The Hot Spot (1990)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Harry Madox	Don Johnson	½
Dolly Harshaw	Virginia Madsen	½
Gloria Harper	Jennifer Connelly
Irene Davey	Debra Cole	-
George Harshaw	Jerry Hardin	-
Frank Sutton	William Sadler	-
Lon Gulick	Charles Martin Smith	-
The Sheriff	Barry Corbin	-

Review

This script based on Charles Williams novel "Hell Hath No Fury" had been sitting on a shelf since 1962 when Dennis Hopper picked it up and had it modestly modernized into this rather steaming neo-noir starring a sweaty Don Johnson, an over-the-top Virginia Madsen and a young and sensitive Jennifer Connelly. Embedded in The Hot Spot's heat shimmering cinematography and marvellous score by Jack Nitzsche, featuring among others John Lee Hooker, there is a half-clever story waiting to be told with a little more conviction than what is done here. Some of the script's best twists and turns are alternately overembellished by Madsen's performance and underexplored by Hopper, but the picture has that seductive quality that keeps you interested for almost the length of its running time.