Title: Johnny Handsome (1989)
Director: Walter Hill
Cast: Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Elizabeth McGovern,
Morgan Freeman, Forest Whitaker, Lance Henriksen
Review:
I did an article a while back called 16 of the Top ‘Revengiest’Revenge Movies; in it I included these films where something awful happens to
the main character, but then things turn around and eventually the main
character gets his or her revenge, usually in pretty gruesome ways. I didn’t
include the film I’ll be reviewing today because I had not seen it in such a
long time. When I first saw Johnny Handsome I must’ve been about 13; all I
remembered about Johnny Handsome was its basic premise and the fact that I liked
the story a lot. There’s something gratifying about revenge tales, they always
start out with something awful happening to the good guy of the film, then in
the end whamo! That sweet, sweet revenge. The bad guys get what they deserved and
the good guy gets his revenge. Though in this sense, Walter Hill’s Johnny
Handsome is a bit different than most revenge films, Johnny isn’t your typical
good guy, he’s actually a crook.
In Johnny Handsome we meet John Sedley, moments before he
pulls off a diamond heist. John is not just any crook though, he is a
mastermind in pulling off robberies. Also, his face is severely disfigured due
to an anomaly in his genes. His deformity doesn’t stop him from doing what he
has to do. Johnny is pulling off this diamond heist with the help of two
individuals. One is a tomboyish lady called Sunny Boyd (Ellen Barkin) and the
other a low life called Rafe Garrett (Lance Henriksen). The three stick up the diamond store, and as
we might expect in this kind of movie, things get ugly. The cops are called
upon and at the last minute Rafe and Sunny decide to double cross Johnny and
shoot him and the owner of the store, their idea is to keep the loot to
themselves. Rafe and Sunny leave John for dead, unfortunately for them, John doesn’t
die. Instead, he is rescued by the police and taken to a hospital where he is
given the opportunity to jumpstart his life. You see, the doctors want to
perform a surgery on him that could give him a normal face again. Will he take
this opportunity to begin again? Or will he go back to his old ways?
It occurred to me that Johnny Handsome plays out a lot like
a ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ story where the main character has a duality about
him. He has his good natured/kind side, and he’s got his evil side, which he is
at battle with. Johnny used to be a crook, because his looks led him to become
an outcast, ridiculed and made fun of all his life. But what happens when he gets
his face back and he no longer looks like a monster? What kind of battle will be waged with the demons
inside of him? This is what is at the center of this story. Johnny is even
given a chance to fall in love with a beautiful woman, and lead a normal life,
unfortunately, his former life calls him. Revenge calls him. Should he heed its
call?
This is a Walter Hill film, so it’s not just any director we’re
talking about here. This is the guy behind such action packed 80’s classics as
48 Hours (1982), Extreme Prejudice (1987) and Red Heat (1988). Hill’s a
director whose films are very male oriented, he makes films for guys to holler
and cheer at, they are about tough dudes, shoot outs, guns and explosions; tough
dudes and sexy ladies. This time around things are a bit different though; not
that Johnny Handsome doesn’t have its fare share of action and shoot outs, but
the story is told in a more film noir style. It’s darker, grittier, more
character driven. The film starts with a shootout and ends with a shootout, the
middle of the film is the whole process of Johnny going from looking like a
monster, to looking like Mickey Rourke before he turned to boxing. Funny how in
real life, Rourke know looks like Johnny before the operation, oh the irony of
life!
Hill invests a good amount of time getting you to know
Johnny, getting you to feel for him. Rourke does a good job here, he plays the
tormented soul, you feel like he’s the Frankenstein monster or something; a
misunderstood creature who’s just looking for some love. At first, when we
first meet Johnny he looks like a deformed monster, similar to the character
that Eric Stoltz played in Peter Bogdanovich’s The Mask (1985), someone
deformed because of genetic defects. The
character of Johnny also reminded me of Marv, another beat up character that
Rourke played in Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City (2005). During the first half of
the film, Rourke plays his character through heavy amounts of makeup. But half
way through the film, after the operation, he transforms, and then we get the
real Mickey Rourke, the mind boggles at how much Rourke has changed through the
years! The rest of the film is populated by an excellent cast of supporting
characters. Ellen Barkin has always been great at playing these rough, tom
boyish ladies, on this show she plays a woman with no moral values whatsoever,
she hangs out in bars, being a whore, stealing, killing and double crossing.
