the audience applauded

Simply Perfect

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Here in the UK the movie came and went at the cinema in the blink of an eye. However, recommended by my brother to watch a few years later. If you enjoy Dennis Hopper films you'll love this. The cast are spot on, the story is "grown up", and the filming... well, as you'd expect from Dennis pure class. Don Johnson made this movie just after the success of Miami Vice TV series, and rates as the coolest dude ever... Virginia Madsen is absolutely stunning in her sex crazed frustrated wife of a rich businessman. But then she is beautiful even in real life (you may remember her as Cassandra in several episodes of Frasier!). Virginia is just as lovely now. It's a shame you never hear much about the movie when reading both Virginia and Don's film history, both actors gave fantastic and convincing performances... The film has a host of other great actors, give this a watch, you won't be disappointed.

Reading how the original cast was not available makes me wonder how they could have done better?Don Johnson is so slimy, good looking, cool and dangerous that he makes Robert Mitchum look ho hum in his film noir ventures. Jennifer Connely is about as fresh faced and incredibly beautiful as a 19 year old could be anywhere. Her nude scene on the beach is probably worth the price of this DVD. This was in her "busty" days. Virginia Madsen is incredibly, boldly sexy as the kind of girl your mother told you to avoid. But you can't. The film revolves around this trio as Johnson drifts into town, gets a used car job, gets seduced by the trashy wife of the older owner, starts an affair with Jennifer Connelley, robs a bank, kills a blackmailer, and ends up pondering it all. I won't go into specifics. But the story is pure classic film noir directed by Dennis Hopper. So just enough strange blended with fantastic over the top performances by Barry Corbin and others in the cast. Johnson's best movie performance. Madden's almost best (see LONG GONE where she plays Dixie Lee Box). Great character actors and a great film to watch. Wasn't successful at box office but should have been. Hard people, hard reality, hard knocks. I gave it 10 stars because it was that interesting. If you love Noir, here's a color Noir that will absolutely not disappoint. Watch it in HD.

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.

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.