''Impulse'' is a 1990 American
neo-noir
Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...
film directed by
Sondra Locke
Sandra Louise Anderson (''née'' Smith; May 28, 1944 – November 3, 2018), professionally known as Sondra Locke, was an American actress and director. She achieved worldwide recognition for her relationship with Clint Eastwood and the six hit f ...
, and starring
Theresa Russell
Theresa Lynn Russell ( Paup; born March 20, 1957) is an American actress whose career spans over four decades. Her filmography includes over fifty feature films, ranging from mainstream to independent and experimental films.
Born in San Diego, ...
,
Jeff Fahey
Jeffrey David Fahey (, born November 29, 1952) is an American film and television actor. He has portrayed Captain Frank Lapidus on the ABC series ''Lost'' and the title role of Deputy Marshal Winston MacBride on ''The Marshal''.
Early life an ...
, and
George Dzundza
George Dzundza ( ; born July 19, 1945) is an American television and film actor.
Early life and education
Dzundza was born in Rosenheim, Germany, to a Ukrainian-Jewish father, Roman Dzundza, originally from Kalush, Ukraine, and a Polish-Jewish m ...
. It follows a female police officer who works as an undercover
prostitute in Los Angeles, who unwittingly finds herself at the center of a murder investigation.
Plot
Lottie Mason is an
LAPD officer who works
vice squad
A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tr ...
as a decoy
prostitute. She is faced with a number of problems in her career, including being sexually harassed by her superior, Lieutenant Joe Morgan. As part of her work agreement, Lottie regularly visits with Dr. Gardner, a psychiatrist, where she confesses that she finds her
sting operations thrilling, and that she often fantasizes about "losing control." Stan Harris, a detective in the department, begins to romance Lottie. She is initially evasive, but the two soon go on a date together and become intimate.
After an intense sting operation ends with Lottie killing a drug dealer and two of his thugs, she heads home, rattled, and suffers a tire blowout en route. She pulls into a gas station to have a serviceman replace the tire and has a drink at a bar across the street while she waits. At the bar, she is approached by Tony Perón, a mobster and key witness in the pending trial of a kingpin named Luna; Tony has recently fled New York City and gone into hiding in Los Angeles. Unaware of his identity, Lottie coyly pretends to be a prostitute, introducing herself using the pseudonym "Carla". Tony asks Lottie to accompany him back to a mansion in
Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...
, to which she impulsively agrees. Once there, Lottie excuses herself to the bathroom, only to hear gunshots ring out moments later. She hides in the bathroom as a killer wanders through the home before leaving. When she returns downstairs, Lottie finds Tony's dead body. Lottie wipes away her fingerprints in the bathroom and phones 911, disguising her voice. In Tony's pocket, she finds an airport locker key, which she takes with her. Shortly after, police—Stan among them—arrive at the crime scene.
A curious Lottie drives to the
Los Angeles International Airport to access the locker and is shocked to find a suitcase inside full of $1 million in hundred-dollar bills. She leaves the suitcase in the locker and returns home, only to find coverage of Tony's murder on national news. Stan and other law enforcement interview witnesses at the bar who saw Tony leave with Lottie, and a forensic sketch is created. Lottie returns to the airport and absconds with the suitcase, which she hides in her apartment, unsure of what to do with it.
Lottie visits Stan and spends the night at his house, during which the two have sex. In the morning, Lottie attempts to confess to him what happened, but is unable to. While studying the sketch and 911 audio tapes, Stan begins to suspect Lottie may be the mysterious "Carla". That night, he returns home drunk and confronts Lottie about Tony's murder, believing that she killed him; however, Lottie explains what occurred, though Stan remains angry and betrayed. The next day, Stan visits the district attorney with a plan to set up Tony's killer: As part of the plot, a local Los Angeles newscaster announces a false "new development" in the case, parading footage of a sunglasses-clad Lottie, who proclaims that she can identify the killer.
That night, Lottie stakes out in an abandoned house, waiting for the killer. A stranger arrives, but soon leaves when police close in. When they finally stop the man, he claims he is innocent and was paid $50 by an unknown man to deliver Lottie flowers. Stan and the other detectives rush back to the house, where the killer has descended upon the scene, murdering the surveilling officer outside. When the killer—revealed to be a man named Vic Dimarjian—enters the house, Lottie shoots him to death. Before dying, Vic tells Stan he killed Tony to prevent himself from having to testify against Luna.
Lottie resigns from the LAPD and decides to take a vacation. Morgan, suspicious that Lottie has Tony's missing money from a drug killing in New York, is abrasive to her as she leaves the department. He follows her to the airport and confronts her as she opens the airport locker. Forcing her into a bathroom, Morgan grows enraged when he finds the suitcase full of baseball cards. Stan arrives moments later and incapacitates Morgan before giving Lottie the keys to his car, where he tells her he has stored Tony's money in the trunk. Lottie goes to retrieve the cash but decides against it. She returns inside to the airport bar, where she insists that Stan turn it in to authorities before joining him for a drink.
Cast
Release
Critical response
Caryn James of ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' called the film "amazingly pedestrian," concluding that, "after a harrowing failed drug buy, Lottie does lose control and steps into the role she has been playing. But instead of using that psychological twist to create something resembling a character, ''Impulse'' treats it as another piece in the jerry-built plot."
The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
''s Michael Wilmington gave the film a middling review, though he conceded: "
t is
T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is der ...
frosty-cool on top and hot underneath, full of sleek surfaces and nervous undercurrents. At times it succeeds. Director Sondra Locke uses a clean, uncluttered style. She doesn’t get swept away in action-movie froufrou and preposterous plot twists the way
Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Ann Bigelow (; born November 27, 1951) is an American filmmaker. Covering a wide range of genres, her films include '' Near Dark'' (1987), '' Point Break'' (1991), '' Strange Days'' (1995), '' K-19: The Widowmaker'' (2002), ''The Hurt Loc ...
did in that other tough-lady-in-distress thriller, ''
Blue Steel''."
Roger Ebert championed the film, praising Russell's performance and Locke's direction, comparing it to
Robert Bresson
Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director.
Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson contributed notably to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, ellipses, and sparse use of scoring have l ...
's ''
Pickpocket
Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for misdirection. A th ...
(1959).
Home media
The film was not a success at the box office, though it performed better on home video when released in the fall of 1990. In January 2013, the film was released on
DVD-R by the
Warner Archive Collection
The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...
.
References
Sources
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External links
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{{Authority control
1990 films
1990 thriller films
American neo-noir films
American thriller films
1990s English-language films
Films directed by Sondra Locke
Films scored by Michel Colombier
Films set in Los Angeles
Films shot in Los Angeles
Warner Bros. films
1990s American films