Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Backtrack Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov May 15, 2023

Dennis Hopper's "Backtrack" (1990) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary by filmmaker Alex Cox and screenwriter Tod Davies and two vintage trailers. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Hot target

If you choose to view Dennis Hopper’s The Hot Spot and Backtrack on the same night, prepare to be infected with the neo-noir bug and live with it for the rest of your life. Oh, no, I am not exaggerating at all. I am describing to you an absolute certainty. Because of your viewing experience with Hopper’s films, in the days, months, and years to come, you will be discovering all kinds of other special films and wondering how you did not get the neo-noir bug earlier.

The Hot Spot is unquestionably the better film. It has a perfect atmosphere and gets so hot that it can burn you. Backtrack gets hot too, but its atmosphere and attitude are different. It might be because Hopper jumps in front of the camera instead of only staying behind it. I could be wrong, but I sense that he was having too much fun making Backtrack, which is not a bad thing, but may not have been the right thing for it.

Hopper plays Milo, a strange character that can emerge only in a neo-noir film. He makes ends meet as a professional hitman, imagines that he is a great but undiscovered saxophone player, has a stockings-and-garter belt fetish, and spends big bucks on contemporary art. He is a loner who has never ever been in love, too. In the underworld, he has a solid reputation but is not obsessed with it. He kills because he is good at it and his clients pay him very well.

When artist Anne Benton (Jodie Foster) accidentally witnesses a murder, mob boss Leo Carelli (Joe Pesci) asks Milo to track her down and put a bullet in her head. Milo agrees to do the job and quickly goes to work but soon after realizes that Anne is not an easy target to take out, and the more he researches her, the more attracted he begins to like her. While following Anne around the country, Milo then falls in love with her, and much to the dismay of Carelli and his boss, Mr. Avoca (Vincent Price), decides to become her bodyguard. However, after revealing himself to Anne, in exchange for the destruction of his private business, Milo asks that she becomes his girlfriend.

There are two versions of Backtrack. One is a Director’s Cut, which is nearly two hours long, and the other is a Theatrical Cut, which is approximately seventeen minutes shorter. Both versions get their personality from the same adult sense of humor, but it is the Director’s Cut that makes it easy to speculate that Hopper had too much fun while shooting Backtrack. In the Director’s Cut, Milo’s journey and transformation look more coherent, plus there is more footage of his fantasies overlapping with reality. The Theatrical Cut is promoted with a different title, Catchfire, and was disowned by Hopper.

For obvious reasons, the Director’s Cut is the one to see, but to enjoy it you need to be prepared to endure a rather remarkably eccentric film. This is not to imply that the Director’s Cut uses everything that can be described as neo-noir only as a façade and quickly evolves into one of those eccentric pseudo-intellectual films that take great pleasure in draining your patience, but Milo’s antics are definitely in a category of their own. On the other hand, it does feel like they belong in the film because some of the best characters Hopper played over the years were offbeat hitmen. For this exact reason, several prominent actors and artists -- like Catherine Keener and Bob Dylan -- pop up and do things to convince that Milo is very much in his element.

Foster’s transformation is guaranteed to surprise because she effectively plays two completely different women. The second, which takes advantage of Milo’s fetish but then sees the simple guy in him and against all odds finds him irresistible, is wonderful.

Hopper's director of photography was Ed Lachman, who a couple of years later went on to work with Paul Schrader on his most stylish film, Light Sleeper, which is also one of the great neo-noir films of the 1990s.

*In the exclusive new audio commentary that is included on this release, filmmaker Alex Cox and screenwriter Tod Davies mention that the original rough cut of Backtrack had a different soundtrack. For example, in the very beginning when Foster witnesses the murder that transforms her character into a target, apparently Hopped had used Guns N' Roses's "Sweet Child O' Mine". However, in the Director's Cut that is included on this Blu-ray release, the track is missing, and the rest of the soundtrack uses plenty of jazz tunes.

Backtrack Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Backtrack arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

It is pretty easy to tell that at some point this film was remastered because most of it looks quite nice, even very good. It can look fresher, plus some ranges of nuances -- mostly in darker areas where shadow definition is not optimal -- can be improved, but the visuals have a fine organic appearance. It is just not the consistently solid organic appearance that a proper brand new 4K master, for instance, would have ensured. Regardless, delineation, clarity, and depth are usually very pleasing. When fluctuations emerge, they are never overly distracting. (You can see an example in screencapture #3 where light black crush sneaks in). Color balance is very good, too. A few darker primaries could have been managed a bit better but they still look good and the supporting nuances appear healthy. There are no traces of problematic digital corrections. Image stability is good. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Backtrack Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I am a little surprised to see that Backtrack does not have a 5.1 track because it feels like there is a lot material that would have benefited from one. The 2.0 track is decent. However, there are several areas where depth clearly isn't optimal and the dynamic range feels weak. I viewed the Director's Cut and do not know whether this would have made a difference, but I suspect that if the original audio is properly remastered with modern equipment there will be several noticeable improvements. The dialog is clear and always easy to follow. I did not encounter any distortions, pops, or audio dropouts to report in our review.

Backtrack Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer One - an original vintage trailer for the Director's Cut of the film, Backtrack. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Trailer Two - an original vintage trailer for the Theatrical Cut of the film, Catchfire. In English, not subtitled. (1 min).

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by filmmaker Alex Cox and screenwriter Tod Davies.

Backtrack Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It would have been interesting to see the rough cut of Dennis Hopper's Backtrack because in a new audio commentary that is included on this release Alex Cox and screenwriter Tod Davies describe it as a very different film. Backtrack is a fine 1990s neo-noir film, but it is very easy to tell that it is a reconstructed director's cut of another film. In it, some of Milo's antics -- like his saxophone performances -- look too artificial, plus the transitions between different episodes are not as smooth as they should have been. However, I think that the main appeal of many of these neo-noir films that emerged during the late 1980s and 1990s was that they were offbeat films with memorable atmospheres and an unfiltered sense of humor. While it could have turned out better, Backtrack is that kind of a different and enjoyable genre film. If you decide to pick it up for your collection, you should bundle it with Hopper's The Hot Spot, which is a masterpiece of the great Neo-Noir Renaissance. RECOMMENDED.