The Dennis Hopper (1936-2010) directed BACKTRACK appeared 20 years after EASY RIDER, Hopper’s iconic directorial debut, and had a much different reception. In 1989, Hopper was riding high on his Oscar nominated role in BLUE VELVET (1986) and the financial success of his directorial effort COLORS (1988), and the Jodie Foster headlined BACKTRACK, a low budget neo-noir featuring several of Hopper’s famous friends (including Vincent Price, Bob Dylan, John Tuturro and Charlie Sheen), seemed like a sure thing.
BACKTRACK (1990) Trailer
The production, however, was something of a hodgepodge, with Hopper clashing with Foster and cinematographer Ed Lachman, and Alex Cox and Tod Davies, who rewrote the script, becoming embroiled in an ugly writer’s guild arbitration that ended with them being denied credit. Further trouble occurred after filming was completed, with Hopper’s 2-hour cut undergoing heavy reediting that resulted in him removing his name from the 98 minute release version (entitled CATCHFIRE); to top things off, the film was barely released, with BACKTRACK getting its most prominent showing in late 1991 on Showtime.
Jodie Foster
Foster plays the LA based contemporary artist Anne Benton, who creates electronic installations involving LED scrolling signs. Driving home one night, Anne has a blowout in Long Beach, and, in a bluff below the freeway, witnesses a man killed by the mobster Leo Carelli (Joe Pesci). He spots her, but she’s able to escape and contact the police.
Carelli dispatches his goons to Anne’s art deco house (actually Hopper’s own Venice Beach property), where they mistakenly shoot to death her loser BF (Sheen). Leo’s boss (Price) sends a hitman named Milo (Hopper) to kill her, but she takes off before he can reach her—which doesn’t stop Milo from ransacking Anne’s house and immersing himself in the minutia of her existence.
Vincent Price, Dennis Hopper
Anne changes her identity and relocates to Seattle. There she goes to work for an advertising agency, but Milo’s goons track her down and she moves again, this time to Taos, New Mexico. She moves into a renovated movie theater (another Hopper owned property) where Milo quickly tracks her down. Having fallen in love with her, he refrains from carrying through with the planned killing, instead taking Anne with him to a nondescript cabin (yet another Hopper property) in rural New Mexico, where their burgeoning attraction reaches its apex. Will these lovebirds’ newfound bliss last? (Spoiler alert: it won’t.)
Jodie Foster, Dennis Hopper
This film functions best in its director’s cut form, of which the action-oriented opening half works much better than the romance-addled second. The scripting of the early bits isn’t entirely convincing (with Anne abandoning her life a bit too readily), but the filmmaking is suspenseful and involving, with measured pacing that’s amenable to Hopper’s obsession with modern art (also evident in COLORS, which Pauline Kael proclaimed an “art tour”). There’s much artwork on display in BACKTRACK, from the Jenny Holzer created scrolling signs (credited to Anne) to the innumerable paintings and murals that provide background imagery, all extremely well lit by cinematographer Ed Lachman.
Hopper never succeeds in overcoming his low budget, or the disinterested performances of his famous friends (one of whom, Neil Young, was apparently so abominable his role was cut). Jodie Foster is thankfully quite strong in a much sexier-than-usual turn that includes a gratuitous shower scene and skimpy outfits that adequately showcase her toned physique; it’s been claimed that a large part of the Hopper-Foster feuding on the set was due to the fact that he was besotted with her, and it’s not at all difficult to understand why.
Vital Statistics
BACKTRACK
Vestron Pictures
Director: Dennis Hopper
Producer: Dick Clark, Dan Paulson
Screenplay: Rachel Kronstadt Mann, Ann Louise Bardach
Cinematography: Ed Lachman
Editing: Wende Phifer Mate
Cast: Jodie Fopster, Dennis Hopper, Dean Stockwell, Vincent Price, John Turturro, Fred Ward, G. Anthony Sirico, Julie Adams, Sy Richardson, Frank Gio, Helena Kallianiotes, Bob Dylan, Charlie Sheen, Joe Pesci