Reviews (37)

Brilliant mood piece
How can you not love a movie whose soundtrack successfully intermingles Tammy Wynette songs with classical music pieces??

I like to think of this film as more of a "mood piece" than a "character study". It succeeds tremendously as both; but if I had to describe to someone what is meant by a "mood piece" I would direct them right to this film. It epitomizes the early-70s American wasteland look and feel common in some great "New Hollywood" films of its time (Jack Nicholson was in several such movies, like the classics "The Last Detail" and "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest"). The scene outside the bowling alley especially captures this beautiful grit.

You all probably know the story, so I won't bother with the obligatory references to the diner scene, the hitchhikers, or the truly heartbreaking scene where Robert Eroica Dupea clumsily spills his guts to his sick father. I will admit it took several viewings to truly appreciate this film. But now I rank it as one of my favorites. It's rare to find a film that can take you to a time and place you weren't at and introduce you to people you've never known, yet feel it as if you had.

This one is not to be missed. Give it a few tries if you have to.

Five Easy Stars
After his strong supporting turn in Easy Rider brought fame to Jack Nicholson, he got his first starring opportunity in Five Easy Pieces. Teaming up with his old pal Bob Rafelson (from Monkees fame), they created an interesting character study. Mr. Nicholson is Robert Dupea, a hellion who is oilrig worker in Texas. He is basically shiftless and has no direction in life. What we soon discover is that Dupea is a piano playing prodigy who grew up on the Puget Sound in Washington. His girlfriend, played by Karen Black, wants to be a country & western singer and is constantly singing along to "Stand By Your Man". She drives him nuts, but after his best friend is arrested, he heads back home to Washington with her in tow. He ends up falling for another woman who also plays piano and is staying at his father's house. The title of the film is derived from five easy piano pieces that Dupea and the woman dissect. Mr. Nicholson does an incredible job of peeling back the layers of Dupea and his scene ordering a chicken salad sandwich is highly memorable. Ms. Black is perfectly annoying in her role and she does a tremendous job. Mr. Rafelson & Mr. Nicholson have teamed several times since this movie, but never were they any better together.

NOT Texas!
Why does everyone say Nicholson's character is working in the "Texas" oil fields? It's the California oilfields (Bakersfield, Shafter California).
Good character study, excellent acting. and the chicken salad scene is classic Nicholson.

A Great Film
In a story of two worlds and what happens when they collide, Jack Nicholson gives a performance that should have won an Academy Award. As Bobby Dupea, Nicholson abandons his privilaged life for that of an aimless drifter- something he will eventually apologize for. He goes from being a talented musician to working as an oil rigger but a family illness will bring him back to his affluent roots and it is here that he must decide the course the rest of his life will take. And while all the perfomances are excellent, it is Nicholson that keeps us spellbound. In a long career, he has played many facinating characters but in my humble opinion, it is as the wasted talent Bobby Dupea that Nicholson shines the brightest.

A film about people
This film got a fair amount of buzz in its time but I had never seen it. Having been interested by some of Nicholson's work (Head, Witches of Eastwick, Chinatown) I thought, in a weak moment, that it might be good to own a copy of this.

It is a film about people I wouldn't want to know relating deeply with other people I wouldn't want to know and has few other qualities which stand out after a first viewing. I give it two stars rather than one because it was, I suppose, professionally done. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Raquel's finest hour
This is the quintessential Welch vehicle.She is down to earth, physical, sympathetic, reviled and ultimately triumphant.She had to find this project herself because Hollywood had no idea how to use her.Instead of the glamour sex symbol roles, she was really cut out for the everyday woman role.If there is one regret, it is that Raquel did not take the part of Honey Bruce in "Lenny", that she was offered.
This movie, entertaining from beginning to end, showed Raquel in her finest hour, sure it is corny, but in the classic, All-American way that no one can argue...by all means get this one.

70's Escapism Fun and a big bonus for Raquel Welch fans
I remember seeing this movie at a drive-in theatre when I was young and I was hooked.If you're a roller derby fan, a Raquel Welch fan, and like movies about the underdog fighting to the finish, then you're especially in for a treat.
I especially liked the casting of Jeanne Cooper as the team coach, and Helen K. as the sympathized, yet despised enemy,
I'll admit seeing her in one of the film's highlights, a catfight with her rolling across the railroad tracks with Raquel with a train coming??Like I said, escapism fun at it's best!!
The final battle between Raquel and Helen K. was especially entertaining given the slow motion scenes, I remember actually yelling at the drive-in screen from the front of my father's car while sitting on a blanket, "Go, Raquel, Win!"
I even learned things about the Roller Derby biz from this entertaining flick.
I know there are those of you out there who have also been waiting for this title to come out on DVD.Our day is here!
For those of you who didn't enjoy the movie, you have a right to your opinion, but I know I'm going to enjoy getting a copy on release day.
Go Raquel, thanks for entertaining us so!

Raquel Welch Rules!!
Raquel Welch rules in this superb story of the trials and tribulations of being a professional roller rink lady.It's a must see and finally on DVD!!!!!!!

GLORIOUS GARBAGE!
In the pantheon of glorious film garbage, KANSAS CITY BOMBER could give SHOWGIRLS lessons.This is prime 1970's fluff:Raquel Welch in all her sexpot glory.There is no other reason to watch this film. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

You can't grow without burning
To begin, I'm a life-long bodybuilder and Arnold Schwarzenegger fan, so, although he's strictly a co-star in this, I'm obviously biased. That being said, however, I absolutely LOVE this movie all around! One of my favorite parts is the way some of the very best advice I've ever heard on friendships and relationships in general is dispensed throughout the film at times you didn't even realize you were learning something. Examples: Joe Santo (Arnold) is putting Craig Blake (Jeff) through a workout and advising him, "You can't grow without burning!", and we come to realize just how profound that was when Joe repeats those words as the two dispute just why Mary Tate Farnsworth (Sally Field) left Joe for Craig. Also, there's Craig's uncle Albert, whose voice is heard previously at times reading letters to Craig, telling him, "It doesn't matter what you do, as long as you do something, and do it unsparingly.". Again, awesome movie. I've worn out two videos of it thusfar, having watched it so many times. Time to get ANOTHER one...

If you grew up in Birmingham
If you grew up in Birmingham, specifically Mountain Brook, in the 50s to the early 70's, this movie is a hoot. Look closely and you can see all of the people you know in the characters of the movie. The characters are based on real people, making the movie far more entertaining for those who have been there.

Not a bad movie
If you are looking for a great script exhibiting the artistic acting skills of Jeff Bridges and Sally Field...forget it!

If you are expecting a Arnold in a Collateral Damage or Terminator type role---again forget it.

This movie was made in the mid 1970's. It really doesn't do much for bodybuilding but it did launch Arnold to stardom.

You also get to see the beautiful Sally Field and the distinquished Jeff Bridges, the real stars of this movie.

If you are a Arnold fan, you may be dissapointed. Seeing Arnold play a fiddle is interesting.

Stay Hungry worth 4 stars.

Introducing Ar-nold!!!
This movie is largely what brought the great Arnold S. to prominence as a actor. Arnold even won a Golden Globe award for his performance!Stay Hungry is somewhat of a quirky movie. Seeing Arnold play a fiddle, the beautiful Sally Fields who gets raped in this movie (yeah the Flying Nun) and excellent acting and athletic skills by Jeff Bridges (dodging barbells, dumbells and iron plates by a madman) makes Stay Hungry a enjoyable and rewarding movie to watch.

Good ol' day's
This is a great film for any Arnold fan to add to his/her collection. It is just a fun film to watch and get a good laugh at how we all were back then, you know what I'm talking about, and if you don't , well then I suggest you buy this! ... Read more

Reviews (11)

Eureka.....A masterwork...
Nic Roeg has made a number of great films, aka 'Bad Timing', 'Don't Look Now' etc but 'Eureka' is a masterwork, a work of true genius. And it stems, like all great films, from a great script.....this time from Paul Mayersberg.
The subject deals with the problem of success. What do you do when you find what you've always been after ?
A fantastic cast headed by the trio of Gene Hackman, Theressa Russell, and Rutger Hauer weave their way through a complex plot based on the book 'Who Killed Sir Harry Oats' by Marshall Houts.
If you like film, structure and complex characterisation then this is a must see. Watch it before you die.

Not quite vintage Roeg
It's taken a long time to be released, but at last 'Eureka' is available on DVD. There are no extras, except for the trailer, which is a shame.

To my knowledge, this 1983 film has been screened only very rarely on terrestrial TV -- just once in the UK, for example, in the late 1980s on BBC2. At the time, viewers were given a great intro to the film -- i.e. how it was loosely based on true story, and how it had existed in several versions etc etc. Because of that, I've always felt this was a British film -- with people like Roeg, Jeremy Thomas, Lapotaire and many British actors in minor roles. But most of the major roles are taken by US actors -- e.g. Gene Hackman, Mickey Rourke, Joe Pesci etc.

This is the same version as shown on TV -- i.e. with all the gore, nudity and voodoo -- if you prefer to stay away from that sort of thing. Although Theresa Russell has done many good things, I'm not convinced by her acting in this one. But at the time, she was one of the most beautiful women in the world, and it is surprising that Roeg is prepared to share so many views of his wife with the cinema-goer.

As a plot and an atmospheric experience, I don't think this works as well as say, DON'T LOOK NOW. Once Hackman has been killed, it becomes too much of a courtroom drama. In other words, the climax comes too early in the film. Much is made of women with black hair -- McCann's wife, daughter and the hooker who guides him to the gold. And we have a literal and several figurative gold-diggers. In the end, I don't feel this movie has any grand message for the world, except perhaps the pointlessness of having so much wealth if you don't do anything with it. (Maybe Bill Gates has already seen this.)

But I'm glad it's now available, and we come close to having nearly all Roeg's significant work out on DVD.

"I once had it all. Now, I just have everything."
By owning tons of books of film criticism, the reviews I've read about EUREKA are so sundry and varied. The validities that critics have brought up about the film (both positive and negative) are justified, which had given me an unsure opinion on the EUREKA's true value. I have watched the film several times and examining the fact that it has never ceased to amaze me, EUREKA has engraved a place in the list of my favorite films. The cinematography (specifically the imagery in the cold of the Yukon) have haunted me whenever I talk to people about great photography in films. What amazes me more is that great actors such as Gene Hackman, Rutger Hauer, Mickey Rourke and Joe Pesci put such faith in the arthouse movement in order to star in what some consider a Nicolas Roeg relic in a realm of such diverse arthouse efforts by major studios (United Artists reportedly put up "mucho dinero" for this film to be made).

The film follows Jack McCann (Gene Hackman) throughout his life and legacy. It begins in the Yukon and his crusade to find the summit of all dreams and fantasies...the quest to find gold. Exclaiming "I never earned a nickel from another man's sweat", McCann sets foot throughout the ravaged Canadian wilderness, through towns which are developing into ghost towns as well as the acquired warmth of whorehouses ("Gold smells stronger than a woman"). When McCann finds the gold (in a wonderfully wrought orgasmic sequence when gold flows out like a million waterfalls as McCann roars in ecstasy. We then juxtapose from the iciness of the Yukon to the glow of the Caribbean with wife (Jane Lapontier) puttin' it on the sauce and turning Tarot cards and daughter (Roeg's wife Theresa Russell) woefully throwing herself at a handsome but devious Dutch playboy (Rutger Hauer). Meanwhile, McCann's island paradise is almost literally going to the gods as both Miami gangster (Pesci) and lawyer sidekick (Mickey Rourke) conspire to overthrow his island empire appropriately named "Eureka".

The "courtroom histrionics" that Maltin so much complained about in the film's final third are essential to character metamorphasis as the ambience of Hackman's McCann character flows into free-spirited Hauer, who he once scorned in hatefulness. It is important to realize that this character transmographication explains the nuances throughout the film, with its numerous allusions to voodoo and tokens of character's fortune. Nicolas Roeg, who gave audience such stylish and surreal tales like DON'T LOOK NOW and PERFORMANCE, is in fine form and his complete respect for technique is what ultimately makes the film unforgettable.

Hackman's McCann character, in a scene with Lapontiere, is in bed looking around at all he has, dissatisfied with what he and his environment has evolved into, retorts "I used to have it all...now I just have everything." A perfect line to express the film's convictions. EUREKA is, in my opinion, the best film of the three years it was distributed over. The film's epic offbeat structure only adds to its message. Some of the scenes illustrating Roeg's technique will make you shout "Eureka!"

GREAT MOMENTS.....MANY FLAWS
Nicolas Roeg was once one of the GREAT directors of the 1970's. With "Performance", "Walkabout", "Don't Look Now", "The Man Who Fell To Earth" and "Bad Timing" he built a reputation for being a man who didn't compromise his vision to just pander to mere entertainment. Indeed these 5 movies are his most rewarding and challenging works. With "Eureka" Roeg begins to slip. There are some great Roegian moments in the film and the first half with Gene Hackman is compelling at times but as the film goes on it loses steam and just simply turns into a courtroom drama. From what I've read of Roeg, he likes this film very much and while it is very good in places as a whole it just doesn't have that vision that his previous work had. After this film his choices of material did not match his odd style and seem mostly like vehicles for Theresa Russell(it seems he was a better director BEFORE she came into the scene).

Enough Roeg in the first hour
The first hour of this Nicolas Roeg film is vintage Roeg: otherworldly, mysterious, kinky, violent, mesmerizing, confounding. All of the good stuff. The second hour is a drawn out courtroom drama concerning the events of the first hour that is equally confounding, but negatively so. Roeg aficionados should jump at the chance to purchase this. It is a rare find on Amazon.com. I tend to watch the first hour repeatedly and skip the ending. Not a bad thing, actually, as there is enough Roeg to go around the first hour. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

a thrilling old-fashioned adventure
the running time on the VHS version that i've got says 102 minutes, approximate. it's on Vestron and on the back of the cover is two rows of three pictures: John Turturro, Jodie Foster, Dean Stockwell, Fred Ward, Dennis Hopper, and Vincent Price. Charlie Sheen makes an appearance as does Joe Pesci in a major role, yet he's not credited...but this movie is a good one. frankly, i could care less about the technical stuff behind the scenes about which version is which and all that...the VHS i have is just perfect and that's fine with me. the story is about a woman {Foster} who sees a mob hit and the Mafia {Avoca, played by legend Vincent Price} sends a hit-man {Hopper} out to kill Foster's character {Anne Benton}. hit-man Milo falls for Benton instead and soon the police get involved {Fred Ward is hilarious even though he's not suppose to be!}. Milo and Anne find themselves running from the police AND the mafia {Dean Stockwell appears as Avoca's mouthpiece throughout the whole film since Vincent only has three very brief scenes}. yes, Bob Dylan appears in the movie too! the film was made in 1989, according to some Vincent Price items i've read over the years. THEN, the film was re-released in 1991 on Showtime as "Catchfire"...then in 1992 it was called "Backtrack" again for the VHS i'm reviewing!

An average thriller with a superb cast
As a big-time Jodie Foster fan, I try to watch any movie she appears in, yet I left BackTrack sitting on my shelf for basically several years before popping it in the old VCR (and, for the record, I have the 1992 Director's Cut version on VHS). After hearing a reviewer I respect heap praise upon this film, I knew there must be something there that never came across to me on the box cover. Actually, the film was better than I expected, yet it is not a film that distinguished itself in my eyes as anything very special. Jodie Foster is, of course, terrific as always; Dennis Hopper does not wig out too many times; and a most interesting cast of characters come and go along the way. The problem I have is with the characterization, which is not sufficient in my eyes to describe the transformation of Jodie Foster's character in the course of the events that play out.

Foster plays Anne Benton, an up-and-coming young artist (who uses a most unusual medium for her art) who forgets all about the front tire that blows out and almost causes her to wreck her car when she accidentally witnesses a gang-land hit. Luckily, the Mafia bad guys in this movie can never seem to hit a moving target, so Anne escapes and goes immediately to the police, unaware of the true nature of this particular homicide until two hit men break into her home in an attempt to kill her and the police start expounding upon the virtues of the federal witness protection program. She decides to make a run for it and try to build a new life elsewhere on her own. The police want her as a witness, and the Mafia family run by Mr. Avoca ( an aged Vincent Price) just wants her silenced. The Mafia man for the job is Milo (Dennis Hopper), an accomplished hit man who begins tracking Anne down as she moves across the country. By the time he finds here, though, Milo has fallen in love with her, which is something of a no-no for a man in his profession. He and Anne do not seem to be a natural match by any stretch of the imagination, and thus their evolving relationship just never makes complete sense to me, especially from Anne's perspective, and this is my main point of contention here with the film. Anyway, the movie-long chase has to end somewhere, and the filmmakers do succeed in pulling off a pretty satisfying conclusion.

BackTrack does deserve better than the relative obscurity in which it has lain, although I would not consider this a great film by any means. It is worth a look just for the surprising number of famous faces that grace the screen; besides Foster and Hopper you will see Charlie Sheen, Dean Stockwell (who speaks in one of the most ridiculous put-on voices I have ever heard), the aforementioned Vincent Price, Joe Pesci, and none other than Bob Dylan. I love Bob Dylan and his music, but he really does not possess the charisma or talent necessary to be an actor. Still, it is quite a hoot to see him pop up unexpectedly in the film in a small but quite memorable little scene. All told, BackTrack does have a few interesting things to show the viewer above and beyond the sight of a young Jodie Foster working her magic in front of the cameras (without her clothes at one point, for those who care about that sort of thing). I would not rush out and try to find a copy of the movie, but if it ever passes your way, it is certainly worth a couple hours' of your free time.

Gimme a break
BACKTRACK is unbelievably dopey. Its only redeeming factor is that Jodie Foster shows an eye-popping amount of flesh - and it's no body double. And what a great set of legs! That's why I'm awarding two stars, one for each gam, which just goes to show the sophistication level of the film (AND my review of it).

Anne Benton (Foster) is a "conceptual artist", which means, in the wacky Southern California milieu in which she has her gallery, she creates pieces using message board displays. You know, those where one line of illuminated text moves right to left across a long and narrow screen. Anyway, one night after experiencing a flat tire on the freeway, she witnesses a mob hit on the premises of an oil refinery. (For those LA viewers, it's the one just off the 405 south of LAX where the freeway curves to the east above Palos Verdes.) Like a good citizen, she goes to the police, who realize that they have in Benton a valuable witness against organized crime, and specifically against Big Boss Mr. Avoca (Vincent Price). But after her apartment is invaded and her boyfriend (a quickly expendable Charlie Sheen) shot to death, Anne realizes neither the cops nor the Feds can protect her, so she flees town and establishes a new identity and career. To hunt her down, mob goodfella Leo Carelli (Joe Pesci) hires the saxophone-playing assassin Milo (Dennis Hopper), who tracks her across the West using computer databases. The thing is, he begins to obsess about Anne after finding photos of her (un)dressed in dominatrix accessories. Milo has issues.

The plot has a Keystone Cops quality as law enforcement seeks to retrieve Benton by following Milo. And after the latter severs communication with his employers in favor of his own agenda of infatuation, Leo's thugs go after Milo and Anne by following the cops. Even then, the storyline might've been redeemable if it hadn't taken such a Bonnie and Clyde twist, and the conclusion (at that same refinery) is positively ludicrous.

Hopper as Milo is almost the caricature of a mob hit man. Where did he get those clothes, that hat, and that accent? And speaking of accents, Leo's lawyer John Luponi (Dean Stockwell) has to be one of the most over-acted roles in recent memory. If it didn't get a Razzie Award, it should've.

Perhaps even the cast realized what a disaster BACKTRACK is. Joe Pesci, whose role is not insignificant, isn't even listed on the ending credits. I wonder if he tried to buy up all the prints?

A dedicated Jodie fan will perhaps wax rhapsodic over her nude shower scene. Beyond that, don't bother.

Odd, but intriguing
This film starts off a bit slowly and wastes undue time on characters not terribly important to the overall story. Once you get to the things between Foster and Hopper's characters then this gets interesting. To see how obsession and a covert admiration gets turned into a romantic [one-sided] affair for Hopper's 'Milo' reminds me a little of 'The Professional' with Jean Reno and Natalie Portman. Seeing how a very mature man who essentially operates alone deals with, then adores the new woman in his life and will do anything to protect her is a lure to watch in itself.

This movie is not fully in league with 'The Professional' but, flaws aside, it has its own charms. Kudos as well for filming part of it in New Mexico instead of some other big-name places. The budget might not have allowed extravagance but it might have ruined this particular film. Anyone who has been to New Mexico will likely know how I feel.
Ultimately, you can spend your money on a far worse film than this one.

Jodie's Leg Fan's Will be Disappointed by Cut Scene's
If your a male fan of Jodie Foster's and you saw this movie on cable, this version is a disappointment. A couple of the scene's showing her dynamite leg's were cut from this version. It's rated R, they show her topless, but they cut out the best leg scene's, go figure? ... Read more

Reviews (15)

a thrilling old-fashioned adventure
the running time on the VHS version that i've got says 102 minutes, approximate. it's on Vestron and on the back of the cover is two rows of three pictures: John Turturro, Jodie Foster, Dean Stockwell, Fred Ward, Dennis Hopper, and Vincent Price. Charlie Sheen makes an appearance as does Joe Pesci in a major role, yet he's not credited...but this movie is a good one. frankly, i could care less about the technical stuff behind the scenes about which version is which and all that...the VHS i have is just perfect and that's fine with me. the story is about a woman {Foster} who sees a mob hit and the Mafia {Avoca, played by legend Vincent Price} sends a hit-man {Hopper} out to kill Foster's character {Anne Benton}. hit-man Milo falls for Benton instead and soon the police get involved {Fred Ward is hilarious even though he's not suppose to be!}. Milo and Anne find themselves running from the police AND the mafia {Dean Stockwell appears as Avoca's mouthpiece throughout the whole film since Vincent only has three very brief scenes}. yes, Bob Dylan appears in the movie too! the film was made in 1989, according to some Vincent Price items i've read over the years. THEN, the film was re-released in 1991 on Showtime as "Catchfire"...then in 1992 it was called "Backtrack" again for the VHS i'm reviewing!

An average thriller with a superb cast
As a big-time Jodie Foster fan, I try to watch any movie she appears in, yet I left BackTrack sitting on my shelf for basically several years before popping it in the old VCR (and, for the record, I have the 1992 Director's Cut version on VHS). After hearing a reviewer I respect heap praise upon this film, I knew there must be something there that never came across to me on the box cover. Actually, the film was better than I expected, yet it is not a film that distinguished itself in my eyes as anything very special. Jodie Foster is, of course, terrific as always; Dennis Hopper does not wig out too many times; and a most interesting cast of characters come and go along the way. The problem I have is with the characterization, which is not sufficient in my eyes to describe the transformation of Jodie Foster's character in the course of the events that play out.

Foster plays Anne Benton, an up-and-coming young artist (who uses a most unusual medium for her art) who forgets all about the front tire that blows out and almost causes her to wreck her car when she accidentally witnesses a gang-land hit. Luckily, the Mafia bad guys in this movie can never seem to hit a moving target, so Anne escapes and goes immediately to the police, unaware of the true nature of this particular homicide until two hit men break into her home in an attempt to kill her and the police start expounding upon the virtues of the federal witness protection program. She decides to make a run for it and try to build a new life elsewhere on her own. The police want her as a witness, and the Mafia family run by Mr. Avoca ( an aged Vincent Price) just wants her silenced. The Mafia man for the job is Milo (Dennis Hopper), an accomplished hit man who begins tracking Anne down as she moves across the country. By the time he finds here, though, Milo has fallen in love with her, which is something of a no-no for a man in his profession. He and Anne do not seem to be a natural match by any stretch of the imagination, and thus their evolving relationship just never makes complete sense to me, especially from Anne's perspective, and this is my main point of contention here with the film. Anyway, the movie-long chase has to end somewhere, and the filmmakers do succeed in pulling off a pretty satisfying conclusion.

