The Hot Spot (1990) User Reviews

A very good Don Johnson movie and performance. Really, it is!

[korch-3 · 7/10 · 24 October 2001]

If you are like me, you might have turned on HBO late the other night, and thought.... "Damn, a Don Johnson movie". Luckily I gave this film a chance and found a real winner. Don's performance is not just good, but I think it is his best ever. Jennifer Connelly is just perfect in the role of the frail and beautiful girl next door. But Virginia Madsen steals the show. She is that woman you just love to hate, but just can't keep your hands off of. Just watch the flick to see what I mean.

As the credits rolled across the screen at the end, I realized that Dennis Hopper directed this "Red Rocks West" like film. No wonder I enjoyed it. I give it a solid 7 out of 10.

Don J. at his finest

[xredgarnetx · 7/10 · 6 May 2008]

HOT SPOT is what Virginia Madsen calls her loins, dear ones. Don Johnson does his best to keep them cooled them off but he has trouble keeping up with her, especially since Don has his eye on the luscious and very young Jennifer Connelly. Don plays a drifter who picks up a job at a used car lot in a small Texas town. He soon finds himself bedding the owner's absolutely insatiable wife. And he is soon working on the oh-so innocent Connelly. The lusty trio is ably supported by such veteran character actors as Jerry Hardin, Jack Nance and Barry Corbin, and this his hot-as-hell, steamy production was directed by none other than Dennis Hopper. A great film for adults. The ending is a classic. I wonder how much fun the notorious lothario Johnson had while filming this, since he spends a lot of screen time in the arms of Madsen and Connelly, both of whom are at the top of their form.

There's only two things to do in this town. You got a TV?

[lastliberal · 6/10 · 18 April 2008]

OK, quick, name a Don Johnson movie. No, you can't say Miami Vice or Nash bridges, as they are TV shows. Honestly, I could only think of one: Tin Cup, Now, I have two burned into my memory.

And, burn is the appropriate term as this movie is hot! Johnson plays a bank robber, con man, and drifter that pops into a Southern town at just the right moment. He lands smack dab in-between Virginia Madsen, who gave us one of the last views of her extremely hot body; and Jennifer Connelly, a bi-sexual beauty that was skimming from the company, and who also gave us lots to cheer about.

What a choice! Johnson tends to gravitate towards Connelly, as Madsen is, after all, married to his boss, but that's a minor detail that can be taken care of in a manner that most of us would thoroughly enjoy.

Yes, there is a bank robbery, and a murder thrown in, along with some blackmail and trying to stay one step ahead of the Sheriff (Barry Corbin), but it is not the reason you would watch this film.

If you don't have a TV, there is only one other thing to do. Oh, Yes.

Good character study, greed and deception will always get you in trouble!

[TxMike · 14 July 2000]

I always suspected that director Dennis Hopper is a "dirty old man" and this movie confirms that. "The Hot Spot" has quite a bit of erotic nudity and not fleeting scenes, but lots of it! The full chest shot of 19-yr-old Jennifer Connelly was quite remarkable!

Don Johnson plays a smart drifter who can sells cars, rob banks, and get the women. His whole life is basically a series of scams. But he meets Jennifer Connelly's character and begins to really care. However, she is being blackmailed by the local scumbag while Johnson's character is being actively chased by his boss's sultry wife! He almost gets on top of it all... almost, when his world grips him by the gonads as never before. And everybody lives unhappily ever after! :-)

Some have said the movie has no meaning, every one is bad. But that isn't true. Much like "The Talented Mr Ripley" does, this movie shows that dishonesty will ultimately be repaid, many times over, with grief.

My favorite line was right before the best "fight scene" I think I've seen. Scumbag says to Johnson's character, "So you think you're the tough guy." Johnson's character replies, "No, you're the tough guy. I'm much worse than that." Then obviously trained as a fighter, proceeded to beat the living snot out of the scumbag, which was fully deserved. I had the movie on tape, so I watched that scene several times.

