The Hot Spot
Tags: neo noir

Plot synopsis:
Drifter Harry Madox takes a job as a used car salesman in a small Texas town. In the summer heat, he develops an interest in Gloria Harper, who works at the car dealership. Dolly Hershaw, who is married to the dealership's owner, flirts with Harry and they begin a torrid affair.
Harry learns that the bank staff are all volunteer firemen so he sets a fire to lure them away from the bank. While they are gone, Harry robs the bank, but has to enter the burning building to save a man who is trapped inside. The town's sheriff suspects Harry, but Dolly gives him an alibi and tells him she will sell him out unless he kills her husband. When he refuses, Dolly threatens to expose him. She ultimately kills her husband herself by overstimulating his weak heart during sex.
Meanwhile, Gloria is being blackmailed by Frank Sutton, who has nude photographs of her with another woman. Harry, who has fallen in love with Gloria, confronts Sutton to get the pictures, and kills him in the ensuing struggle. Harry invents a story to draw suspicion away from him, framing Sutton for the robbery, and receives a hefty reward from the police. He plans to marry Gloria and take her to the Caribbean Islands.
Dolly ruins Harry's plans by showing him a letter implicating him in the robbery and Sutton's death, and telling Gloria about the affair. A heartbroken Gloria leaves Harry. Enraged, Harry tries to strangle Dolly, but cannot bring himself to kill her. Harry resigns himself to life with Dolly, and leaves town with her.

Review: 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..
I have just watched "Hot Spot" maybe for the sixth or seventh time and this film-noir has not aged.
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.
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.
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.
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..
The script is lean and mean, Virginia Madsen has more lines (and delivers them very, very well) than the rest of the cast put together, Don Johnson gets his message across supremely well just with his looks and body language and Jennifer is (groan) just gorgeous as usual.
George has a bad heart and a young and sexy wife, the aforementioned Dolly Harshaw (Virginia Madsen, who once played in a movie called "Zombie High" or "The High School that Ate My Brain").
It seems that a country degenerate named Frank Sutton (William Sadler) has got some kind of hold on her.So what we have here is a setting for film noir circa 1990 done up in color with a lot of upper body and tail end nudity and plenty of steamy sex.
I know I did even though this is not exactly a masterpiece.Top three reasons to see this diversion are: (1) Virginia Madsen, who is as hot as the barrel of an AK-47 as it unloads with a mind devious enough to delight the devil himself.(2) Jennifer Connelly, who is pretty enough to awaken the libido of the dead.(3) The nice twist at the end in which we learn that life has a certain perverse logic to it, proving that the hero may not get what he wants, but hey, things could be worse.I guess I should also mention the direction of Dennis Hopper who has garnered over 200 film credits in a career going back to the fifties.
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.
Also, don't miss a 14 year old Jennifer Connelly as the young role of Elizabeth McGovern's character in the marvelous Sergio Leone film, "Once Upon a Time in America" (full length version ONLY)..
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.
It stars Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen, Jennifer Connelly, Charles Martin Smith and William Sadler.
Story pitches Johnson as drifter Harry Madox, who lands in a Southern state town, bluffs his way into a car salesman job, plots a robbery, and then finds that two local ladies - of very different qualities - are about to change his life forever...I found my level and I'm living it.Hopper turns in a honest and faithful tribute to the first wave of film noir, but armed with the fact this was his era of film making relaxations, he gets to sex things up.
I have been a big fan of Jennifer Connelly ever since "Hot Spot", I understand that Don Johnson had a fever throughout the making of that movie!
Johnson plays a drifter named Harry Maddox who enters a Southern ghost town and heats up the place, falls for Connelly, plays with "femme fatale" Madsen, robs a bank and eventually gets implicated in murder.
The Hot Spot is an accurate title for the movie.A deliciously "hot" modern film noir very well directed by Hopper, his best effort apart from Easy Rider.
PItch perfect Dennis Hopper directed film noir set somewhere in Texas-like badlands curving in the heat...from the opening John Lee Hooker/Miles Davis (!) soundtrack, every actor in this flick nails it.
Don Johnson's cool stranger in a hot town, Jennifer Connolly's porcelain naive waif, Virginia Madsen's femme fatale, Bill Sadler's creepy villain and even Charlie Martin Smith's perennially baffled car salesman.
The hot spot is complete package to me,as it contains drama, thriller, romance,seduction and everything was accomplished perfectly by Director Dennis Hopper.But i don't know why the rating of this movie is so low,certainly it deserves better rating.The plan of making fire and robbing bank by Harry Madox was good, but the ultimate game planing and game playing by Dolly Harshaw made the story certainly stronger.I think Virginia Madsen was the best performer of this movie playing very seductive and bad character.
Given that two radiant Beauties Headline the Cast, a Yin-Yang of Noir Stereotypes, there is much to Admire and Ogle.Virginia Madsen and Jennifer Connelly are simply Sublime and saturated with the Attributes Fitted for the Femme Fatale and the Innocent Lovely.
you'll really like this.The movie is superbly unhurried, has a wonderful script, truly astonishing chemistry among Don Johnson (what a fine and terribly underrated actor he is), Virginia Madsen (amazing in this - just amazing) and Jennifer Connelly, great atmosphere, fascinating locations, you feel the heat, savor the colors, want one of those Cokes they're always drinking.Casting is so important in a movie like this - and Madsen, Connelly and Johnson are just so at home with each other - and with this place - they know these characters down to the ground.This movie is a real pleasure to see - incredibly sexy, the heat wages just seem to rise from the sidewalk, the smell of frenzy from the car seats of their convertibles.This is a real surprise to me - great credit to director Dennis Hopper and all the actors.
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.
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.
