Nathan Hughes Dennis Hopper once said 'There are moments that I've had some real brilliance, you know. But I think there are moments. And sometimes, in a career, moments are enough.' and I think he was right and this directorial effort by no other than the easy rider himself is nothing short of excellence. It bears everything required for essential cinema viewing, it casually takes you on a stroll where nothing feels forced, you're not choking down information 10 gigawatts per second, trying remembering inordinate amounts of information. No, It's smarter than that, it's the slow cooked approach from the first scene where the main character is met at a crossroads which I felt is symbolic to the entire movie, a drifter no less forced to wait at a train crossing. The movie plays out rather seamlessly like you're a fly on the wall, Drifter Madox (Don Johnson) is fuelled by what fuels most men and as easy as women comes to Madox so does getting into trouble which almost feels like both his gift and curse. He get's a job quite quickly with some agitation/ harm but things start to snowball for him quite quickly for a man only new to town. Great performances from Virginia Madsen as Dolly Harshaw who is perfect as the rich spoiled wife who wants everything and usually gets everything she wants except in this case Madox- and Jennifer Connelly as Gloria Harper is beyond comprehension ( you need to see to believe ) and honestly it's something to seen and don't forget the scene where Madox (Johnson) asks unnervingly beautiful Glora Harper (Connelly) 'Would you like a soda? Yeah, a soda.' 'Do you want a soda?' she replies back. 'Yes I do, yes I do. What would be nicer on a hot afternoon, than a tall, clean, cool, soda.' and for a minute there I thought he was talking about a cool beverage but the essential lesson I derived from this film is when air is thick with temptation take a cold bath and blow a few bubbles because selfish desire and temptation isn't always a good idea - it's almost always bad.

tomsview Right from the start, "The Hot Spot" promises something different – it has a terrific sense of place, and we feel we already know a lot about Don Johnson's character. Although heat, sex and southern accents are nothing new to drama, they haven't often been put together in a slicker package – Dennis Hopper took film noir on a trip to Texas and came up with a polished, classy-looking movie with great lines and a few twists you don't see coming.The icing on the cake is a soundtrack featuring Miles Davis and John Lee Hooker, which punctuates the story at key points with knowing grunts and moans. The repeated refrain, "Well, well, well", suggests a weary acceptance of human frailty.Johnson's character, Harry Madox, arrives in the Texas town of Landers. He is a drifter, a smart one, but his life seems to be going nowhere. One of the characters puts his finger on the problem when he says to Harry, "What are you anyway – 35-36? Well, you sure as hell haven't set the world on fire so far or you wouldn't be hanging around a place like this". "Yeah, replies Harry, "but I've got ambition".Harry is ready for any opportunity that presents itself, and it doesn't take him long to shake things up, especially the libidos of two women – Gloria Harper and Dolly Harshaw – played by Jennifer Connelly and Virginia Madsen.Using his wits, Harry gets a job at the used car lot owned by George Harshaw where the beautiful Gloria works. Not long after, he meets Harshaw's wife Dolly, and begins an affair with her. "There are only two things to do in this town", she informs him, and as he doesn't have a television set, that only leaves one thing to do. Before the film has finished, Harry and Dolly make love in Harshaw's bedroom, in a car at the used car lot, and even in a sawmill after an evening of spectacular skinny-dipping. Despite Dolly's attraction to him, Harry's interest in Gloria continues to grow, although she is only 19 to his 36.Virginia Madsen throws herself into her role as the scheming wife of a much older man with heart trouble. Her performance is showy, amusing and over-the-top. She provides the light moments in a film that might otherwise be heavy going. She is also the perfect contrast to Jennifer Connelly's detached and ethereal Gloria.Despite his preoccupations, Harry sizes up the Landers bank and pulls off a robbery. He immediately comes under suspicion from the law. After a swim with Gloria – there is a lot of swimming in this film – Harry learns she is being blackmailed by a low-life named Frank Sutton over photographs that suggest she has had a lesbian relationship. William Sadler as Sutton embraces the white trash clichés with relish and delivers a superbly repellent character. Sutton also attempts to blackmail Harry over the bank robbery. Harry's attempt to solve both blackmail problems precipitates the film's final act."The Hot Spot" hits the right spot with a great script and perfect performances – it also has a twist ending to rival the best of them. It's surprising that it didn't do better when first released but it's a great little discovery for anyone who comes across it now.