All in all a good movie, and a credible job by director Hopper. It has become one of my guilty pleasures!

Nov. 2013 edit: I saw it again, on DVD, and the movie holds up very well. I enjoyed it as much as the first viewing, maybe even more.

Hell hath no fury

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 26 October 2005]

Dennis Hopper has been involved in movies for more than fifty years now. He is a man that has taken chances in his choices of roles, and as a director. "The Hot Spot", based on Nona Tyson's novel, and with a screen play by Charles Williams seems to be the kind of project that would attract him. In fact, he almost succeeds in making a remarkable movie, but he should have tried some badly needed editing to tighten up this tale about crime and revenge in Texas.

"The Hot Spot" will reward fans of Mr. Hooper. He shows he can make a bland actor like Don Johnson appear better and give a somewhat interesting performance as Henry Madox, the drifter who appears out of nowhere and who we know is up to no good.

Henry's good looks is a magnet for the two women in the story. One is the beautiful, and somewhat naive Gloria Harper, who works for the used car dealer, George Harshaw. George's wife, the sultry Dolly, also has plans for the hunk now working for her husband. It's clear this triangle will get into knowing one another, in more ways than social acquaintances.

What Dennis Hopper accomplished in this film was to get excellent performances from his principal actors. Virginia Madsen, notably, is seen as the vamp that knows how to get what she wants all the time. Jennifer Connelly underplays Gloria Harper. Don Johnson is likable in one of the best things he has done in films. William Sadler is perfectly creepy as the black mailer. Veterans Jerry Hardin, Barry Corbin, and Jack Nance, are also good.

The moody musical score by Jack Nitzche serves the film well. Dennis Hopper achieves in presenting this moody tale with his inspired direction, if only he could have trimmed it a little bit. "The Hot Spot" will not disappoint to fans of the genre, although a little patience is required.

Alright, we know why you watched it ...

[Bevan - #4 · 6/10 · 29 December 2006]

Probably 2/3rds of the video rentals come from horny old men who ignore the rest of the flick to surf forward and gaze at Jennifer Connelly's amazing bare teenage chest. Fair enough, Jen's probably got the best bod in Hollywood history, she doesn't disappoint, let's move on.

Beyond the titillation value, there's definite appeal here. Virginia Madsen is second in her generation only to Kathleen Turner, IMHO, in the degree of sheer vampiness she can bring to the screen. While Dennis Hopper's not often in control on the screen, his portrayals are almost always *interesting*, and like Jennifer, he doesn't disappoint either. Don Johnson puts in a workmanlike job in his own right.

While the film's a bit overlong for what it is and a touch too predictable, it's far from a waste of a viewing evening.

6/10.

Almost hits the spot

[Mr-Fusion · 6/10 · 6 December 2014]

THE HOT SPOT isn't the greatest neo-noir out there, but all credit where it's due, Dennis Hopper does nail that steamy South vibe. He doesn't get very flashy with the visuals, and the movie does feel like it's a good 30 minutes too long ... but the mood is definitely there, and it's got a pretty damn good soundtrack. Makes for a decent time at the movies.

The real icing on the cake is the movie's eye candy. Between the demure Jennifer Connelly and the dangerous bombshell Virginia Madsen, these are two unbelievably attractive women. And Hopper knows it. Don Johnson, to his credit, fits right in with the out-for-trouble Harry Maddox, and it's a great distance from Sonny Crockett. It's a good performance.

But he's rightly upstaged by the gorgeous ladies.