Virginia Madsen and Jennifer Connelly play their roles as the sex-addicted married woman and the innocent teen (respectively) adequately.
This movie was well directed, exceptionally well cast, included a superb blues soundtrack, and featured a rare nouveau noir story line that film purists will surely appreciate and enjoy.This is one of those rare gems that deserves a place in your personal library...
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...
whew , this was a hot one!....as a movie buff who watches a lot of movies i can honestly say that this is one of the hottest real movies ever brought to screen.I always liked don johnson but this was is magnum opus performance it's was levels above anything else he ever did..jennifer connely was hot but her part was quiet and low key she did extremly well with role she was given.
In the sueur-noir drama B flick "The Hot Spot", a handsome stranger (Johnson) with a past but no backstory wanders into a dinky town where all the men are old, ugly, or stupid and the only women are two babes including a blonde vamp (Madsen) and a demure hottie with come-hither eyes (Connelly).
He does however play his character well (womaniser, good looks etc..and is the movie an ad for cigarattes because i counted at least 30 times he lit up in the movie).Virginia Madsen (Dolly Harshaw) is the manipulative schemer, psycho who once she has her claws into Madox won't let go.
She got annoying as the movie progressed (but that is probably demonstration of how well she played her role, I think you are meant to hate her).Jennifer Connelly ( Gloria Harper), there is something about this girl.
Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen and Jennifer Connelly give competent, if not scintillating performances.
Virginia Madsen and Jennifer Connelly excel in their respective roles as devious nympho and pretty virgin and it is understandable that things were hot enough without upsetting the viewing public any further.
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 is perfect and completed with the right actors, this is one hell of movie it has this heat,thrill during the 2 hour's of it.the events get developed in a real good way, the relationship between harry and dolly and gloria so interesting and its amazing how it gets complex, and the southern sit accomplishment the experience and really fits with the events.
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...
Well the film's OK, classic Dennis Hopper stuff, but what is really significant about this movie is the soundtrack.
It has an all star cast with Don Johnson, Jennifer Connelly and Virginia Madsen.
Virginia Madsen and Jennifer Connelly nude scenes are worth the watch alone.
Drifter Harry Madox (Don Johnson) hustles an used car salesman job from owner George Harshaw in a small desert oasis Texas town.
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.
Sure Don Johnson traps himself in a small town crime web, and there are several steamy sex scenes, but overall the film lacks impact.
Great performances from Virginia Madsen as Dolly Harshaw who is perfect as the rich spoiled wife who wants everything and usually gets everything she wants except in this case Madox- and Jennifer Connelly as Gloria Harper is beyond comprehension ( you need to see to believe ) and honestly it's something to seen and don't forget the scene where Madox (Johnson) asks unnervingly beautiful Glora Harper (Connelly) 'Would you like a soda?
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.
It's pure entertainment from start to finish - with bad boy Don Johnson looking gorgeous, bad girl Virginia Madsen looking gorgeous and good girl Jennifer Connelly looking gorgeous.This film is worth watching for the eye candy alone - but as it turns out, it has a whole lot more going for it.
There are twists and turns aplenty, lots of saucy dialog, an evil woman ankling around plotting, a dastardly villain doing slimy underhanded things, passionate making-out and even some topless scenes.It's hot in Texas, you can see the heat shimmering in the heavy air as Harry Maddox (Don Johnson), makes his way to a small town.
The Hot Spot or where Testosterone meets Estrogen !!!Director Dennis Hopper lets it all hang out is this steamy action thriller of loner Harry Madox(Don Johnson), who works as a car salesman at the local dealer, and robs the bank for some quick cash.
Throw in Gloria Harper(Jennifer Connelly) , the innocent love interest who has her eyes on Harry, and a few interesting sub-plots, and you have one terrific film about the lives of a few corrupt people, whose hedonistic inclinations lead to a warped lifestyle, and compelling situations !!!Brilliant direction underplays the emotion which begs the viewer to become more involved !!!
Desert scenes, perspiration, two major fires in a small town and scenes where the shimmering heat rises from ground level are just some examples of how it's represented visually but the hot blooded nature of some of the characters and their steamy affairs also serve to reinforce the power of the theme.Harry Madox (Don Johnson) is a drifter who arrives in a small Texas town during sizzling hot weather and is soon attracted by the sight of a good looking young woman who he follows to a used car lot.
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.
But the story is pure classic film noir directed by Dennis Hopper.
Yet it is an excellent piece of work.Don Johnson is a drifter who takes a car salesman job in a small town, and becomes embroiled romantically with two local women: innocent secretary with a secret Jennifer Connelly, and earthy married woman with rich older husband Virginia Madsen.
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.
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.
*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.
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.
Right from the start, "The Hot Spot" promises something different – it has a terrific sense of place, and we feel we already know a lot about Don Johnson's character.
Although heat, sex and southern accents are nothing new to drama, they haven't often been put together in a slicker package – Dennis Hopper took film noir on a trip to Texas and came up with a polished, classy-looking movie with great lines and a few twists you don't see coming.The icing on the cake is a soundtrack featuring Miles Davis and John Lee Hooker, which punctuates the story at key points with knowing grunts and moans.
"Yeah, replies Harry, "but I've got ambition".Harry is ready for any opportunity that presents itself, and it doesn't take him long to shake things up, especially the libidos of two women – Gloria Harper and Dolly Harshaw – played by Jennifer Connelly and Virginia Madsen.Using his wits, Harry gets a job at the used car lot owned by George Harshaw where the beautiful Gloria works.
Harry's attempt to solve both blackmail problems precipitates the film's final act."The Hot Spot" hits the right spot with a great script and perfect performances – it also has a twist ending to rival the best of them.