Johnny Handsome

Director Walter Hill has had a checkered career with big hits like Streets of Fire and 48 Hrs. and major bombs such as Brewster's Millions and Red Heat. Yet it's hard to deny that Hill, when he's cooking, is one of the most stylish directors of action pictures in the business. Case in point is this superbly edited filming of John Godey's novel The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome. John Sedley (Mickey Rourke) is a two-bit petty crook who is disfigured from a congenital disease (he resembles John Merrick, "The Elephant Man"). When Sedley helps an old friend knock off a rare coin shop, the other members of the gang (Ellen Barkin and Lance Henriksen) kill Sedley's friend and barely miss him. Imprisoned, Sedley is knifed by Barkin and Henriksen's drones, and nearly dies in the hospital. But he recovers, and a young doctor (Forest Whitaker) proposes reconstructive surgery--on the grounds that Johnny's criminal career has been a product of his background and his appearance. Given a new name, and a new job as a steelworker in the shipyards, John "Mitchell" begins a relationship with a young accountant (Elizabeth McGovern), but finds himself drawn to the nightclub owned and operated by Barkin and Henriksen. Johnny Handsome is not a deep film, nor is it even terribly logical in some of its convenient plot twists. But Hill keeps the action moving at breakneck pace, and the fine cast of actors do impeccable work throughout. A thoroughly entertaining thriller. Recommended. (R. Pitman)