''Johnny Handsome'' is a 1989 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 ...
crime thriller
Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...
film directed by
Walter Hill
Walter may refer to:
People
* Walter (name), both a surname and a given name
* Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–1968)
* Gunther (wrestler), Austrian professional wrestler and trainer Walter Hahn (born 19 ...
and starring
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. (; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading man in drama, action, and thriller films.
During the star of the 1980s, Rourke played supporting roles i ...
,
Ellen Barkin
Ellen Rona Barkin (born April 16, 1954) is an American actress and a producer. Her breakthrough role was in the 1982 film '' Diner'', and in the following years, she had starring roles in films such as ''Tender Mercies'' (1983), ''Eddie and the ...
,
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Forest Whitaker, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award ...
and
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...
. The film was written by
Ken Friedman
Ken Friedman (born September 19, 1949 in New London, Connecticut) is a design researcher. He was a member of Fluxus, an international laboratory for experimental art, architecture, design, and music. Friedman joined Fluxus in 1966 as the youngest m ...
, and adapted from the novel ''The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome'' by
John Godey. The music for the film was written, produced and performed by
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, an ...
, with four songs by
Jim Keltner
James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".Howard Sounes. ''Down ...
.
Plot
John Sedley is a man with a disfigured face, mocked by others as "Johnny Handsome." He and a friend are double-crossed by two accomplices in a crime, Sunny Boyd and her partner Rafe, and a Judge sends Johnny to jail, where he vows to get even once he gets out. In prison, Johnny meets a surgeon named Fisher, who is looking for a
guinea pig
The guinea pig or domestic guinea pig (''Cavia porcellus''), also known as the cavy or domestic cavy (), is a species of rodent belonging to the genus ''Cavia'' in the family Caviidae. Breeders tend to use the word ''cavy'' to describe the ani ...
so he can attempt an experimental procedure in reconstructive
cosmetic surgery
Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniofa ...
. Johnny, figuring he has nothing to lose, is given a new, normal-looking face (making him unrecognizable to the people who knew him) before he is released back into society.
Lt. Drones, a dour
New Orleans law enforcement officer, is not fooled by Johnny's new look or new life, even when Johnny lands an honest job and begins seeing Donna McCarty, a normal and respectable woman who knows little of his past. The lieutenant tells Johnny that, on the inside, Johnny is still a hardened criminal and always will be. The cop is correct. Johnny cannot forget his sworn vengeance against Sunny and Rafe, joining them for another job, which ends violently for all.
Cast
*
Mickey Rourke
Philip Andre "Mickey" Rourke Jr. (; born September 16, 1952) is an American actor and former boxer who has appeared primarily as a leading man in drama, action, and thriller films.
During the star of the 1980s, Rourke played supporting roles i ...
– John Sedley/"Johnny Handsome"/Johnny Mitchell
*
Ellen Barkin
Ellen Rona Barkin (born April 16, 1954) is an American actress and a producer. Her breakthrough role was in the 1982 film '' Diner'', and in the following years, she had starring roles in films such as ''Tender Mercies'' (1983), ''Eddie and the ...
– Sunny Boyd
*
Elizabeth McGovern
Elizabeth Lee McGovern (born July 18, 1961) is an American actress and musician. She has received many awards, including a Screen Actors Guild Award, three Golden Globe Award nominations, and one Academy Award nomination.
Born in Evanston, Ill ...
– Donna McCarty
*
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...
– Lt. A.Z. Drones
*
Forest Whitaker
Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Forest Whitaker, various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award ...
– Dr. Steven Fisher
*
Lance Henriksen
Lance Henriksen (born May 5, 1940) is an American actor. He is known for his works in various science fiction, action and horror films, such as that of Bishop in the ''Alien'' film franchise, and Frank Black in Fox television series ''Millennium ...
– Rafe Garrett
*
Scott Wilson – Mikey Chalmette
*
David Schramm – Vic Dumask
*
Yvonne Bryceland
Yvonne Bryceland (18 November 1925 – 13 January 1992) was a South African stage actress. Some of her best-known work was in the plays of Athol Fugard.
Early life
She was born Yvonne Heilbuth in Cape Town, South Africa, the daughter of Adolphu ...
– Sister Luke
*
Peter Jason
Peter Edward Ostling (born July 22, 1944), also known as Peter Jason, is an American character actor. He has appeared in over eighty films and a hundred television series. He played Con Stapleton in the series '' Deadwood''. He was a frequent col ...
– Mr. Bonet
* J. W. Smith – Mr.Stathansom
*
Jeff Meek – Earl
*
Allan Graf
Allan Lee Graf (born December 16, 1949) is an American athlete, actor, stuntman and director.