6/10

Southwest trash that burns out of control

[rlcsljo · 9/10 · 26 December 2000]

This is classic southwest film noir/romance novel brought to life. Although the plot is the standard lets kill a cuckolded, rich husband (with sex!) and take off with the new handsome stranger, the heat of this film lies in its characterizations. Don Johnson is almost perfect as the handsome stranger/used car salesman/bank robber/arsonist/white knight in shining (but obviously tarnished) armor. Jennifer Connelly's understated desperation at her situation is almost exactly balanced by Virginia Madsen's almost over the top vixen/gold digger. Other characters add the perfect backdrop to the action (Charles Martin Smith's "nose sniff" scene is absolutely classic). The twists and turns of the plot and revelations makes this movie constantly interesting.

It really doesn't get much better than this--Jennifer Connelly does a rare, for her, nude scene, as does Virginia Madsen, Don Johnson, and a bevy of strippers.

In a dark world a Nice Tall Clean Cool (Beautiful) "SODA" known as Jennifer Connelly would be great.

[Jakemcclake · 6/10 · 30 June 2012]

This is dark movie indicating many people are faithless and totally immoral. This movie feature many evil characters doing many evil things. When the drifter Harry Madox (Don Johnson) reaches a small town in Texas, he gets a job as used car salesman with the dealer George Harshaw (Jerry Hardin) and settles down in a hotel room. During a fire, Harry observes that the local bank is left empty and open without any security. Sooner he plots a scheme to rob the bank, provoking a fire in his room to distract the employees. When Harry meets George's wife Dolly Harshaw (Virginia Madsen), the easy woman teases him and they have sex. Harry becomes the prime suspect of the bank heist and is arrested, but Dolly provided the necessary alibi to release him and blackmails him to have a love affair with her. Another evil character Frank Sutton appears in the movie and commits blackmail. There are murders and other evil events. This was filmed in dark lighting with many scenes at night. It depicts a very dark world.

If this is the world you like where right is whatever you can get away with, then this is your movie. I unfortunately found this movie quite depressing.

The reason I saw this movie is the one character Gloria Harper who is a nice tall clean cool character (or soda as Harry Maddox says during the movie) compared to the other evil characters. She is played by the Angelic looking Jennifer Connelly who at 18 she is the best looking woman I have ever seen in a movie.

She is the reason to watch this dark ugly story, if there is a reason.

lukewarm at best

[mjneu59 · 4/10 · 28 November 2010]

Reformed rebel director Dennis Hopper's neo-noir thriller is something of an anachronism: a fairly typical example of the genre updated with oral sex and graphic gunshot wounds. Heartthrob Don Johnson plays the usual drifter, wandering into a small Texas town and finding himself pulled in one direction by the lovely Jennifer Connelly and pushed in another by sultry nymphomaniac Virginia Madsen. The script wants to show the age-old conflict between good and evil, but it's a hard sell, especially when even the supposedly virtuous Connelly comes across like a sexpot fashion model. Likewise the entire film adds up to little more than a lot of self-conscious posturing, and with so many plot twists borrowed from so many other (better) film noirs this example limps on at least twenty minutes too long before the anti-climactic ending.

An Unknown Gem and One of the Most Amoral Stories of the Cinema History

[claudio_carvalho · 9/10 · 18 October 2010]

When the drifter Harry Madox (Don Johnson) reaches a small town in Texas, he gets a job as used car salesman with the dealer George Harshaw (Jerry Hardin) and settles down in a hotel room. During a fire, Harry observes that the local bank is left empty and open without any security. Sooner he plots a scheme to rob the bank, provoking a fire in his room to distract the employees. When Harry meets George's wife Dolly Harshaw (Virginia Madsen), the easy woman teases him and they have sex. Harry becomes the prime suspect of the bank heist and is arrested, but Dolly provided the necessary alibi to release him and blackmails him to have a love affair with her. However, Harry falls in love for Gloria Harper (Jennifer Connelly), who works as accountant in the dealership. He discovers that Gloria is blackmailed by the despicable Frank Sutton (William Sadler) and he decides to press Sutton. But in the end, Dolly gets what she wants.

