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

《激情沸点》。8分。

丹尼斯·霍珀导演，唐·约翰逊、维吉尼亚·马德森、詹妮弗·康纳利主演作品。

久闻这个片子大名，一直在等机会看，以为只是个脑残爱情片，轻松看完。

万万没想到，这个片子竟然如此杰出！

我甚至很难去定义这个片子属于什么类型？爱情？犯罪？情色？好像都有，又好像不完全是。

唐·约翰逊饰演的谜一样的男人哈里来到一座小镇，莫名出手卖掉一台车后就顺利进入车行工作，在意迅雷不及掩人耳目之势睡了老板娘后，他竟然出手打劫了银行，还在得手后冲进火海救了一名醉汉。

哈里谜一样的气质在片中前一个小时泛滥，他使全片充满了荷尔蒙的诱惑，又正好遇上维吉尼亚·马德森饰演的老板娘哈肖夫人不仅骚情万种，而且十分开放而粘腻。

好在詹妮弗·康纳利饰演的19岁少女歌莉娅清纯如出水芙蓉，彼时她真的是19岁。但歌莉娅也不是吃素的，不仅主动撩起了36岁的哈里大叔，还一直为年少时的桃色事件所困。

这可不是一座普通的小镇，它像一张巨大的蜘蛛网一样。

哈里解决了一个又一个问题，但没办法，姜还是放久了的骚，他又怎么跑得出哈肖夫人那条迷你的石榴裙呢？

电影男主角哈里是个比较矛盾的人，既有清高的一面，也有世俗的一面，编剧一直给大家设好一个局，就是假设歌莉娅和萨顿有一腿，哈里也和大家一样假设，直到栽赃的晚上碰到萨顿和女人上床，看见那双鞋，更加认定歌莉娅是被萨顿要挟占有的，但是当看见老板娘脸上的伤疤才如梦初醒，歌莉娅是圣洁的，没有被玷污。

这时候哈里可能也意识到自己是配不上歌莉娅的，首先是老板娘曾经说过的，他们是一类人，是一丘之貉，其次是老板娘的被窝才是哈里的舒适区，有钱也有姿色，为了自己可以豁出去，和歌莉娅一起估计是无穷无尽的付出，所以最后回心转意，和老板娘一起了，最后也是因为老板娘掌握哈里的把柄，这是比较次要的原因了。

激情沸点这部电影看似是简单的风月电影，没有什么深度，其实也有一定的人生哲理的，那就是人要有自知之明，搞清楚自己是个什么人，哪里是自己的舒适区，这样才能真正快乐。否则是害人害己，哈里是聪明的他在最后作出了正确的选择，虽然有童话情结的人可能会感到惋惜，但是可以肯定哈里的前途的光明的，祝大家也能够找到自己的舒适区。

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。