A high school All-American football player at San Fernando in Los Angeles, California, Graf played offensive guard for the undefeated national champi ...
– Bob Lemoyne
* Ed Zang – Prestige Manager
* John Fertitta – Prestige Salesman
*
Raynor Scheine
Raynor Scheine (born Raynor Johnston; January 19, 1942) is an American actor who has appeared in films for three decades dating back to 1979, including ''My Cousin Vinny'' and ''Fried Green Tomatoes.'' His name is a play on the phrase "rain or ...
– Gun Dealer
* Edward Walsh – Judge
Production
Development
The novel was published in 1972. Film rights were bought that year by 20th Century Fox who announced the film would be produced by
Paul Heller
Paul Heller (also known as Paul M. Heller; 25 September 1927 – 28 December 2020) was an American film producer residing in Southern California. His best known movies include ''Enter the Dragon'', ''Withnail and I'', ''My Left Foot'', '' The A ...
and
Fred Weintraub
Fred Robert Weintraub (April 27, 1928 – March 5, 2017) was an American film and television producer and writer.
Career
Background
Weintraub was the original owner and host of The Bitter End in New York City's Greenwich Village. Weintraub d ...
for their Sequoia Productions Company. However the film was not made.
The material was optioned by Charles Roven who tried to interest Walter Hill in it in 1982. Hill turned it down.
"I turned it down three years later and about two years after that", said Hill. "I thought it was a good yarn ...
ut... At the same time, there is this plastic-surgery story I thought cheated on melodrama. It's one of those conventions of 1940's movies, like the missing identical twin or amnesia."
Hill added that, "No studio wanted to make it, and I didn't think any actor would be willing to play it."
In 1987
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Heaven'' (1978). He came to prominence with ...
was going to star with
Harold Becker
Harold Becker (born September 25, 1928) is an American film and television director, producer, and photographer from New York City, associated with the New Hollywood movement and best known for his work in the thriller genre. His body of work i ...
to direct. Eventually
Al Pacino
Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...
signed to play the lead. By February 1988 Becker was out as director, replaced by Walter Hill. Then Pacino dropped out and Mickey Rourke was cast instead.
In 1989 Walter Hill explained why he changed his mind:
First, I figured that Hollywood is based on melodrama anyway and, second, I thought up a way to present the story in a way that resisted histrionics. More importantly, I found an actor who could play Johnny and not make it risible. Someone who understood the pitfalls of the thing. The main thing is that motion pictures have conditioned us to expect psychological realism. This is a drama in a different category. It's about moral choices ... I knew I was on very thin ice. If you let any histrionics in, it will fall apart. You have to trust the drama of the whole rather than an individual scene. And that's antithetical to most actors. They want to know, 'Where's my big moment? When do I get to cry and scream?' Mickey understood that.
"I'm drawn to characters where there's no happy ending, where things aren't rosy in the end", said Rourke. "It's not a happy world and there aren't easy, sappy endings to life."
Hill said the film was reminiscent of 1940s film noir:
You have the doomed character, and audiences back then were more comfortable with it. You can imagine John Garfield
John Garfield (born Jacob Julius Garfinkle, March 4, 1913 – May 21, 1952) was an American actor who played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. He grew up in poverty in New York City. In the early 1930s, he became a member of ...
having a lot of fun with something like this ... But this one has a hard road commercially, and I'd like to see it have a chance to find an audience that will be interested. Some people like the movie and others are really offended by it. That's fine with me. I like movies that stir things up a little.
"I wanted a very neutral palette", said Hill. "If I had my druthers, I'd rather have made it a black-and-white film. I don't think you can make a real film noir without shooting it in black-and-white. But that wasn't one of the options. You either have to have a star or a director that has sufficient clout. This did not fit into any of those categories."
"The audience is invited to anticipate the drama rather than be surprised", added Hill.
"Oh, there are action sequences in it, but it's not the heroes-and-villains kind of piece that people usually perceive to be an action film", Hill said. "I'd say it's more character-driven. ... Characters loaded down with psychoanalytic baggage bore me to death. My own belief is that Freud may have been a brilliant thinker, but Freudianism is completely without scientific basis. At least as `scientific' is usually defined." Instead of seeing character as something defined by puberty-related traumas, Hill prefers to see character defined by action – "what a man does", he says, "not what may or may not have been done to him in some faraway past." In this regard, the core of ''Johnny Handsome'' is a " a character-is-destiny story ... Maybe more than film noir, it's a tragedy. Something that just as easily could have played in Elizabethan England or Ancient Greece."
