’ sense of perception is delimited within the frame, imagine after Harry kisses Gloria good night, he turns back, a police officer standing just beside the frame, where is everybody’s peripheral vision?

Lastly, the icing on the cake is its soundtrack, scored by Jack Nitzsche with a potpourri of dazzling jazz tunage. THE HOT SPOT might not be a chef d’oeuvre, but for it is worth, the “hotness” is there from A to Z.

referential entries: Lawrence Kasdan’s BODY HEAT (1981, 7.9/10); Tay Garnett’s THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946, 6.4/10); Billy Wilder's DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944, 8.2/10).

Title: The Hot Spot

Year: 1990

Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance

Country: USA

Language: English

Director: Dennis Hopper

Screenwriters: Nona Tyson, Charles Williams

based on Williams’ novel “Hell Hath No Fury”

Music: Jack Nitzsche

Cinematography: Ueli Steiger

Editing: Wende Phifer Mate

Cast:

Don Johnson

Virginia Madsen

Jennifer Connelly

William Sadler

Charles Martin Smith

Jerry Hardin

Jack Nance

Barry Corbin

Rating: 7.1/10

我第1次看到大概是96年前后，二十几年来，津津有味地重温过4─5遍，一直认为应该打9分以上！ 本片像一首散文诗： 生活像一条河，有的时候波澜不惊静水流深，有的时候波澜起伏惊涛拍岸。生活流的电影，一张一弛，张弛有度…… 大手笔大师气派，才能绷得住Hold得住！ 流窜犯光顾前，小镇似乎一潭死水却也岁月静好。他跑来了，搞出些金钱色情暴力的事情，好像巨石被推山崖，疯狂滚动起来、呼啸而去，俨然不受任何人的控制，…… 没多久，流窜犯像猎物一样被老板娘带走，一切烟消云散，又好像什么都没有发生过。 与此同时，本片富含哲理： 简而言之，主题（作者通过作品表达的理念、观念、根本性规律性的认识或者观点等等，主要的题旨）是什么呢？我想导演想说的是，人要有自知之明，没有金刚钻就不要揽瓷器活，是什么段位的只能大概站在什么位置做点什么事情。 具体来看：自作聪明、故作潇洒的流窜犯，不期而遇老谋深算又不择手段的老板娘，斗智斗勇后束手无策，认识到自己只配当小弟，连自身命运都把握不住，更左右不了人家，…… 服了，被她收走了。 （流窜犯明白了自己有多少分量，在老板娘眼里是个什么角色；不用多久，他也会被老板娘丢弃的。两人的交手，不仅让他对老板娘折服，更让他对自己有了更准确的评价，对自己的将来有了更恰当的判断──骄、娇二气丧失殆尽，自信心倍受打击，今后可能会像车行的那位混混同事一样得过且过。）

值得看的电影往往分成两种，一种是雅俗共赏的高质量电影，另一种则是赏心悦目的高颜值电影，本片显然属于后者，相信观看的绝大多数都是慕詹妮弗.康纳利之名而来的，19岁的詹妮弗颜值逆天，身材炸裂，果然是惊艳了一个时代的女神。 影片中的男主属于上辈子拯救过银河系的光环男人，杀人、放火、抢劫无恶不作，却总能逢凶化吉，并得到善终，更过分的是艳福无边，两位女主，一个负责纯，一个负责骚，都被男主拿捏七寸，清纯玉女为他舍身取爱，蛇蝎美人更为他弑夫夺财，这是典型后现代主义的杰克苏，地球都在为他公转。 当然，影片最大的看点还是两位风情万种的女人都为了电影轻解罗裳，倩影留痕，胶片帮忙记录下了她们最美好的时光。因此，本来常规的及格电影，为了高颜值加颗星！

男主Harry和荡妇Ms Harshaw的价值观是一样的——人生要得到想要的，这可能是他们最后走在一起的原因，当然，男主是被迫的！！！洗车工Lon的价值观是三思而后行，很有哲理。荡妇和混子Sutton一直都有一腿，直到最后看到荡妇脸上有划痕才得以证实，之前有几处伏笔：混子之前在卖车行工作过，而荡妇经常勾引新员工。荡妇和混子的消息是互通的，证明有往来。男主误会跟混子上床的是他喜欢的Gloria，因为房间里有一双同样的鞋和500美元——前面也有伏笔，荡妇说她也有那样的鞋。

