Backtrack

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Dennis Hopper directed, as well as acted in, this moody mess from 1989, which was barely seen for a couple of years until getting a boost from the rising fame of its star, Jodie Foster. Looking startlingly young, Foster plays a conceptual artist who witnesses a mob hit, thus becoming a target herself for an assassin (Hopper). But instead of killing her, Hopper's killer falls in love, demonstrating his passion by stalking her at a distance, "owning" her every move and keeping her in exile from ordinary life. The resulting isolation squeezes Foster's creative spirit, forcing her to confront doubt and self-loathing--everything that artists suffer as the price for self-expression. Deeply self-conscious, with a calculatingly meditative tone that becomes inseparable from Hopper's tenacious voyeurism (the film's most obvious commercial hook--Foster's nude scene--is almost prayerful in its pathology), Backtrack wants to be a confessional fable about the artistic process. Instead, it's a muted yet rambling confession about the sinner inside a filmmaker, which would be great if Backtrack were, say, Rear Window. But it surely isn't. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

WHAT ?!?! Average three star!?!??!.......2006-06-23

This movie might be the equivalant of cinemagraphic vomit. I can't believe that the average rating is three stars. The soundtrack consisted of horrible whiney 80's saxaphone music that made my ears bleed. I was 13 when I saw it and 15 years later, the horrible images are still emblazened in my mind as the worst 2 hours I have deliberately spent in my life. Please turn back now before you waste your time and money.

Butchered movie.......2005-07-20

Don't buy this DVD. Buy the VHS director's cut. The movie has been wrecked by haphazard edits. The DVD doesn't even make sense. This is not a bad film. Buy the VHS, but run as far as you can from this DVD. It's a rip-off.

Good cast but horrible script -- a real waste of talent!.......2005-04-02

I expected to like this quirky 1990s film. It's directed by Dennis Hopper and has a list of great actors and an intriguing theme. A woman artist witnesses a Mafia murder and goes to the police. However, she recognizes one of the cops as one of the hit men and goes on the run. The bad guys want her dead and even hire their own hit man who becomes obsessed with her. That's the kind of story I like, especially as Jodie Forster is cast as the woman and Dennis Hopper is cast as the hit man. Also in the cast are Dean Stockwell as the crocked cop, Bobby Dillon as a fellow artist, John Tuturro and Tony Sirico (Paulie on of The Sopranos fame) as mobsters, and there's even a cameo by Vincent Price.

My expectations for this film didn't pay off, however. From the very beginning, when Jodie Foster's car breaks down and she witnesses the mob hit, I found myself annoyed. There she was, leaving her car, wearing high heels and a skimpy dress and not even carrying a purse. Later, it was just too easy for her to change her identity. She went to a cemetery, found a gravestone of a woman who would have been her age, and applied for a birth certificate and a social security card. Also, the technology of the time (1990) was certainly not sophisticated enough for Dennis Hopper to go to a computer screen and track her identity change.

All the characters came across as exaggerated comic strip caracatures and I found myself laughing out loud when they tried to be serious. Perhaps this was the director's intention, but the film just couldn't hold my attention. I wanted to turn it off after ten minutes but hoped it would get better. Somehow I watched for another forty minutes before ejecting the DVD disk with disgust at such a waste of talent.

If you've never heard of this film I can well understand why. It was simply a dud. I have only one thing to say about this film. Forget about it!

BUYERS BEWARE.......2005-02-26

READ ALL REVIEWS BEFORE YOU BUY. If I had taken the time to read the warning about the cut DVD version, I never would have bought this DVD. Too late schmart. It's a hatchet job. Very sad and SO maddening that an intriguing film in which one could luxuriate has been turned into a goofy trivialization. And I can't return it because I've opened it.

WARNING!.......2004-08-31

A word to the wise from one who got burned: the Artisan DVD release is the expurgated cut. The story makes no sense once they've trimmed the Jodie/Dennis sex scenes, so don't buy it. Shame on Artisan.

Average customer rating:

WHAT ?!?! Average three star!?!??!
Butchered movie
Good cast but horrible script -- a real waste of talent!
BUYERS BEWARE
WARNING!

Backtrack
Starring: Julie Adams , John Apicella , Clifford Bartholomew , Kevin Bourland , and Carl David Burks
Director: Smithee, Alan
Manufacturer: Live / Artisan
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00005A1SQ
Release Date: 2001-04-24

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

WHAT ?!?! Average three star!?!??!.......2006-06-23

Butchered movie.......2005-07-20

Good cast but horrible script -- a real waste of talent!.......2005-04-02

BUYERS BEWARE.......2005-02-26

WARNING!.......2004-08-31

Children of Abraham: Genetics, genealogy, family history, & the Middle East

Average customer rating:

Children of Abraham: Genetics, genealogy, family history, & the Middle East

Manufacturer: Backtrack Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0002V4Y5E

Product Description

A new starting point for comprehending the 4000 year old Middle East conflict. While war was raging in Iraq the Children of Abraham crew talked to the practical working people who live and make their way amidst the warring that stems from the 4,000 year old Arab-Israeli conflict. Recorded in six countries, Children of Abraham started out as a family history story behind the scenes of a family feud someone elses family, we thought...but we found more than skeletons in this closet. There are many cultural and ethnic conflicts across the world; some lead to genocide and civil war; none has the pulling power of the Arab-Israel conflict to involve so many nations with so much destructive capacity. Nor can any other cultural or ethnic conflict trace its source so directly over a period of 4,000 years to a common father and to two brothers. Why its all happening cant be answered only by looking at the twentieth century. Its not just because Israel declared independence in 1948 it goes back before that. Its not just about oil, and oil politics, because it goes back before that too. Its not just about Islamic fundamentalism because the roots of this conflict existed before Islam. Before Christ. Before Judaism. Before ancient Israel. Filmed in Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, USA, England and Australia and sighting the opinions of geneticists, academics and everyday working Arabs and Israelis, Children of Abraham provides a unique perspective on this conflict that is encompassing the world. Children of Abraham is ideal for: Teachers of humanities and social science subjects. Family historians. All who wish to be well informed on the most compelling issue of our time

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