The Hot Spot (1990)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1990
Running Time	124:33
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Dennis Hopper
Studio Distributor	MGM	Starring	Don Johnson Virginia Madsen Jennifer Connelly Charles Martin Smith William Sadler Jerry Hardin Barry Corbin Leon Rippy Jack Nance Virgil Frye John Hawker Margaret Bowman Debra Cole
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$19.95	Music	John Lee Hooker Jack Nitzsche

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired German for the Hearing Impaired French Italian Spanish Finnish Dutch Swedish Norwegian Danish	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The Hot Spot is an entertaining drama which plays homage to the American Film Noir of the 1950s. Directed effectively by Hollywood bad boy Dennis Hopper, the film stars Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen and Jennifer Connolley.

    Johnson plays Harry Madox, a grifter / con artist who seeks refuge in a small Texas town. He immediately gets a job as a used car salesman and begins an affair with the boss' wife, played by Virginia Madsen. Always on the lookout for his next big score, Harry sets his sights on the local bank. The only thing stopping him from committing the perfect crime is the manipulative Madsen and the used car lot's young female receptionist Gloria Harper, played by the alluring Connolley, who has fallen for Harry's slick veneer. With the police closing in, Harry's choices are becoming limited, and his next move may decide his ultimate fate.

    The Hot Spot is a slow burning drama that relishes the opportunity to develop its characters. With the exception of Connolly's character, who is relatively innocent in nature, the rest of the cast are fairly unscrupulous. Don Johnson and Virginia Madsen's performances are unquestionably the film's highlight. Johnson in particular delivers a well crafted characterisation that is miles apart from that of James Crockett, the smooth Detective he made famous in the long running series Miami Vice.

    As one of the great character actors, Dennis Hopper obviously realises that the strength of this particular genre belongs with the narrative and performances, so it is not surprising that as the film's director he takes great pains to establish story and characterisation. The Hot Spot is a well made film that deserves a look.

Video

    The Hot Spot has been presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced for widescreen viewing.

    The transfer is relatively sharp with some minor reservations. There is a constant although minor edge enhancement throughout, but it is not overly noticeable. Shadow details are reasonable with strong black levels and there is very little in the way of grain. I did not detect any low level noise problems.

    Colours remain natural, but have become slightly muted with age.

    The transfer does contain minor film artefacts, but they are small and not intrusive.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The film has five audio tracks in Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround. The tracks are in English, Spanish, German, French and Italian.

    Dialogue is clear with no audible dropout. There are no signs of audio sync deficiencies.

   The film's music is well geared to the story's atmosphere and supports the on-screen performances well.

    Surround channel usage is minimal, but more than acceptable for a film of this type. There are few directional effects, but the ones found are well placed. The rear channels mainly consist of background noise and film score.

    The subwoofer does an adequate job of supporting the surround mix.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Theatrical Trailer

   All versions of this DVD available are currently essentially the same.

    The Hot Spot is an enjoyable drama with some well rounded performances and a satisfactory conclusion. The disc has a solid audio / visual presentation with no extras. For a budget release its not too bad.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall