Gerald Sanford, the writer, has given us a story about an unhinged officer of the law (Hopper) who kidnaps a rootless crime victim (Argento) and keeps her in a cell in his basement, where she must earn "points" to gain privileges. So far, nothing much original. "The Collector" had more going for it.
But the script has Dennis Hopper delivering a couple of lectures to his prisoner which he pulls off with panache although, in fact, the logic is as twisted as Hopper's character. I wish I could repeat all of them verbatim but they go something like this.
Hopper gives Argento breakfast and she dashes it through the bars of her cage onto the floor. When Hopper returns from work, he sees a rat nibbling at the breakfast. He blows the rats brains out. Then, in a patient but annoyed tone of voice, he asks her rhetorically: "Now, look what you've done. I make you a nice breakfast. You throw it away. A rat starts eating it. I blow the rat away. Who's fault is THAT? Is it MY fault for fixing you the breakfast? I was being nice to you. Is it Mister RAT's fault for eating it? Absolutely not. It is all YOUR fault. And I'll bet you never gave a thought to Mr. Rat's family. The starving Mrs. Rat and the little baby Rats." Hopper explains all this as if it makes perfect sense, no more complicated than one plus one equals two.
In another scene, later, he tells Argento that he has to testify at a friend's Internal Affairs hearing. The friend, Officer Burns, gave a speeding ticket to a black man who claimed that it was racism. "I know Officer Burns," he says, "and he hasn't got a prejudiced bone in his body. He's even got a Jewish wife. He might even be a Jew himself. 'Burns' could be short for 'Bernstein'." When he returns from the meeting, he tells Argento, "Well, aren't you going to ask me how my day went? After I testified the judge asked me what Burns' Jewish wife had to do with the speeding ticket. I told him that I had checked the speeders background and it turned out that in the past year alone, he'd had other speeding tickets. Three of them. And two were handed out by policemen of his OWN PERSUASION." I won't give any more examples, I think, because those are the ones that leap most readily to mind -- and I don't want to stroke out laughing.
Hopper, as Sheriff Krebs, is older and chunkier than we're used to. He was my supporting player in "Blue Velvet." Not that, as an extra, I spoke to him but we exchanged glances that were charged with indecipherable meaning. His face has plumped out a bit, gotten wider, and with his shades he looks a bit like the elder Truman Capote. He seems to switch smoothly from raging maniac to socially responsible sheriff and back again as the situation requires. A kind of Krebs cycle. (If anybody gets THAT pun, let me know and I will send you a personal check for fifteen cents.)
Asia Argento doesn't really look much like anyone else. Everything about her appearance, from her plump lips to her throaty Italian-accented voice, seems to radiate a kind of feral heat. The first thing she spends her earned "points" on is a shower, which she takes nude on screen. All women in R-rated movies take showers on screen at one point or another. And the showers are not merely instrumental but expressive too. The actresses close their eyes and smile and loll their heads around and soap up their breasts. Not that I mean to devalue the functionality of the act. It's reassuring to know that these girls are so terribly clean.
There's some kind of sub plot involving Hopper playing with puppets and Helen Shaver wanting to turn him into Buffalo Bob or Kermit the Frog or something. Shaver discovers the captive and tries to blackmail Hopper into becoming her permanent lover. This is foolish of her. You do not blackmail Dennis Hopper. Shaver gives the best, most modulated performance.
Well, the story's ridiculous, though tense enough to carry an undemanding viewer along for most of its length. There aren't really any surprises in it. It could have been written by a computer. But there are a few minor gems sprinkled about in the dialog.
But the script has Dennis Hopper delivering a couple of lectures to his prisoner which he pulls off with panache although, in fact, the logic is as twisted as Hopper's character. I wish I could repeat all of them verbatim but they go something like this.
Hopper gives Argento breakfast and she dashes it through the bars of her cage onto the floor. When Hopper returns from work, he sees a rat nibbling at the breakfast. He blows the rats brains out. Then, in a patient but annoyed tone of voice, he asks her rhetorically: "Now, look what you've done. I make you a nice breakfast. You throw it away. A rat starts eating it. I blow the rat away. Who's fault is THAT? Is it MY fault for fixing you the breakfast? I was being nice to you. Is it Mister RAT's fault for eating it? Absolutely not. It is all YOUR fault. And I'll bet you never gave a thought to Mr. Rat's family. The starving Mrs. Rat and the little baby Rats." Hopper explains all this as if it makes perfect sense, no more complicated than one plus one equals two.
In another scene, later, he tells Argento that he has to testify at a friend's Internal Affairs hearing. The friend, Officer Burns, gave a speeding ticket to a black man who claimed that it was racism. "I know Officer Burns," he says, "and he hasn't got a prejudiced bone in his body. He's even got a Jewish wife. He might even be a Jew himself. 'Burns' could be short for 'Bernstein'." When he returns from the meeting, he tells Argento, "Well, aren't you going to ask me how my day went? After I testified the judge asked me what Burns' Jewish wife had to do with the speeding ticket. I told him that I had checked the speeders background and it turned out that in the past year alone, he'd had other speeding tickets. Three of them. And two were handed out by policemen of his OWN PERSUASION." I won't give any more examples, I think, because those are the ones that leap most readily to mind -- and I don't want to stroke out laughing.
Hopper, as Sheriff Krebs, is older and chunkier than we're used to. He was my supporting player in "Blue Velvet." Not that, as an extra, I spoke to him but we exchanged glances that were charged with indecipherable meaning. His face has plumped out a bit, gotten wider, and with his shades he looks a bit like the elder Truman Capote. He seems to switch smoothly from raging maniac to socially responsible sheriff and back again as the situation requires. A kind of Krebs cycle. (If anybody gets THAT pun, let me know and I will send you a personal check for fifteen cents.)
Asia Argento doesn't really look much like anyone else. Everything about her appearance, from her plump lips to her throaty Italian-accented voice, seems to radiate a kind of feral heat. The first thing she spends her earned "points" on is a shower, which she takes nude on screen. All women in R-rated movies take showers on screen at one point or another. And the showers are not merely instrumental but expressive too. The actresses close their eyes and smile and loll their heads around and soap up their breasts. Not that I mean to devalue the functionality of the act. It's reassuring to know that these girls are so terribly clean.
There's some kind of sub plot involving Hopper playing with puppets and Helen Shaver wanting to turn him into Buffalo Bob or Kermit the Frog or something. Shaver discovers the captive and tries to blackmail Hopper into becoming her permanent lover. This is foolish of her. You do not blackmail Dennis Hopper. Shaver gives the best, most modulated performance.
Well, the story's ridiculous, though tense enough to carry an undemanding viewer along for most of its length. There aren't really any surprises in it. It could have been written by a computer. But there are a few minor gems sprinkled about in the dialog.