Catchfire (1990)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Directors:

Dennis Hopper
Alan Smithee

Writers (WGA):

Rachel Kronstadt Mann (story)
Rachel Kronstadt Mann (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

3 April 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

When murder is your business, you'd better not fall in love with your work.

Plot:

An artist (Foster) witnesses a Mafia hit and calls the police. At the police station she realizes that the Mafia has a man in the force...

Plot Keywords:

Mafia | Hitman | Artist | Greek American | Car Trouble

Cast

Dennis Hopper	...	Milo
Jodie Foster	...	Anne Benton
Dean Stockwell	...	John Luponi
Vincent Price	...	Mr. Avoca
John Turturro	...	Pinella
Fred Ward	...	Pauling
Julie Adams	...	Martha
Tony Sirico	...	Greek (as G. Anthony Sirico)
Sy Richardson	...	Capt. Walker
Frank Gio	...	Frankie
Helena Kallianiotes	...	Grace Carelli
John Apicella	...	Man at refinery
Clifford Bartholomew	...	Fed #2
Kevin Bourland	...	Ad agency man
Carl David Burks	...	Ad agency man

Also Known As:

Backtrack (USA) (TV title (director's cut))
Catchfire (Australia)
Do It the Hard Way

Runtime:

180 min (original cut) | 116 min (director's cut) | 98 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Iceland:16 | Norway:15 | Singapore:M18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Mack-Taylor Productions

Trivia:

Directed by Dennis Hopper under the pseudonym "Alan Smithee", which is a common Hollywood pseudonym used by any director who is too unhappy with the finished film to put his real name on it.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: After Bob is supposedly hit by the two Mafia men who break into Anne's apartment, the two Mafia men pull the blankets back and you can see that Bob is still breathing.

Quotes:

Milo: There's something going on here that I really don't understand, but I like it.

Movie Connections:

References Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972)

Catchfire aka Backtract = BACKFIRE!

Dennis Hopper's BACKTRACK (Catchfire) had everything going for it- good plot potential and great cast. How did everything to go so wrong? I bought the set- up, yet came away feeling this film was the result of Hopper making a bar bet that he could bed Jodie Foster and get paid to party with his friends in the arty enclaves of New Mexico, then throwing together this production to win the bet.

The high point for me was Bob Dylan's cameo as a chain saw wielding deconstructionist (maybe a metaphor for the whole film) and his barely intelligible dialog: "(mumble, mumble), Laddy John Dill, (mumble, mumble)..."

Years later I ran into Dill at an art school reunion and it provided the perfect icebreaker..."Hey man, I just saw a horrible film where Bob Dylan dropped your name. That doesn't happen everyday, does it?"