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A sizzling neo-noir that should have boosted Dennis Hopper into feature bankability goes a tad slack — my guess is that Hopper’s fine directing instincts got blurred in the editing process. Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen, Jennifer Connelly and others are well cast in Charles Williams’ hardboiled sex ‘n’ crime yarn, and the temperature indeed rises when Johnson gets near his co-stars. The narrative momentum breaks down somewhat, yet the great-looking show remains a favorite, atmospheric and oversexed.

The Hot Spot

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1990 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 130 min. / Street Date May 4, 2021 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Don Johnson, Virginia Madsen, Jennifer Connelly, William Sadler, Charles Martin Smith, Jerry Hardin, Barry Corbin, Jack Nance, Virgil Frye.

Cinematography: Ueli Steiger

Film Editor: Wende Phifer Mate

Original Music: Jack Nitzsche

Written by Nona Tyson, Charles Williams from the 1952 book Hell Hath No Fury by Charles Williams

Produced by Paul Lewis

Directed by Dennis...

Germany's Explosive Media company has a serious itch for American westerns, and they have a trio of new releases. One is a minor Hollywood classic with major graces, from the late 1950s. A second sees an American producer based in England filming in Italy with a rising international star, and for the third an established American star goes European  to stay in the game. The best thing for Yankee buyers? The discs are Region-free.

Gunman's Walk, Land Raiders, A Man Called Sledge Three Westerns from Explosive Media Blu-ray Separate Releases 1958-1970 / Color Starring Van Heflin, Tab Hunter; George Maharis, Telly Savalas; James Garner

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

The majority of American studios now choose not to market their libraries for digital disc, and license them out instead. Collectors unwilling to settle for whatever's on Netflix or concerned about the permanence of Cloud Cinema, find themselves increasingly tempted by discs from Europe,...