"I don't think this is a very real movie", said Hill. "But at the same time, it's quite real once you understand where you are, once you're kind of `over there.' But not everybody can get over there. And I think that the people that can't get over there, you're not terribly interested in, anyway. Which is probably not the attitude of the marketplace, but ... there are some movies you make for different reasons, you know?"
The novel was set in New Jersey in the small time Mafia but Hill changed it to New Orleans, where he had shot ''Hard Times'' (1975). "I thought the small-time Mafia thing had been seen an awful lot, and I thought maybe a kind of look at redneck crime in a Southern city might be a little different", he said.
"New Orleans is the kind of place where you can believe anything is possible", he added. "It's got a Gothic quality... We don't use what the New Orleans tourists see. Just the edge of the film is New Orleans. The book is probably a truer psychological profile than the film. This is the musical version compared to the book. The movie at least presents that there's a lot of agony, though. God, the movie is so . . . dark."
Hill recognised the ending was likely to polarise audiences.
A lot of people, it just kicks 'em right in the head. This is a strange thing to say, but 30 or 40 years ago, I don't think the ending would have been quite so surprising. Because, even though Hollywood is built upon the convention of happy endings, in the old days there was always the 20 percent, or something like that, that weren't. And therefore, if you didn't give 'em a happy ending it wasn't, like, out of nowhere. Now, there's just no movies that are like this. They'll have muted, sad endings ... but the idea that you're gonna shoot down your protagonist, shoot him dead ... But, you know, at the same time I think the film does have a positive ending. It's not a happy ending, but it's a positive ending. I mean, the character does achieve redemption on his own terms. And he always understood what the stakes were, he understood the code he was living by ... But I suspect that that's probably too difficult a calculation for most observers ... I think there's a problem with audiences coming into the movie, because they don't know what to expect. I always thought the proper title of the movie should be, in the Elizabethan sense, ''The Tragedy of Johnny Handsome''. If you told everybody that's what the title of the movie was, they'd kind of be prepared. The story is organized along the lines of a rather more classic tragedy. It's certainly organized around the principle that character is destiny. ... I think it's a movie about moral choice, not psychological truth. If there is such a thing as psychological truth. I think my movies are very much about character. I take the view of character that has basically prevailed for about 2,000 years, up until the end of the second World War. Which is -- this is a vulgar oversimplification -- but it's that `What I do is my character, my actions define my character.' After the second World War, thanks to theories of modern psychology and confusion about what was scientific and what wasn't, the definition of character became much more, `How did I become what I am?' I am not so much interested in that theory as I am in the previous theory. And I think that throws you profoundly out of step with your peers and with the critical community. Not so much around the world, but certainly in the United States. But I think it's changing.
Shooting
Shooting took place in November 1988 in
, where Hill had previously made ''Hard Times'' and ''Southern Comfort''.
Ellen Barkin said she wanted to play her role because her character, Sunny
is one of the great female villains. I don't know if I've ever seen a female villain so evil. Sunny's just mean, that's all there is to it. And the great thing about Sunny in this movie is they just let her be bad. With women they always want to give explanations: she had such a terrible childhood or something. They can't just let women be bad... Sex is just one of the tools Sunny uses to get what she wants. And what she wants is money! Pure greed!
Hill said
I said to her, `Look, I don't know if you ought to do this thing. Because it's a good part. But you're at another kind of stage in your career and people might not think this is a real positive thing to do.' And she said, `Oh, (expletive). I'll never get a chance to play a villain this good. I want to do it.' And I was very happy. I wasn't trying to talk her out of it, I just thought that as a friend I should point out that there might be a down side. She wanted to really play a villain, really go for it. And I encouraged her in that direction.
Hill enjoyed working with Rourke:
Mickey understood, before I had to tell him anything, how to play the part. Which is one of the things about being a director: If you have to explain these things, it'll never work. The casting is the most important thing you're gonna do in terms of directing the actor. You cast the right person who believes in it and who you feel has an understanding similar to yours. I think people confuse being a motion picture director with being an acting coach. I don't think that I directed him 50 lines in the whole movie. If it's all happening the way you want it to happen, don't put your foot through it. Let it happen. He's got very good instincts. His sense of integrity is such that he's made a lot of choices that have not been in the mainstream. Certainly in American movies. He's a big star in Europe. He's not a big star here, yet. I hope he will become one. All this stuff about him being such a bad boy and all that ... He's a very romantic fellow, I think. And like a lot of romantic people he's really disappointed by the way the world really works. And out of that disappointment I think sometimes he lashes out. He's not the easiest -- I don't want to make him sound like he's Ozzie Nelson or something. He's not. He does have a lot of emotions. But he's not a difficult fellow to work with.
