Backtrack (aka Catchfire)

1990 unintentional comedy

Rating: 8/20

Plot: A hitman hired to take out a woman who witnessed a mob assassination falls for her instead.

This was recommended by my friend Josh. He's not only a fan of bad movies but especially seems interested in bad movies featuring really famous people.

The first thing you notice with this is the cast. Jodie Foster stars, and she's as fetching as I've ever seen her, sexualized from the beginning when a passing car lifts her skirt to expose the front of her panties. I swear I heard an added sound effect when that skirt flipped up. Later, Hopper gives her a gratuitous shower scene and another scene where she slowly puts on lingerie. I'm not saying I minded any of that one bit because I'm as randy as Hopper though very likely a lot less high.

Speaking of Hopper, he not only helms this thing (as Alan Smithee) but co-stars in it. And he can blame the studio all he wants for how this turned out, but it's really his performance that does more to sink the ship than anything else. "I'm just not good at talkin'," his character tells Foster's character at one point, and at least in this movie, he's really not. He has this wildly inconsistent tough guy accent, an accent that's as much all over the place as his character. His character transforms from cool and calculating early to possibly one of the dumbest human beings alive. He really goes at it with some fake saxophone playing, sometimes in front of a Hieronymus Bosch painting; says things like "Where the fucks do you think we are--47th Street?" or "Well, I got an idea for you. Why don't you just go back to the land of fucking wall sockets?"; and has the camera linger on himself so that he can engage in the manly task of chopping wood. His best moment is when he tries unsuccessfully to throw a saxophone through a window. Or maybe it's when he leaves the saxophone behind at a cabin and then somehow has it back again at the end of the movie, almost like he's got stashes of saxophones all over America or something. He's even got it at the end when he pops in from the left of the screen to jerk around with it on a boat while the credits roll.

Other performers in this include Joe Pesci, who screams all of his lines like he's doing a parody of himself and then decided that he didn't want to be in the credits; Dean Stockwell; Fred Ward, the aforementioned John Turturro, really goofy and sometimes wearing these red loafers sans socks; and, for a short time at least, Charlie Sheen. Vincent Price plays a mob boss, and he appears to be some combination of tired, bored, or sick, and Bob Dylan pops in as a chainsaw artist to read through his lines as quickly as possible because he apparently had something else to do. Probably a lot of drugs with Dennis Hopper. That would be my guess. Catherine Keener also pops in as a truck driver's wife, her husband chastising her with "If you used your brain like you used your ass, you'd be a genius."

Hopper makes some confusing choices as director here. There's a cut that made me laugh, and I wondered if it was intentional or not. It shows him scampering across Jodie Foster's roof before a leap from one rooftop to another. Then--cut, and he's apparently landing right in front of her dresser. That made me laugh. Another shot where Hopper and Turturro suddenly have cowboy hats gave me a big smile, too. However, there are some really interesting visual moments in this. I liked a chase through this sort of advertising back lot that leads to a miniature golf course where Hopper ends up inexplicably hiding inside of a miniature church. Sometimes, there are garish colors in the background, almost like Hopper thinks he's making a John Wick movie. There are actually lots of references to art here. Dylan's character is an artist and his claim that he "knows a guy who worked in concrete," Foster is an artist, there are references to O'Keefe, that Bosch painting that Hopper plays his saxophone in front of.

Did I mention there's a scene where Jodie Foster and Dennis Hopper rescue a baby goat? Cause that's in there.

By the way, this movie apparently has two titles, neither which make sense to me. Backtrack? Catchfire?

Two food moments have to be mentioned. One involves an escape from a restaurant in which Hopper's character grabs this giant burrito and takes it with him before the couple flee. That's just great.

But my favorite is probably my favorite product placement of the year for Hostess Sno-Balls. I couldn't believe that was happening, and then while it was happening, I couldn't believe it was still happening.