Flashback

Flashback

It is a well-documented fact that by 1989, Dennis Hopper (who literally changed the world with his 60s classic Easy Rider) had come out of his tailspin and cleaned up his act enough to be a respected, much-sought after actor and director, but he still was self-aware of his image enough to accept a role in this 1990 film, flawed in many ways but still a nice tribute to his legacy for being an outlaw in the film industry. Hopper plays Huey Walker, a 60s radical and wanted fugitive who has come out of hiding only to be arrested and placed in FBI custody where he is to be transported to trial by a young FBI agent (Kiefer Sutherland) who seemingly wants nothing to do with his radical politics and is just trying to do his job. As it is, the initial premise has great promise, that of Sutherland eventually falling under Hopper’s spell and rethinking his neo-conservative outlook on life, and the first 30 minutes with them on the train that’s transporting them are the best scenes in the movie, with Hopper tricking Sutherland into thinking that the young man has unknowingly dropped a tab of acid and getting him to loosen up and party with a hot little hooker to boot. The problem arises when Hopper uses the ruse to make his escape, impersonating Sutherland and turning Kiefer over to the cops while telling them that HE is the real fugitive. That is when the script takes a series of severe wrong turns, starting with the introduction of an unneeded villain, a fascist sheriff who roughs Sutherland up in jail and ultimately tries to frame him as well, since Kiefer makes it clear that he won’t forget the little incident of being beaten up over a case of mistaken identity plus the fact that the sheriff is also running for a seat in the U.S. Congress and will stop at nothing to protect his image, compounded by the fact that Cliff DeYoung in the role of the sheriff is TERRIBLE, contributing a twitchy yet bland turn which takes much of the credibility out of the story. Then there’s the two drunken yuppies (Michael McKean and Richard Masur) still lamenting over the end of the 60s whom Hopper encounters in a bar (while still maintaining his guise) who take it upon themselves to kidnap Hopper and hold him ransom, mainly because of the fact that the two guys come off as complete idiots whose screen time should have been limited to just the scene in the bar and are NOT funny at all, just kind of pathetic. Finally, there is the biggest twist, as Hopper and Kiefer are on the run together and Sutherland leads him back to the old hippie commune he grew up in, revealing that he actually had a counterculture upbringing and wound up running away from home so he could be a part of the establishment and join the FBI, thus betraying the film’s initial notion that Hopper could “bring the hippie” out of Kiefer when actually it was in his DNA all along, not to mention that Carol Kane as Sutherland’s aunt (who still lives at the commune) seems to garble all her dialogue as well. Thus, what we have is a movie that just barely carries a taint of greatness, something that could have been special but fell apart by following conventional standards. Still, it must be said that Hopper and Kiefer make a very good team and exhibit good chemistry, and the soundtrack of mainly old 60s hits (including Born To Be Wild) helps ensure for a comforting viewing experience, and the opening credits montage almost seem to serve as a requiem for the 80s itself. Indeed, as the film ends and Hopper symbolically “passes the torch” not only to Kiefer but to all younger viewers as well, along with the most inaccurate prediction in any line of dialogue EVER by saying that “the 90s are gonna make the 60s look like the 50s”, when actually the AIDS epidemic and the propaganda that followed ushered in an unprecedented era of sexual repression and political correctness that only served to stifle freedom of speech, winds up really making the overall script look naïve to say the least, as it’s now clear over 20 years later that the 60s can NEVER be duplicated, with today’s youth being way too spoiled and coddled and the liberal left preaching hate and class warfare instead of peace and love, thus making the film a rather strange cinematic concoction that only diehard fans of Hopper and Kiefer should seek out…

7/10

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