"Hot Spot" is an unknown gem and one of the most amoral stories of the cinema history. With the exception of the sweet Gloria Harper and the cuckold George Harshow, the other three lead characters have no moral or ethical codes and Virginia Madsen performs one of the most despicable and Machiavellian femme fatale of the cinema. This masterpiece of Dennis Hopper is certainly the best work of Don Johnson and the soundtrack is stunning and among my favorites. I have just watched "Hot Spot" maybe for the sixth or seventh time and this film-noir has not aged. My vote is nine.

Title (Brazil): "Hot Spot - Um Local Muito Quente" ("Hot Spot - A Very Hot Spot")

Note: On 29 October 2011, I saw this film again.

Yow! This movie is hot!!

[weekly-movie-review · 7/10 · 15 January 2009]

Yow! This movie is hot!! Everything about the setting, characters, and situations is sizzling. A drifter (played by Mr. Cool himself, Don Johnson) wanders into town with the intentions of setting up a bank robbery and moving on, but quickly gets caught in the small southern town's sticky web. The web is spun by the only two major attractions the town has to offer: the blonde (Virginia Madsen) and the brunette (Jennifer Connelly). The plot gets as thick as the humid air as all the characters begin to collide. The film offers good acting by the aforementioned as well as Charles Martin Smith, Barry Corbin, and William Sadler. The score and the setting bring the movie to life on the screen as the anxiety and raw instinct reach a climax. The movie is a slow-mover at times, but is definitely worthy of recommendation.

Not so hot

[hall895 · 4/10 · 12 August 2005]

Often dull, filled with unsympathetic characters and with some rather ludicrous twists along the way, The Hot Spot is a big disappointment. The story revolves around Harry Madox, a mysterious loner who shows up in a small Texas town and immediately gets a job as a car salesman. Before long he's carrying on an affair with the boss' wife while simultaneously falling for the beautiful young woman who works at the car dealership. In his spare time he robs a bank and despite the fact he'll be the obvious suspect he doesn't immediately leave town. Smart enough to rob a bank, not smart enough to leave afterwards. That's just the first of what will soon be many annoying and unbelievable plot contrivances. So our "hero" is soon arrested but then freed for no good reason. And then things devolve even further as Madox, the two women in his life and a slimy deadbeat who lives on the outskirts of town all become tangled up in a big web of nonsense. The whole thing strains credulity and it's rather boring to boot.

Playing Madox, Don Johnson gives a rather wooden performance. As the young, seemingly innocent woman whom Madox falls for Jennifer Connelly is not bad but not great either. It is obvious that as an actress she had not quite honed her craft just yet. The character of the deadbeat is a bizarre one and playing the role William Sadler comes off as almost laughable when he's supposed to be mysterious and menacing. Probably the best performance comes from Virginia Madsen as the scheming, unfaithful wife but her character is so unsympathetic it's hard to fully appreciate Madsen's work. And there's really not much else to appreciate. The plot is weak, uninteresting and at times unbelievable. The film moves so slowly at times it seems to come to a dead stop. The lead characters are, Connelly's role excepted, entirely unsympathetic. There is nothing to hold the interest and the whole thing leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Disappointing all around.

Noir south of heaven

[chaos-rampant · 29 May 2016]

This is film noir and works from a great primary text, in fact it's Postman Rings Twice; man has washed up in a smalltown limbo somewhere in Texas, goes to work for a blonde bombshell's husband who has a heart condition. It's viscous in mood, scorching heat as you wait with nothing to do in the empty car dealership. It has a lot of latenight snooping around as passion drowns the night and makes the air sticky.

But it also has what I can always count on noir to provide and really sets the genre apart from ordinary crime; realizations about the mechanisms that create a life of suffering, how they begin in the mind and take mirrored form outside in narratives that trap us in chimeras.

A man succumbing to desire - rendered here as a fire that goes off in town and he goes to see - and how that sets in motion a karmic chain of events woven from that desire. It begins with merely being curious to see, ends with inability to escape a narrative. None of that would have come to pass of course if he hadn't allowed himself to be pulled by desire, thinking that fates are blind and he could go unseen inside the bank.

In other hands that might have been expert notation squandered in a histrionic telling, think Romeo is Bleeding. A lot of modern noir is like this, selfaware cartoons. It works so well here and to my mind it may have something to do with having Hopper at the helm, someone who has made his rounds of reckless life on the edge. Judging from the film, he brings an affinity for all this as life that entwines around you, sticky clothes on a hot night.

My favorite part is the premonition of possible lives ahead of him anchored in the two women.

The sultry femme, with the viscously furnished house of meaningless passion, the latenight encounter in the wilds. And as contrast the sweet co-worker who stands as promise for quiet love, swimming with her in the secluded pond, walking her back home in the early morning.

Hopper weaves here again the notion of a wrong perception as the early stage of suffering; a seeing that pried into her one day at the pond, snapped images of her that a redneck lecher is using to keep her trapped in a (false) narrative. His house as another space of meaningless desire that feeds off appearances, with photos of women strewn about but the place is a junk heap, the place of someone who's let himself go.

Noir Meter: 4/4 | Neo-noir or post noir? Neo

A Dennis Hooper Film

[sol-kay · 6/10 · 9 February 2008]

*SPOILERS** Driving into this small out of the way Texas town drifter Harry Madox, Don Johnson, soon makes a name for himself by showing how good he is in selling a car to an unsuspecting patron. The guy was so impressed by Harry's line of BS that he didn't even know that he's not employed at the car dealership he bought it from!

The sure of himself Harry Madox makes a B-line to the owner's, of the car dealership, office George Harshaw, Jerry Hardin, who seeing what a good job he did hires him on the spot. It turns out that Harry is a lot more complicated that you would have first thought. Looking for both action as well as money Harry by the time the movie is over gets himself involved with two women Harshaw's sexy wife Dolly, Virginia Madsen, and his young and even more sexier, in a sweet and innocent way, bookkeeper Gloria Harper, Jennifer Connally. Harry is also interested in knocking off the local bank run by the overly daffy and not that on the ball Julian Ward, Jack Nance. By starting an arson fire with the sheriff, Barry Corbin, and his deputies called on the scene Harry robs the place blind and then makes like a hero saving a drunk who was trapped in the building that Harry set on fire.

Trying to cover all the bases Harry didn't expected to be identified by the local blind man, James N. Harrell,who "saw" Harry snooping around in the bank, all alone, before the fire started. It later turns out that the blind mans "eye witness" testimony was thrown out when Dolly stepped in and told, in a sworn affidavit, that she saw Harry outside the inflamed building before the bank was robbed! Knowing that Dolly, whom he just looks upon as a one night stand and nothing more, got him by the you know what's Harry is now forced to put up with her in the fear that she'll change her testimony in the bank robbery which would have him put behind bars.

It's Harry's attempt to get in good with Harshaw's 19 year-old bookkeeper Gloria that really gets him into a jam. It turns out that Gloria is being blackmailed by the local town sh*t-kicker Frank Suttor, William Sadler. Suttor has a number of photo's of Gloria with her clothes off, but not doing anything naughty, and is using those photos to have her embezzle her, as well as Harry's, boss George Harshaw! What's even worse is that Suttor pulled the same thing on Gloria's sister Irene, Debra Cole. Sutton was blackmailing Irene with a number of nude photos that he secretly took of her while she was skinny-dipping with Gloria in a local pond but also with the fact that she was having a lesbian affair with her art teacher! All this drove the very sensitive and emotionally fragile young woman to kill herself.

Harry does get to straighten things out for Gloria by doing a number on Sutton but that number, brutal beating, only leads to Harry being blackmailed by a vengeful Sutton with the knowledge that he robbed Julian Ward's bank! How on earth did Suttor, who wasn't at the scene of both the bank robbery or fire, know that Harry robbed the place? It turns out that Suttor had an accomplice in his blackmailing scheme that in effect lead Harry to go a step farther in the crimes he committed in town; murder!

