Johnny Handsome (1989) – Film Review

Director: Walter Hill
Cast: Mickey Rourke, Morgan Freeman, Ellen Barkin
Certificate: 15

By Roger Crow

Walter Hill has always had a knack for telling lean, hard-edged stories about outsiders, such as The Warriors and 48 HRS, and Johnny Handsome might be one of his most overlooked films.

Released in 1989, it’s a crime thriller that blends noir sensibilities with a poignant character study, asking whether changing a man’s face can really change the man beneath it.

With Mickey Rourke delivering one of his most committed performances, JH is a film that deserves a second look. Or in my case, first.

It’s violent, atmospheric and unmistakably Walter Hill, but beneath the tough-guy exterior lies a story about identity, redemption and the difficulty of escaping the life you’ve always known.

“Explosive”

So, does this forgotten neo-noir still pack a punch more than three decades later, or is it simply a product of its time? Well, I can tell you that it’s so mean spirited, it all but treats its audience like junior school kids, kicking them to the floor and stealing their lunch money.

Lance Henriksen, inbetween Aliens and Alien 3 assignments for Hill, is excellent as the lean bad guy, while the ever-wonderful Ellen Barkin burns up the screen as the femme fatale with the eighties rock star hair. She’s both utterly horrible and magnetic at the same time.

Then there’s Hollywood heavyweights-in-waiting Morgan Freeman and Forest Whitaker, before they were really famous, and as the eponymous star, Rourke. He starts out looking unrecognisable, which is the whole point; has facial reconstruction, and then infiltrates the bad guys, with explosive results. Look out too for Elizabeth McGovern years before her Downton Abbey days, as well as some good New Orleans locations.

“Dark”

The latest revamped version looks grainy in places, and those inky shades are as dark as the story matter. The score by Hill’s regular collaborator Ry Cooder is good, but I prefer his work on Walter’s 1984 offering Streets of Fire.

The dialogue could have done with more polish, and though it’s no classic, it’s worth at least one look. At a mere 94 minutes, it certainly doesn’t outstay its welcome.

As a side note, if you’re a vintage Corrie fan, look out for an Ernie Bishop in the credits. (That character was blown away in a botched robbery, which sounds straight from a Walter Hill movie).

Roger Crow( Writer )

Adopted Yorkshireman Roger Crow developed a passion for film and TV in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been a published film and TV reviewer since the 1990s; a world travel and restaurant critic since the noughties, and for the past decade has assessed the pros and cons of live gigs and theatre productions around the UK. His ideal day would involve reviewing a performance of Bat Out of Hell, followed by a Pad Thai while being serenaded by Texas on a cruise around Europe.
crowsfeat.com; nostalgiahhh film podcast

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