Pretty serendipitous Bob Dylan’s in this. He’s 79 today. Hopper says of him as he stomps off, Fuckin Artist. 

Turturro, Vincent Price, wild cast!
Catherine Keener even has a bit part!

Sweet afternoon watch. Dennis Hopper on 🎷.

“What the fuck is this, contemporary art...”

This is the only Hopper directed movie I’ve seen and I’ve seen it twice. This tells you everything you need to know about me.

[Backtrack director's cut, 117 minutes]

Bob Dylan wields a chainsaw. Dennis Hopper plays the saxophone and appreciates the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch. Jodie Foster has replaced Jenny Holzer. Vincent Price is the mafia's top don. And that's not even the half of it- Catchfire is utterly nuts. I've heard rumors that Alex Cox, who's cameo as D.H. Lawrence here is not as the poet but as a similarly named partygoer, had his hands on the script at one point- I believe it wholeheartedly, but this film's brand of lunacy is idiosyncratic even by his standards. Dennis is perfectly steady behind the camera (although even the directors cut has massive amounts of connective tissue missing - does anyone have a lead on that three hour workprint?), but in front of it, he's giving one of the weirdest presumably sober performances of his career.

This is basically the same movie as Ryan's Babe.

What an odd, fascinating mess of a road movie. I watched the Backtrack director's cut version of this (thanks Kyle!) And after seeing that, I can easily see how this had a three hour cut. I can also just as easily see how that cut was unreleasable.

While this is very clearly a Hopper project, Alex Cox's scabbing presence on the script is also very much felt. In fact, this movie got Cox blacklisted and was at least part of what derailed his career. Those twin visions are also supported by a whole range favors being called in on recognizable faces in minor supporting roles or cameos including Fred Ward, Joe Pesci, Dean Stockwell, John Turturro, and Bob Dylan.

Catchfire/Backtrack is a failure. I don't think another cut would change that. Still, it definitely has its merits and at the very least is a fascinating artifact.

I finally caught an uncut 35mm print of this and it was everything. As in "Dennis Hopper protecting his burrito during a gunfight" everything.

In the same year, Hopper demonstrated he could turn neo-noir excess into a kind of trash poetry; here, he just turns his actors loose and relies on being relentlessly odd and hopes it all adds up to something. A hitman who keeps a giant reproduction of Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights in his apartment; Bob Dylan as a chainsaw-wielding conceptual artist; amour fou thanks to a bed covered in pink Hostess Snoballs. “There’s something going on here that I really don’t understand. But I like it.” It’s all gorgeously framed by Lachman, like a series of pop-art snapshots that would fit alongside Foster’s scrolling signs of late-modern koans (“Killing is unavoidable but is nothing to be proud of”) in some echt-early-90s gallery. A climactic apocalyptic blast that leaves only its improbable lovers left alive, dressed up in astronaut-like Hazmat suits like they’re ready to make for themselves a new world of two in the blighted landscape.

The fact that Dennis Hopper (may he R.I.P.) was ashamed to admit he directed this movie is hilarious.

Out of all the shitty movies he was in, King Koppa from Super Mario Bros. was ashamed of this movie.

I don't blame him, but he's acted in worse.

I would be curious enough to watch the 3hr version. Not a great movie, but not boring.

My 1998 notes make no comment on this, so I’ll just have to rewatch it to see if it’s worthy of inclusion on Fatal Attractions. (It’s currently on Amazon Prime).

i am a sucker for jodie foster with curly hair but as a whole i couldn’t take it seriously due to the sax scenes

In the same year, Hopper demonstrated he could turn neo-noir excess into a kind of trash poetry; here, he just turns his actors loose and relies on being relentlessly odd and hopes it all adds up to something. A hitman who keeps a giant reproduction of Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights in his apartment; Bob Dylan as a chainsaw-wielding conceptual artist; amour fou thanks to a bed covered in pink Hostess Snoballs. “There’s something going on here that I really don’t understand. But I like it.” It’s all gorgeously framed by Lachman, like a series of pop-art snapshots that would fit alongside Foster’s scrolling signs of late-modern koans (“Killing is unavoidable but is nothing to be proud of”) in some echt-early-90s gallery. A climactic apocalyptic blast that leaves only its improbable lovers left alive, dressed up in astronaut-like Hazmat suits like they’re ready to make for themselves a new world of two in the blighted landscape.

Theatrical cut: A truly befuddling disaster.

Mafia hitman falls in love with the hit, but Dennis fucking Hopper style and an ultra proper cast that is stacked thru the roof. Dang.

VERY weird, & very watchable - what other cast features Joe Pesci, Charlie Sheen, Bob Dylan AND Vincent Price?

Dennis Hopper dealing with his emotions through passionate beginner saxophone gives me LIFE.

Some awesome sax scenes

So this was the directors cut version that Hopper didn't disown. Interesting to Pesci still isn't credited though.

It's a disjointed affair. And I would imagine that Foster might look back on her role with a few regrets. The location shooting hands some quality though, there's a large number of 'oh look, it's so and so' cast members to spot and an almost Blue Velvet meets Nic Roeg esque vibe to both the cinematography and Hopper's performance.

A curate's egg.