Claudio Carvalho When the drifter Harry Madox (Don Johnson) reaches a small town in Texas, he gets a job as used car salesman with the dealer George Harshaw (Jerry Hardin) and settles down in a hotel room. During a fire, Harry observes that the local bank is left empty and open without any security. Sooner he plots a scheme to rob the bank, provoking a fire in his room to distract the employees. When Harry meets George's wife Dolly Harshaw (Virginia Madsen), the easy woman teases him and they have sex. Harry becomes the prime suspect of the bank heist and is arrested, but Dolly provided the necessary alibi to release him and blackmails him to have a love affair with her. However, Harry falls in love for Gloria Harper (Jennifer Connelly), who works as accountant in the dealership. He discovers that Gloria is blackmailed by the despicable Frank Sutton (William Sadler) and he decides to press Sutton. But in the end, Dolly gets what she wants. "Hot Spot" is an unknown gem and one of the most amoral stories of the cinema history. With the exception of the sweet Gloria Harper and the cuckold George Harshow, the other three lead characters have no moral or ethical codes and Virginia Madsen performs one of the most despicable and Machiavellian femme fatale of the cinema. This masterpiece of Dennis Hopper is certainly the best work of Don Johnson and the soundtrack is stunning and among my favorites. I have just watched "Hot Spot" maybe for the sixth or seventh time and this film-noir has not aged. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "Hot Spot – Um Local Muito Quente" ("Hot Spot – A Very Hot Spot")Note: On 29 October 2011, I saw this film again.

seymourblack-1 "The Hot Spot" is an immensely entertaining modern film noir thriller which is rich in style, atmosphere and authenticity. These impressive qualities, no doubt, stem from the fact that it's directed by Dennis Hopper whose genuine affinity for this type of material is obvious and also the fact that the original screenplay (which was adapted from Charles Williams' book "Hell Hath No Fury") was written by Williams and Nona Tyson back in 1962. Ueli Steiger's photography and a tremendous soundtrack featuring such luminaries as John Lee Hooker, Miles Davis and Taj Mahal also make very significant contributions to the look and mood of the piece.The movie's characters include all the familiar noir archetypes and also many of the expected themes such as murder, blackmail, double crosses and robbery. The plot takes a number of interesting twists and turns and in keeping with the time in which it was made, the sex and violence are considerably more explicit than would have been possible during the heyday of film noir. The presence of extreme heat is also a consistent feature throughout the film. Desert scenes, perspiration, two major fires in a small town and scenes where the shimmering heat rises from ground level are just some examples of how it's represented visually but the hot blooded nature of some of the characters and their steamy affairs also serve to reinforce the power of the theme.Harry Madox (Don Johnson) is a drifter who arrives in a small Texas town during sizzling hot weather and is soon attracted by the sight of a good looking young woman who he follows to a used car lot. There, he takes a job as a salesman and gradually gets to know Gloria Harper (Jennifer Connelly) who is the bookkeeper at Harshaw Motors. She appears to be rather reserved and naive but something that happens when they go together to deal with a potential repossession case convinces him that she's hiding something.Gloria isn't the only attraction in town that he finds irresistible as there's also the local bank and Dolly Harshaw (Virginia Madsen) who is his boss' wife. The bank doesn't have a functioning security system and is staffed by part-time firemen who leave the property unattended each time they get a call out. Harry sets a building on fire, robs the bank and then bravely rescues a man who's trapped in the burning building and thereby provides himself with an alibi.Harry initially tries to resist Dolly's less than subtle advances but is soon lured into a torrid and dangerous affair with her. At the same time, he continues his relationship with Gloria who's the girl he wants to settle down with permanently. He discovers that she's being blackmailed and resolves that problem violently but another problem created by Dolly proves to be insurmountable.Don Johnson gives a particularly understated performance as the deeply cynical and self serving Harry who believes that "in this life, you've got to take what you want, damn sure can't stand around and wait for somebody to give it to you". He also seems bitter and agitated at times and says that "life's just been a succession of jams over floozies". He immediately fell for Gloria and saw a better future for himself with her but when Harry met Dolly, what followed led him to reflect that "I found my level and (now) I'm livin' it".Virginia Madsen is sensational as the sultry, shameless and seductive femme fatale who is incredibly manipulative and on one occasion, literally uses sex as a murder weapon. Jennifer Connelly's facial expressions convey her character's combination of innocence, fear and sadness very convincingly and the remainder of the cast also provide good support with some colourful and eccentric performances. The best of these come from William Sadler who plays a despicable blackmailer and Jack Nance who excels as the lecherous, heavy drinking banker.