Harry最后和Gloria一起去见荡妇，开门的时候，男主看到Gloria脚上的鞋和荡妇脸上的划痕，就瞬间明白荡妇跟混子有一腿，前一天晚上那个女的不是Gloria，而是荡妇！但男主被荡妇抓住把柄，又不能杀死她，因为如果她死了，律师就会把复印的证据交给警方，男主就会进监狱。男主只能眼睁睁地看着荡妇把Gloria气走。男主知道荡妇会为了得到他不择手段，他笑了，也许是因为荡妇真的做到了让他向她求饶，他之前不相信。男主知道自己摆脱不了，但看到他们身上的共同点，就从了荡妇。

而Gloria，单纯的19岁女生，这么容易就喜欢上一个不明来历的男人……要学会保护自己啊！

另，我詹美爆！！！永远爱你！！！

黑色罪案阴谋情色片。男主罪犯来到一个小镇，利用自己布局的一场火灾，偷偷去银行抢了钱。但是男主所在二手车店老板老婆为他提供不在场证据，男主得以脱身。他为了自己喜欢的清纯女孩杀了经常威胁她男子，但是没有想到都是二手店老板娘布的局。

男主来到一个小镇在一个二手车店里因为很会卖车，被老板留下卖车。老板的老婆看到他，就想勾搭他，利用他送个帽子，和男主好了。但是男主没有这么好被俘虏，他喜欢上了同时店里的出纳女孩。一次和出纳女孩出去要债，发现出纳女孩怕这个债主，原来女孩为了给家里人治病，亏空了店里的钱，但是被这个欠债的男人知道了，就常常威胁她要钱。二手车老板娘喜欢上男主后，就常常纠缠。但是男主来是有目的的，他利用闹钟设置了一个自动起火的装置，把一个地方烧了，趁大家关心火势，跑进他侦查过的银行。把守卫绑了，然后拿了钱准备跑。但是他看到出纳女孩在，还看到有人因为火遇险，他没有办法，跑进火场救出了被火困住的人。这样让出纳女孩好感了，就约男主一起出去游泳。同时警察开始怀疑男主，因为他一开始不在火场，这时恰巧银行被抢了，而且一个在银行的盲人，也听出了他的呼吸声。走投无路的时候，二手车老板娘打电话来，做了男主的不在场证人，男主得以释放。男主为了报恩，又和老板娘好了一下，觉得她有手段，很黑暗，与自己是同一类人。女主提出让男主去害死自己老公，男主没有同意。但是出纳女孩说欠债的人用男主来要挟她，男主为了她跑去把欠债人痛扁一顿。欠债人不依不饶，跑来用男主的罪行挑衅男主，男主想去嫁祸欠债人，却发现欠债人房里传出喘息声，男主跑去一看，发现欠债人正在快活，男主冲进去，女方跑了，留下了出纳女孩的一双鞋子。欠债人反抗，男主用枪杀了欠债人，伪造了现场，把抢来的钱放在欠债桌上，警方发现后，认为是欠债人犯的罪案，就告诉男主没事了。男主准备和出纳女孩双宿双栖，却接到了老板娘的电话，到了老板娘家里，老板娘把两个人的老底全部揭穿了出来，女孩愤然逃走，男主要杀死老板娘，但是最后撒了手，因为他觉得老板娘才是工于心计，了解自己的人，也是自己需要的人，将来浪迹江湖，还是老板娘比较好共路，所以他和老板娘浪迹江湖去了。

出纳女孩美得动人心魄，面孔立体，美轮美奂。老板娘也不差，而且我觉得是和男主一样心胸黑暗，心怀很多事情的人，应该是男主需要的，可以共事，可以一起闯江湖的人。男主在最后应该是搞明白了，圣女是美丽动人，动人心魄，但是对自己的工作生活没有帮助，所以不是共路的人。而面前这个面目可憎的人虽然可恶，但是她知道男主的喜好，可以体会男主的意图，可以在他危难的时刻救助他，还经常有后招，是个利害角色，男主是需要她的。况且老板娘有颜有身材，还很有情趣，男主从内心深处应该也是喜欢的。老板娘有点莎朗斯通的既视感，很魅惑，很诱人。