She hangs out with low lives like Henriksen’s Rafe Garrett. Henriksen has
always been great at playing villains, here he plays the main baddy, not much
of a stretch acting wise, but he gets the job done. Rounding things up are
Morgan Freeman as a cop who knows Johnny’s true nature, and Forest Whitaker as
the doctor who operates on Johnny. Whitaker plays the guy who wants to give
Johnny that second chance to improve himself, the guy with hopes that we can
all change.
Johnny Handsome is a very underrated Walter Hill film. The
film didn’t hit it big in theaters, in fact, it was a downright flop. It cost
20 million to make but only raked in 7.2 at the box office. I guess the film
really didn’t connect with audiences for some reason. A pity because the film
is a good revenge tale, and it has an excellent cast, this is the kind of film
that makes you wonder why exactly did it slip through the cracks? Maybe it was
due to the fact that it had some hefty competition at the box office. Upon it’s
release it went up against Ridley Scott’s Black Rain (1989), which by the way
was the #1 film that week, and it also went up against Sea of Love (1989) which
starred Al Pacino. Also a bunch of successful family comedies like Uncle Buck (1989)
and Parenthood (1989), so I guess a dark, brooding film about a deformed dude
wasn’t at the top of anybodies list that weekend. But whatever, those that
know, know; and on my book, this is a solid revenge tale with good performances
and a dark, grimy look. If you’re ever in the mood for something like that,
then this is the film for you.
Rating: 4 out of 5
8 comments:
I loved this back in the day and it sounds like it still holds up pretty well.
Not only has Micky Rourke aged quite appallingly over the last 24 years, the once stunningly beautiful Elizabeth McGovern has as well ! ! !.
What is Walter Hills most under-rated movie ?..."THE DRIVER" (1978).
Will have to check this one out.
Love a good revenge flick (massive fan of Lance Henriksen too).
Haven't watched too many Hill films. Only The Warriors, Red Heat and Southern Comfort.
Ricky: Still holds up, it was solid in my book. Hill made sure this one was shot with lots of darks...I liked that shadowy quality about it.
Jennifer: True.
Jimmie T: Yeah, I've yet to watch a lot of his stuff, I am most interested in one he made with Charles Bronson called Hard Times (1975), definetly looking forward to seeing more of Hill's films.
Jack: :I will be watching a bit more of his stuff, I dig his violent balls to the wall style of story telling. Red Heat, I saw it the other day and enjoyed it a whole lot.
I will be reviewing another of his movies for the upcoming 90's Blog A Thon, so be on the look out for that review!
Thanks for commenting!
Very underrated indeed! Love this film and Hill brings a fantastic gritty noir quality to the film. He refuses to romanticize things and creates a doomed protagonist who you just know is going to be in deep trouble by the end.
I'm glad you highlighted the cast - so many fantastic character actors in this one all doing excellent work!
Irony yes, and an all-star cast for its time. I'll look for this film since it reminds me of Darkman, which I love.
J.D. yeah, you kind of get the idea that Johnny is headed for disaster, the film kind of sends a message "once a rotten apple, always a rotten apple" Agreed, Hill didnt want to do the typical happy ending, though it seems like the film is headed that way at one point. That scene where he tells the girl "I just don't want to go out with you anymore dont you get it?" Damn, that was just cold, but he knew he was going down a dark path and didnt want to take her with him.
Maurice: You are absolutely right, this film reminded me of Darkman as well, a doomed, tragic character, I also compare Darkman to Frankenstein's monster, these are a group of misunderstod creatures looking for some love and understanding in the dark dark world.
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