**SPOILER ALERT**Harry was too smart for his own good in thinking he could get away with what he did and live, with the beautiful Goria Harper, happily ever after. The evil and manipulative Dolly Harshaw was not going to let Harry slip away from her that easily. Having gone so far as murdering her sick, from having two previous heart-attacks, husband George after a night of wild and kinky sex Dolly was more then willing to go the full nine yards in getting Harry back with her. Harry didn't realize that both Dolly and Suttor were working together for different reasons. Suttor for blackmail money and Dolly for Harry's company and companionship.

When the truth finally dawned on Harry he knew that the rest of his life was both sh*t and history with him either ending up getting life behind bars or a lethal injection up his left arm. Swallowing his pride and knowing that he'll never see his beloved Gloria Harper again Harry gave into the enviable; Life with no chance of parole as Dolly Harshaw's both live-in boyfriend and, with her being the one in control, kinky sex partner. A life that even the worst kind of death would be a vast improvement on!

atmospheric but lethargic

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 29 January 2016]

Drifter Harry Madox (Don Johnson) hustles an used car salesman job from owner George Harshaw in a small desert oasis Texas town. Gloria Harper (Jennifer Connelly) is the secretary and a damsel in distress paying the lascivious Frank Sutton (William Sadler). George's wife Dolly (Virginia Madsen) is the flirtatious femme fatale who starts an affair with Harry. He sets a fire as a distraction to rob the local bank. He ends up as a hero rescuing a guy from the infernal and Gloria falls for him. The police suspects him as a blind customer fingers him for the robbery but Dolly provides him with a false alibi.

Director Dennis Hopper is making a kind of old time pulpy sexy noir thriller. He doesn't really succeed. Johnson and Madsen have those sweaty broad performances. Connelly is absolutely alluring as the ingénue. The slow lethargic pace takes its toll. The atmospheric can only carry it so far.

Deeply satisfying Nouveau Noir

[rainwave · 7/10 · 27 October 2005]

Despite plenty of sunshine and the presence of 80's stalwart Don Johnson, this is quintessential film noir, a little gem that reeks of Stanwyck and Mitchum and ripples with pithy one-liners, nicely convoluted plot twists and a classic moral triangle.

All the leads deliver knowing and unhurried performances, aided by a lean, laconic script and smooth direction - Jennifer Connelly is the astonishingly beautiful innocent, gradually bring dragged into a corrupt world ; Virginia Madsen simmers perfectly as the amoral and predatory manipulator ; and Don Johnson brings style and swagger to the central role, the cynical opportunist who finds a moral redemption of sorts, an outsider who finds himself both player and played in a seedy small-town intrigue.

Like all the best noir, Hot Spot starts with the implicit assumption that the audience is grown-up and able to appreciate subtlety and inference, and this understated adherence to story and character is a long way from the referential post-modernism of Tarantino. And while it probably lacks some of Tarantino's flash and bravado, the dialogue drips with innuendo and irony, and I challenge anyone not to get caught up in both the ingenious narrative and the sheer enjoyment of the supporting cast, who provide plenty of visual and verbal humour. The silences and raised eyebrows at various points are a delight, we can work out the meanings for ourselves (and it's nice to be trusted to do that), and I don't think Don Johnson has been better before and or since.

If you are looking for a Scorsese/Coppola-style gangster film, or an intricate ensemble piece with plenty of shooting like The Usual Suspects or Reservoir Dogs, this might not be your bag. If you think Sin City was at all challenging or subtle (or in fact that it genuinely qualifies as film noir) it's not for you either. But if your taste runs to Double Indemnity, The Big Heat or Out Of The Past, I can almost certainly guarantee that - like me - you will find The Hot Spot deeply satisfying, a storytelling treat that exemplifies the best of the genre and, unlike most of its late 80's/early 90's contemporaries, easily stands the test of time.

