Catchfire

"When murder is your business, you'd better not fall in love with your work."

1990 1h 56m EN

😐

5.3

MID

🥫

40%

ROTTEN

⭐

5.3

IMDB

★5.3TMDB · 120🥫40%Rotten Tomatoes★5.3IMDB · 5,004

DramaActionThrillerRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A witness to a mob assassination flees for her life from town to town, switching identities, but cannot seem to elude Milo, the chief killer out to get her.

“When murder is your business, you'd better not fall in love with your work.”

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Cast

Dennis Hopper
Milo
Jodie Foster
Anne Benton
Dean Stockwell
John Luponi
Vincent Price
Mr. Avoca
John Turturro
Pinella
Fred Ward
Pauling
Julie Adams
Martha
Tony Sirico
Greek

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Dennis Hopper
Writers: Rachel Kronstadt Mann, Rachel Kronstadt Mann, Ann Louise Bardach
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

36 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Dennis Hopper, shot by Edward Lachman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Curt Sobel. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor David Rawlins shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Dennis Hopper and Jodie Foster and Dean Stockwell carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "When murder is your business, you'd better not fall in love with your work.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0096875 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Dennis Hopper directs. Edward Lachman behind the camera. Curt Sobel scores. David Rawlins cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

136 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Directed by Dennis Hopper, shot by Edward Lachman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Curt Sobel. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor David Rawlins shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Dennis Hopper and Jodie Foster and Dean Stockwell carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "When murder is your business, you'd better not fall in love with your work.".
7IMDB entry: tt0096875 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Classified under 8 themes, including "corruption", "police", "artist", "murder".

The technical file

Cinematography: Edward Lachman
Original score: Curt Sobel
Editing: David Rawlins
Production design: Ron Foreman
Costume design: Nancy Cone
Makeup / hair: Pat Gerhardt
Sound: Robert L. Hoyt
Stunt coordinator: Eddy Donno
Runtime: 116 min · 1h 56m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Catchfire (1990)
Rotten Tomatoes: 40% 🥫 Rotten
IMDB rating: 5.3/10 · 5,004 votes
MPAA: R

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Dennis Hopper

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Community reviews

What people are saying

JPV8522023-04-23
★ 5/10
Pretty weird and quirky action-thriller-romance-comedy that features over-the-top acting from both Hopper and Foster. Kind of awkward scenes and parts are on the slow side, however while Hopper isn't as insane compared with in other roles, there were a few weird moments like playing the saxophone. Not bad and from what I read, an improvement over the theatrical version that Vestron heavily edited without Hopper's knowledge (and was credited as Alan Smithee). I think this would play great in a group setting as there are some good-bad scenes. 2.75/5
Wuchak2024-07-08
★ 7/10
Amusing crime thriller road trip with Dennis Hopper and Jodie Foster A hitman for the mob in Western America (Hopper) falls for his prey (Foster) and they find themselves running from both the mob and law enforcement. “Backtrack” was shot in 1988 and originally released in Europe as “Catchfire” in 1990, but the director/star disowned it and credited the film to Alan Smithee. So, he did a Director’s Cut that was released to cable in 1991, retitled “Backtrack.” It was influenced by Eastwood’s “The Gauntlet” from a dozen years earlier. While it’s superior to Hopper’s contemporaneous “The Hot Spot,” it’s not as effective as his “Chasers” (1994). Yet it’s worthwhile for the great cast (also including Vincent Price, Joe Pesci, Charlie Sheen, Dean Stockwell and several other recognizable faces), not to mention Jodie in her physical prime. In other words, she never looked better. The version I saw runs 1 hour, 39 minutes, but there’s a version that runs 1 hour, 56 minutes (the Director’s Cut) and, supposedly, a 3-hour version. It was shot in the Los Angeles area, Seattle and New Mexico (Albuquerque, Lindrith, Lamy, Taos, Rio Grande Gorge Bridge and Ranchos de Taos). GRADE: B/B-