Slam Dance

Ready for a wild ride into the underworld?

Murder, sex, Mafia, cops, love and marriage ... Slamdance has it all!

C.C. Drood* is a cartoonist but his life is anything but a comic strip. When an affair with a mystery woman he meets at a friend's club leads to murder and his implication, life turns upside down for Drood. Just wanting to reunite with his wife and their daughter, Drood has to solve a mystery that even the cops can't figure out. And life begins to imitate art ... the art of being treacherous!

==========> *TOM HULCE is C.C. Drood. Tom, again, brings us a complete character ... as real as life. Drood has a funny side, a serious side, a vulnerable side and a loyal side. He shows us the chaos of being caught in a lie and the struggle of trying to straighten it out. Drood is a great role and is done to perfection by Hulce!

I may be a one-person cult for this picture. I have had a soft spot for it ever since I saw the movie on the late show in 1989. Some of the other reviewers for this title have made a reasonable assertion as to why they don't like SLAMDANCE, and interestingly enough, I understand and agree with their decisions. Yes, this movie is a disjointed mess, but it has a strange beauty on a visceral and emotional level; this sets it apart from way too many films made in the decade which threw everything together in order to seem different, regardless of whether everything gelled.

For instance, this film veers uncomfortably from goofy comedy to more sordid material. However, that makes sense as the central character is a cartoonist- a man-child who teeters between the comic book sensibilities of his work, and the demands of the very adult real world (he seldom lives up to his responsibilities). Mr. Drood is a perpetual screw-up; he was barely supportive of his wife and child, and now must deal with unfathomable emotions since he is now implicated in the murder of a fleeting flame.

I've never been much of a fan of Virginia Madsen, particularly because this classy, slightly mysterious blonde has never been given good material... at least until recently. But Wayne Wang understands her screen presence perfectly. The highlight of the film is Tom Hulce's scenes with her (set in the movie's past). These moments with the femme fatale are beautiful evocations of allure, desire and implicit danger underneath the colourful settings- classic traditions of film noir. With their saturated hues and sexy jazz soundtrack, these moments work on an almost dreamlike approach.

Even though SLAM DANCE is a dog's breakfast of styles and tones, this segment is nonetheless indicative of the film's success on a completely non-literal level. Yes this is another 1980's quirky film which has the obligatory cameo by a punk musician... and the "hip" quotient also given by a Harry Dean Stanton role, but there's just something more about it that makes not just another curiosity piece. The first time I saw it in 1989, I was with two others who didn't like the movie at all. As much as I could understand their reasons why, I still feel that this odd duck of a movie has that special "something"... and I have still felt that after repeated viewings. It either works for you, or it doesn't. It just depends on whether the film hits you on the right emotional level.

If you looked up this title because you have a strange attraction to this picture, you're not alone.

I caught this movie on cable late one night and was pleasantly surprised. I found it to be entertaining and even a bit suspenseful in a 'Memento' sort of way. Adam Ant has some good comic relief and Tom Hulce is very satisfactory in the lead role. If you are looking for a sleeper at the local video store, check this one out. It appears at times to be a low-budget, late 80's type of film, but sometimes that is not a bad thing at all. I gave/give this film a solid 7 out of 10, and I recommend it for viewing. Two or three cocktails is a nice beginning to this steady film. The only real drawback is the heavy, who comes off as so wimpy that Virginia Madsen could take him out, but hey, that is just my opinion.

Maybe I am biased when I say that as I only rented this out because Don Opper wrote it and played a part. But that's only because he's good at what he does. Five years after writing and staring in the classic film Android he made this downbeat conspiracy mystery which has a good handful of funny bits stuck in for good measure. A woman is dead and the police are suspectful of an artist who called into the police after escaping from some strange guys with guns. The plot is slowly revealed as to what is going on. Although this movie doesn't really have enough twists in it than it should have had it is still rock solid entertainment, why Adam Ant is in there as the artist's mate I'll never know. Rent it out and see what you think. 7 out of 10

Whatever they thought of this movie when it came out is simply snow blindness to the fact that it carries the very best qualities of noir mysteries of the 40's and 50's. Trailing in the same path that made many movies of this genre infamous,the leading character's effort to untangle the web of double-cross, lies and deceit surrounding him, and redeem himself, is no less engaging than in any of those films, and the plot doesn't have a single point of silliness or implausibility that often marred Hollywood products of the 80's, or any other decade for that matter. Slam Dance uses the neon and metallic backlit of the Los Angeles skies to underscore the desperation surrounding the inhabitants of this Lost story who often mix pleasure with deviancy, loneliness with crime and love with murder.

The dance of chaotic moves is a metaphor for Drood's life, and resistance to be pushed over, until he finds a purpose and is brought back after the purgatory of redemption to the memory of the woman that loved him and the family that centers his world. It certainly didn't appeal to the superficial audiences back in the day, saturated by ridiculous plots and one dimensional characters. Slam Dance doesn't have any of these, it's the "Touch of Evil" of it's time. Don't read empty reviews and be sure to give it a look, you won't be disappointed.