激情沸点

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。

值得看的电影往往分成两种，一种是雅俗共赏的高质量电影，另一种则是赏心悦目的高颜值电影，本片显然属于后者，相信观看的绝大多数都是慕詹妮弗.康纳利之名而来的，19岁的詹妮弗颜值逆天，身材炸裂，果然是惊艳了一个时代的女神。 影片中的男主属于上辈子拯救过银河系的光环男人，杀人、放火、抢劫无恶不作，却总能逢凶化吉，并得到善终，更过分的是艳福无边，两位女主，一个负责纯，一个负责骚，都被男主拿捏七寸，清纯玉女为他舍身取爱，蛇蝎美人更为他弑夫夺财，这是典型后现代主义的杰克苏，地球都在为他公转。 当然，影片最大的看点还是两位风情万种的女人都为了电影轻解罗裳，倩影留痕，胶片帮忙记录下了她们最美好的时光。因此，本来常规的及格电影，为了高颜值加颗星！

这部电影不能仅看看风月，应该看出通过看似男女之间的情感问题，导演想表达现实与梦想之间的距离。

男主已经过三十而立的年龄，还幻想着美梦。当然每个人都有做美梦的权利，但是美梦能否实现则是另回事。19岁的康纳利如同男主的美梦一样风情迷人，夏天热不穿胸罩，半袖羞轮廓乳头。她太年轻，太美丽，每个人都想要，石油工人亦不例外。

石油工人拍照抓住了康纳利的把柄----同性恋，向她索要钱，她则需要有人帮助她摆脱这个困境--钱和照片。或者，用另外一种表述来讲，每个人都有理想，理想那么诱人，现实那么惨淡，实现理想需要付出以及能否承受付出的代价。男主缺钱就抢了银行，老板娘知道了他的把柄。想当初不是为了钱，老板娘委身与老板吗？老板满足了钱的欲望，满足不了其他需求。男主正好满足这两个需要，帅哥又有性能力，又能调情。自古以来， 潘驴邓小闲 ，五大要素， 男人追女人需具备的五个条件 。

男主怎么满足康纳利，自己抢来的钱替她补上账户上偷的钱，康纳利没有债务危机了，他们俩可以私奔。男主似乎没想明白康纳利同性恋的事实。老板娘通过睡丑陋的石油工人，看透了康纳利用完男主会果断离开他计划（康纳利是同性恋），她率先把老板在床上制造捆绑性爱高潮之死的假象，中间截胡。毕竟男主可没有什么把抓住康纳利的把柄。最后时刻男主也想明白了康纳利的用意，果断退坑，跟老板娘私奔了。毕竟电影中他们俩的鬼混细分真不少，而跟康纳利晒晒太阳，游游泳，从没上过垒。

人到中年，应该妥协和放弃一些东西了。康纳利的失败在于，由于同性恋没有让男主上垒，光靠美色，显然斗不过美色和智慧的一身的老板娘，而且功课做的不好，显然不知道老板娘跟男主搞的昏天暗地。或者年轻人的通病，光年轻没有智慧。这也为什么社会中流抵触是中年人，而不是年轻人，他们知道什么值得抓住和挽留，什么应该放弃。

ps:1、剧情推进太慢了点。

2、全程靠康纳利和老板娘的色诱支撑，差点忘了导演想表达啥。

2019.12.13日

康纳利，老板娘，男主角的共同点是什么？

你为了实现你的梦想，付出什么代价？

男主角纵火抢银行;老板娘用自己的美貌换钱享受生活，于此同时跟石油工媾和满足性需求;康纳利偷公司的钱，想跟姐姐一起享受;all about money,all about life.

有些人成功，有些则失败。