Slow Burn

This movie has one of the worst lead characters ever. I say this because he is made out to be the hero when, in my opinion, everything he does in the whole movie screws up people's lives and causes problems. He can do nothing right, yet the movie makes him seem like the cool dude everyone should be looking up to. He has temper tantrums at all the wrong times, he has all the wrong stances on things that end up making people mad at him and getting people killed, he is too nosy, too pushy, too macho, too assuming, makes all the wrong decisions and has no common sense.

It's about a private detective hired by a successful painter to find the woman and son that he walked out on years ago. The detective finds the woman and what he thinks to be her son. However, all kinds of things happen to make this story full of crime, drama and twists. It's made for TV, what do you expect?

Anyhow, the movie is fairly entertaining. Johnny Depp is very young in this one and has an awful 80's haircut. He chews gum and tosses a soccer ball around for about 5 minutes and that is all we get to see of him.

For some reason, the out of print VHS version of this sells for $40 in online auctions. It must be for Johnny Depp collectors only. It couldn't be because of the plot. It couldn't be.

This movie is a coveted member of my movie library. While not a mainstream film, it is, in my view, a highly effective film noir in which Eric Roberts is totally underrated as an actor. (I would qualify him as a much better actor than his sister, Julia, who is overrated, but that's another review...) Roberts plays the down-on-his-luck ex-reporter with the perfect mix of narrative precision and jaded idealism: two ingredients that are part and parcel of any effective film noir. The first-person narration by Roberts enhances the quality of the movie, and keeps us guessing on the real motive behind the crime.

Set in Palm Springs, everything about the setting in the movie progresses slowly as a metaphor for the theme of oppression: Asch (Roberts) is oppressed by his past; the police are oppressed by the rich residents of Palm Springs who treat them as servants; the rich, meanwhile, are oppressed by boredom (watch Johnny Depp's classic performance as the insightful rich kid who only wants to be loved...); the isolation of each character is omnipresent and is further augmented by the heat and isolation of the desert.

There is an audience for this film if they're looking for a more contemporary version of film noir. While there are elements of the film that might have been tighter, I recommend getting a copy of this film and putting it right between The Big Sleep and Chinatown in your movie library. (The film is based on the Arthur Lyons book, CASTLES BURNING, and if you like Roberts's acting in this one, you may want to get a copy of The Ambulance, in which he showcases his funnier, lighter side.) BEST LINE IN THE FILM: "Careful? Careful of what? I should've asked. Only fools ignore the strange warnings of trailer park ladies."

This is a movie that I never heard about until looking through the filmography for Johnny Depp. My wife, Jaime, and I are running through this for a podcast, JwaC Presents Depp Dive: A Depper Dive into Johnny's Filmography. Seeing that this featured the likes of Eric Roberts, Beverly D'Angelo and Dan Hedaya, I was intrigued.

Now that I've gotten that information out there, what we're getting here is a neo-noir film. Jacob Asch (Roberts) is a former reporter who fell on hard times. He had a hard hitting story, but his station didn't back him. He was unable to reveal his source in court so he lost. He is then hired by Gerald McMurty (Raymond J. Barry) to look for his ex-wife and son. That makes Jacob a private investigator.

This takes him to Palm Springs. He follows a trail looking for Laine Fleischer (D'Angelo). That also brings him to meet her step-son Donnie (Depp). Jacob thinks that he's Gerald's son, but it turns out to be Simon's (Hedaya) son. Gerald and Laine's son passed away. He had no idea. This puts a series of events into motion and secrets to be revealed.

Doing an extended synopsis reveals the Film Noir troupe characters. Roberts' Jacob character is our private investigator. Being that this is a neo-noir, he isn't a PI by trade. He is a former reporter and this is his first job. Laine is our femme fatale and I thought that D'Angelo manages it well. There is also a drug dealer who injects our lead which feels right of movies I saw from the past. It is a good touch to the story we're building. There's even voice-over narration given by Roberts to keep us up to speed with what he's thinking.

I thought that the acting was fine. Roberts is decent as the lead. D'Angelo steals the show from him though. I do think that acting is a bit subdued across the board and that the writing is stiff, which doesn't help. We do get an appearance here by Henry Gibson as Robert who I believe is the owner of the gallery for Gerald's show. Hedaya is solid as was Depp and Emily Longstreth. What is interesting there is that the last two starred together in the comedy Private Resort.

What I'll say in closing is that this is fine. We are getting a made for TV/Showtime film. It is reminiscent of Film Noir, but this neo-noir is lacking the staying power with what it is doing. The mystery kept Jaime and I engaged. Not one I'd come back to, but having seen it, I thought that it has a solid group of actors that interact well.

My Rating: 6 out of 10.

"Slow Burn" has a confusing and not very convincing script, played out by an intriguing cast that includes Eric Roberts, Beverly D'Angelo, Dan Hedaya, Henry Gibson, and a very young Johnny Depp. There is some fabulous Palm springs scenery, a smidge of nudity, and a plot that asks a lot of tolerance from the viewer. Eric Roberts as the private investigator does quite a bit of soul searching and philosophizing, perhaps in an attempt to try and crystallize a somewhat murky plot. What starts out as a straight forward search for Raymond J. Barry's son, eventually morphs into a kidnapping and murder. The plausibility of the ever thickening plot is questionable, and the motivation leading to three murders questionable. Acceptable entertainment for fans of the fine cast but not much more. - MERK

I think that this movie is a must see, if you are into film noir then put this on your list.

It's not so much the acting or the scenes that are good but the writing that makes this movie. I recently became aware of this writer Arthur Lyons by chance and found a old copy of this made for TV film and Wow! This writer was so underrated and forgotten that I will for sure read all of his only 12 books with the character Jacob Asch.

It's really sad that Mr. Lyons is no longer with us to write any more of these great stories but we got 11 more movies to make from these 12 great hard boiled books. So come on producers and directors quit putting out pop crap and take a look at this writer. Thank you Mr. Lyons. Your fan Steve H