Crimes sans remords

Dennis always amazes me and I think this is probably his best film. If you think he was bad in Blue Velvet, just watch this film. There is no other actor who could have played this role better. It was like someone wrote the part just for him. He is so chilling that you want to turn away. It made me sick the way he brutalized his wife and killed that little girl in cold blood. Paris Trout is a demon in human form. He has no remorse, no conscience and is probably the worst villian in the history of the movies.

Well-crafted cable drama is troubling as an entertainment per se, but is still skillfully-made and worth-seeing for the leading performance by Dennis Hopper. Adapted from Pete Dexter's prize-winning book about racist businessman in 1949 Georgia who is tried for the murder of a black child, this atmospheric movie captures a particular time and place with style, and Hopper's acting is award-worthy (he doesn't accentuate the Southern bigotry bit with camp fervor--instead he's menacing and quite creepy). As directed by Stephen Gyllenhaal, the film is well-mounted and provocative, but with a story and characters so despicable, it does run the risk of turning off many viewers before it even gets to the second-act. **1/2 from ****

I saw this in a theater and later found out it was actually a HBO movie in the U.S. but had been amazed by how well done it was. The acting is superb - Dennis Hopper does evil men like almost no-one else, Barbara Hershey and Ed Harris are good in whatever they do. It starts out as a harrowing racial drama but soon grows larger into a tale of authority and the evils of power over those who are weaker unless society and its laws protect them. A powerful and disturbing movie. 9/10

Paris Trout is an excellent movie, Dennis Hopper delivers and outstanding portrayal of a sick, demented man who really can't see the evil of his ways. He treats everyone with contempt and is just a truly nasty character. You wonder how he winds up marrying his wife and why his lawyer would continue to try and get this man out of every legal predicament he gets into. Barabara Hershey plays his sweet, innocent wife and does an excellent job of pulling off the portrayal. Ed Harris portrays his lawyer. Much of the film's power derives from Hopper's uncompromising performance in the title role, as an unapologetically bigoted loan shark who holds himself to be above the law in a small Southern town. I recently bought the movie on DVD to watch again, I had not watched the movie since the early 90's and it's still as powerful today as it was then. A friend of mine recommended the movie to my wife and I and it's one of the few dramas that I can really watch and hold my attention. Worth the price to own!

Dennis Hopper, Barbara Hershey and Ed Harris: now there's three last names- beginning with H-in their prime in the 1980s actors for you. Here's a bigger oddity: nary a profane word spoken by either Hopper or Harris in this movie!

There also is very little violence. However, when it occurs, it is shocking. Hopper plays his normal evil person and is convincing, as always. The film is fascinating for the first half but then bogs down with the romance between Hershey and Harris. It picks up again at the end.

The scenery here of the rural South of the 1940s is very pretty. This is an odd film; almost hard to classify, but certainly worth a look. As you can tell by the number of reviews, it's not a well-known film. I saw it twice and enjoyed it both times.