Connelly Steals Her Own Show

[TheFearmakers · 7/10 · 24 July 2022]

You really know that director Dennis Hopper's THE HOT SPOT is a Noir when, within ten minutes of entering a new town... one that's extremely small and fitfully hot, and in Texas... Don Johnson's so smitten with local blackmailed beauty Jennifer Connelly, he questions her with the kind of irked jealousy a husband would have...

But she's the good girl here, comparably, while buxom-blonde Virginia Madsen's our sultry femme fatale... married to Johnson's wealthy used car lot boss... as quickly taken with old Don as he was with young Connelly, and, within moments, they're sharing not only heated chemistry but explosive sack time...

The problems start when the ultra-atmospheric HOT SPOT becomes a thriller's BULL DURHAM with too many intrusive, overlong sex scenes that Hopper's obviously trying to push an envelope with... one that needed more of what makes the movie intriguing in the first place, like the opening when smooth-talker Johnson creatively lands his job...

Or as he's wandering around town or chatting with his co-worker or dealing with a local lowlife, or pulling-off the inevitable anti-heist bank-heist while the sensuously slowburn relationship with Connelly not only takes up most of the screen time, it robs poor Virginia's ability to compete or contrast: For if Jennifer were a devil in angel's clothes instead of the girl-next-door, she'd have easily taken both female roles.

A Steamy Masterpeice

[josbran · 10/10 · 1 August 2000]

This movie has to rate as one of the most important American films of the 90's. Dennis Hopper could be the next great American director in the 21st Century. The film was sexy without being crude. Don Johnson showed that his acting can be powerful if the right roll comes his way.Virginia Madsen steams up the show with her portral of the modern vamp.Jennifer Connelly plays it perfect with the innocent routine when she is the hottest girl in the movie. Anyone would enjoy this film on a cold night in the dead of winter with a lover on the couch next to them. A Great Watch!

Virginia Madsen's finest, but otherwise a bit sour

[Stay_away_from_the_Metropol · 6/10 · 26 October 2023]

In the opening scene, Don Johnson walks onto the lot of a car dealership, starts acting like he works there, actually sells a car to some customer in an entirely nonsensical manner, is a complete jerk to the manager, then immediately gets hired to work there. It's not often that I can tell by the opening scene whether or not I'm going to dislike a movie, but this one rubbed me immensely wrong from the start.

First off, Don Johnson is a wholly unlikeable lead character. He's a snarky, entitled prick who is rude to everyone except for the 19 year old receptionist he's in love (or lust) with (played by Jennifer Connelly of course). On occasion, he says things that are so dickish they made me laugh but overall I kind of wanted to see him eat dirt the entire time. By the time you get to the end of the film, you realize that him being such a horrible person is part of the whole structure and purpose of the film, but that doesn't make sitting through its expansive 131-minute run time any more pleasant.

Now I could see this being an enjoyable length if you're a fan of the movie, but as someone who didn't love it, it feels incredibly redundant by the time you get to the second half, and it really drags on. It truly feels like nothing happens in the 2nd half aside from Johnson's sleazy prick of a lead juggling romance scenes between Connelly and Virginia Madsen's character.

On that note, I do have to say that this movie's greatest strength is in the performance of Virginia Madsen - I've always been a fan of her presence but this is the wildest, boldest, most riveting, and yes, sexiest character I've ever seen her play, by a long shot. Her character is just ridiculous, so over the top, and is easily the best part of the movie.

It makes sense that this is from 1990 because it does have major "USA after midnight" vibes, in the sense that it very frequently teeters into Cinemax-esque softcore-leaning erotic sequences, involving either Madsen or Connelly. Noting that, if you're a horny dad looking for a horny after-hours movie that is VERY MUCH made from and for the male gaze, this one might be just the ticket. I've always loved Dennis Hopper, and still do, but god damn, this one really feels like it was made directly from the little brain inside his aging sausage.