"In most cases", Hill says, "producers hope for a huge American box office and treat the European market as a nice little bonus. We're doing the opposite. We're hoping to do respectable business here. But Mickey is a huge star over in Europe. ''9 1/2 Weeks'' and ''Angel Heart'' did huge business over there."
Hill said Rourke had to spend hours getting into make up each day. "It was a hell of a hardship on him, poor bastard. He really did suffer. It was like going to the dentist every day, then having to give a performance after going to the dentist. He also worked with a speech therapist to learn the speech impediment that resulted from Johnny's cleft palate and harelip."
The music was done by regular Hill collaborator Ry Cooder. Hill said, "Whatever merit that any of these films I've done have, I'd be the first to say a lot of it has to be due to his contribution. Quite contrary to the usual theory about scores, one of the things I like about his scores is that I can always hear his voice in there. As much as they complement the movie, or serve the movie, they are still uniquely Ry. Ry surrounds a movie and plays through the atmosphere. I like that."
Release
The film premiered in September 1989 at the
Toronto Festival of Festivals
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
. It also screened at the
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...
.
''Johnny Handsome'' received mixed reviews from critics. It holds a rating of 57% on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
based on 14 reviews.
Henriksen and Barkin were nominated by the
Chicago Film Critics Association
The Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) is an association of professional film critics, who work in print, broadcast and online media, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The organization was founded in 1990 by film critics Sharon LeMa ...
for
Best Supporting Actor and
Best Supporting Actress, respectively.
Box office
The film was a box office disappointment. Hill later said "the foreign reception has been good but I think that's not unexpected. Whether it would work for an American audience was always problematic. I frankly never thought it would, given what it was, because it was a film that was certainly not a feel good movie. I liked it as a piece of work."
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for the movie was written by
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, an ...
, with 4 of the 16 songs co-written with
Jim Keltner
James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".Howard Sounes. ''Down ...
. The music was performed by Cooder, Keltner and
Steve Douglas, with occasional horn backing, arranged by
Van Dyke Parks
Van Dyke Parks (born January 3, 1943) is an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer who has composed various film and television soundtracks. He is best known for his 1967 album ''Song Cycle (album), Song Cycle'' and for his ...
. The soundtrack was produced by Cooder.
Home video release
After the film's theatrical run, the film was released on videocassette and laserdisc in 1990 by International Video Entertainment. In 2002, the film was finally released on DVD, but without any bonus material and was shown in only a full frame presentation.
In 2010 the film was released on Blu-ray through Lions Gate Entertainment in its original widescreen presentation. However, the TriStar Pictures and Carolco logos were removed in favor of a StudioCanal logo.
Legacy
In 2008, ''Slant Magazine'' published a review of the Mickey Rourke film ''
The Wrestler The Wrestler may refer to:
* ''The Wrestler'' (1974 film), an American film directed by James A. Westman
* ''The Wrestler'' (2008 film), an American film directed by Darren Aronofsky
* "The Wrestler" (song), a song from the 2008 film written and ...
'' which commented on the similarities between that and ''Johnny Handsome'':
There is a moment, early on in the film, when he staggers down the street, through a bleak New Jersey morning, a great hulk of a man, too big for his clothes. His face looks battered and puffy, and suddenly, out of nowhere, I got an acute and clear memory of his performance as the deformed criminal in 1989's ''Johnny Handsome''. In the opening shots of that film, "Johnny Handsome" skulks down the street; his face has a ballooning forehead, a bulbous nose, a cleft palate. We know it is Mickey Rourke because he is the star of the film, but we cannot tell it is him. The story of that film, of "Johnny Handsome" getting an operation on his face that leaves him looking like, well, a young and handsome Mickey Rourke, is the reverse of what we have seen happen in Mickey Rourke's real life. It is one of those odd art-meeting-biography truths. In ''The Wrestler'', Mickey Rourke's actual face looks like the makeup-job he had done in that movie almost 20 years ago, and it's a strange, tragic thing to contemplate.
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Review of filmby
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
{{Walter Hill
1989 films
1989 crime drama films
1980s heist films
American crime drama films
American heist films
American films about revenge
Films based on works by Morton Freedgood
Films directed by Walter Hill
Films produced by Charles Roven
Films scored by Ry Cooder
Films shot in New Orleans
TriStar Pictures films
Carolco Pictures films
American neo-noir films
Works about plastic surgery
1980s English-language films
1980s American films