BackTrack does deserve better than the relative obscurity in which it has lain, although I would not consider this a great film by any means. It is worth a look just for the surprising number of famous faces that grace the screen; besides Foster and Hopper you will see Charlie Sheen, Dean Stockwell (who speaks in one of the most ridiculous put-on voices I have ever heard), the aforementioned Vincent Price, Joe Pesci, and none other than Bob Dylan. I love Bob Dylan and his music, but he really does not possess the charisma or talent necessary to be an actor. Still, it is quite a hoot to see him pop up unexpectedly in the film in a small but quite memorable little scene. All told, BackTrack does have a few interesting things to show the viewer above and beyond the sight of a young Jodie Foster working her magic in front of the cameras (without her clothes at one point, for those who care about that sort of thing). I would not rush out and try to find a copy of the movie, but if it ever passes your way, it is certainly worth a couple hours' of your free time.

Gimme a break
BACKTRACK is unbelievably dopey. Its only redeeming factor is that Jodie Foster shows an eye-popping amount of flesh - and it's no body double. And what a great set of legs! That's why I'm awarding two stars, one for each gam, which just goes to show the sophistication level of the film (AND my review of it).

Anne Benton (Foster) is a "conceptual artist", which means, in the wacky Southern California milieu in which she has her gallery, she creates pieces using message board displays. You know, those where one line of illuminated text moves right to left across a long and narrow screen. Anyway, one night after experiencing a flat tire on the freeway, she witnesses a mob hit on the premises of an oil refinery. (For those LA viewers, it's the one just off the 405 south of LAX where the freeway curves to the east above Palos Verdes.) Like a good citizen, she goes to the police, who realize that they have in Benton a valuable witness against organized crime, and specifically against Big Boss Mr. Avoca (Vincent Price). But after her apartment is invaded and her boyfriend (a quickly expendable Charlie Sheen) shot to death, Anne realizes neither the cops nor the Feds can protect her, so she flees town and establishes a new identity and career. To hunt her down, mob goodfella Leo Carelli (Joe Pesci) hires the saxophone-playing assassin Milo (Dennis Hopper), who tracks her across the West using computer databases. The thing is, he begins to obsess about Anne after finding photos of her (un)dressed in dominatrix accessories. Milo has issues.

The plot has a Keystone Cops quality as law enforcement seeks to retrieve Benton by following Milo. And after the latter severs communication with his employers in favor of his own agenda of infatuation, Leo's thugs go after Milo and Anne by following the cops. Even then, the storyline might've been redeemable if it hadn't taken such a Bonnie and Clyde twist, and the conclusion (at that same refinery) is positively ludicrous.

Hopper as Milo is almost the caricature of a mob hit man. Where did he get those clothes, that hat, and that accent? And speaking of accents, Leo's lawyer John Luponi (Dean Stockwell) has to be one of the most over-acted roles in recent memory. If it didn't get a Razzie Award, it should've.

Perhaps even the cast realized what a disaster BACKTRACK is. Joe Pesci, whose role is not insignificant, isn't even listed on the ending credits. I wonder if he tried to buy up all the prints?

A dedicated Jodie fan will perhaps wax rhapsodic over her nude shower scene. Beyond that, don't bother.

Odd, but intriguing
This film starts off a bit slowly and wastes undue time on characters not terribly important to the overall story. Once you get to the things between Foster and Hopper's characters then this gets interesting. To see how obsession and a covert admiration gets turned into a romantic [one-sided] affair for Hopper's 'Milo' reminds me a little of 'The Professional' with Jean Reno and Natalie Portman. Seeing how a very mature man who essentially operates alone deals with, then adores the new woman in his life and will do anything to protect her is a lure to watch in itself.

This movie is not fully in league with 'The Professional' but, flaws aside, it has its own charms. Kudos as well for filming part of it in New Mexico instead of some other big-name places. The budget might not have allowed extravagance but it might have ruined this particular film. Anyone who has been to New Mexico will likely know how I feel.
Ultimately, you can spend your money on a far worse film than this one.

Jodie's Leg Fan's Will be Disappointed by Cut Scene's
If your a male fan of Jodie Foster's and you saw this movie on cable, this version is a disappointment. A couple of the scene's showing her dynamite leg's were cut from this version. It's rated R, they show her topless, but they cut out the best leg scene's, go figure? ... Read more