Albeit it's unnecessary length, redundant pace in the 2nd half, and the fact that Don Johnson is a repugnant lead, The Hot Spot does remain mostly entertaining through all of its gratuitousness and over-the-top everything, but I still don't like it very much.

The boss's house is bigger than his used-car lot

[Nozz · 3/10 · 31 December 2005]

THE HOT SPOT seems to take place in a town of whatever size is convenient at the moment. The town is so small that the volunteer firefighting force can't be mustered without leaving the bank unstaffed, but it's big enough to support a spacious strip joint with girls on four platforms at a time. The used car lot seems to need only one salesman, the boss, and a clerk, but it supports the boss and his wife in an enormous mansion. Oh yes, someone mentions that he's also in real estate. I wonder who his buyers are. The production looks as if it couldn't even afford enough extras to give the impression of a populace.

A bigger problem, though, is the lead actors. It's hard to identify with Don Johnson in a part that should have gone to Dennis Hopper himself if only Hopper were younger. Hopper can draw our sympathy or fascination by giving his character a look of underlying fear or insanity. Don Johnson just looks smug, and so does Virginia Madsden.

The best thing is the soundtrack, matching the minimalism of John Lee Hooker with the minimalism of Miles Davis. There were more black people on the soundtrack, by the way, than in the cast.

A tightly crafted, sun-drenched film noir

[zeleny · 8/10 · 14 July 2002]

Dennis Hopper delivers the goods in this meticulously conventional tale of a charismatic underachiever finding his level. Harkening back to the gender and class warfare sensibilities of the Forties, The Hot Spot excels across the board, in acting, dialogue, plotting, music, and cinematography.

A rethink on a surprisingly good film-noir; BUT, STILL........

[pizzawarrior1956-1 · 7/10 · 19 January 2006]

A while back, I commented on this film, only to later delete my comment out of frustration, because of a certain cast member's performance.

I am therefore very glad to come back and have another opportunity to express myself.

To begin with, I still think Virginia Madsen was miscast in the role of Dolly Harshaw, but I must concede that her performance was not as disturbing as I first thought.

Of course, in 1990, this movie did push the envelope regarding sensuality, but today it seems to be rather tame, that is when you compare similar movies being made.

My problem is that while Virginia did force up the thermostat, you could tell she was still new to the role of 'femme-fatale' and her body language gave away a great deal of unease.

She recently said that she would want to play such a role again if the script was right, and I am willing to agree with her especially since she is older and wiser... and SEXIER.

But, clearly she was not up to par here.

As to the rest of the movie, this is CLASSIC FILM-NOIR !!!! However, I think it would have played better in another Southern location, like Georgia or Louisiana; someplace HUMID !!! But, from what we have here, it is a surprisingly good story.

Don Johson has a chance to knock off the local bank, as well as TWO pieces of hot local talent; one of them his boss's wife.

HOW AUDACIOUS !!! And between the innocence of Jennifer Conolley and the sexiness of Virginia Madsen to turn his head, it is no wonder what happens in the end.

But you will find that out !!!! Depending on your point of view, it is too bad that this movie didn't get more notice in general release, but from the way the members of the cast made out, WHO CARES !!!!

I could not remember IF I had not already seen this Dennis Hopper picture. NOW I do remember....

[imseeg · 4/10 · 8 August 2022]

Dennis Hopper is a great actor, but a really mediocre director. Don Johnson is an okay actor, but with such a lousy direction by Hopper even Don Johnson cant save this movie...

The bad: no real thrill or suspense. This movie feels off. It is missing the mark. It's an amateur attempt at making a bankrobber movie.

More bad: the editing is all wrong. The music is quite silly and not appropriate. And it lasts way too long. I got bored.

Not any good then? There are lots of decent actors starring in it. But I said it before and I will say it a second time: the direction by Dennis Hopper ruined this movie...bummer.