Johnny Handsome

"They changed his looks, his life and his future... but they couldn't change his past ."

1989 1h 34m EN

😐

6.3

MID

🍅

60%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.1

IMDB

★6.3TMDB · 304🍅60%Rotten Tomatoes●60Metacritic★6.1IMDB · 11,858

CrimeDramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A career criminal who has been deformed since birth is given a new face by a kindly doctor and paroled from prison. It appears that he has gone straight, but he is really planning his revenge on the man who killed his mentor and sent him to prison.

“They changed his looks, his life and his future... but they couldn't change his past .”

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Cast

Mickey Rourke
Johnny Handsome
Ellen Barkin
Sunny Boyd
Morgan Freeman
Lt. A.Z. Drones
Forest Whitaker
Dr. Steven Fisher
Elizabeth McGovern
Donna McCarty
Lance Henriksen
Rafe Garrett
Scott Wilson
Mikey Chalmette
David Schramm
Vic Dumask

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Walter Hill
Writers: Ken Friedman
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 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 36% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Walter Hill, shot by Matthew F. Leonetti. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Mickey Rourke and Ellen Barkin and Morgan Freeman carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "They changed his looks, his life and his future... but they couldn't change his past .".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0097626 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Walter Hill directs. Matthew F. Leonetti behind the camera. Ry Cooder scores. Carmel Davies cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 36% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
237 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Walter Hill, shot by Matthew F. Leonetti. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Ry Cooder. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Carmel Davies shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Mickey Rourke and Ellen Barkin and Morgan Freeman carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "They changed his looks, his life and his future... but they couldn't change his past .".
8IMDB entry: tt0097626 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 11 themes, including "prison", "mask", "individual", "operation".

The technical file

Cinematography: Matthew F. Leonetti
Original score: Ry Cooder
Editing: Carmel Davies
Production design: Gene Rudolf
Costume design: Dan Moore
Makeup / hair: Michael Westmore
Sound: Gregg Landaker
Stunt coordinator: Allan Graf
Runtime: 94 min · 1h 34m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $20,000,000
Box office: $7,237,794
Return: 36% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Johnny Handsome (1989)
Rotten Tomatoes: 60% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 60/100
IMDB rating: 6.1/10 · 11,858 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

4 nominations total

Also by

Walter Hill

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-03-31
★ 7/10
Walter Hill's undervalued neo-noir. Johnny Handsome is directed by Walter Hill and adapted to screenplay by Ken Friedman from the novel "The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome" written by John Godey. It stars Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Elizabeth McGovern, Lance Henriksen, Forest Whitaker, Morgan Freeman and Scott Wilson. Music is by Ry Cooder and cinematography by Matthew F. Leonetti. John Sedley (Rourke), AKA: Johnny Handsome, has a severely disfigured face, when he and his only real friend are double-crossed by two accomplices during a robbery, Johnny is sent to prison and his life reaches a new low. However, hope springs in the form of Dr. Steven Fisher (Whitaker), a pioneering plastic surgeon who offers to give Johnny surgery that would give him a normal face as he attempts to integrate back into society. With a new face making him unrecognisable, there is scope to enact revenge on the two people who killed his best friend and had him put in prison... Walter Hill knows his film noir, anyone who has seen The Driver knows this. Here for Johnny Handsome, Hill takes a lot of the fantastical elements of noir and dresses it up admirably as a violent revenge thriller. A box office flop and something of a kicking post for big hitting critics of the late 1980s, it's a film that now can be seen as being very much in tune with its influences. The charges of it being too bonkers, too violent and too much of a "B" movie homage just don't add up, because what is on offer is good solid meaty neo-noir cinema. A protagonist with an affliction, medical shenanigans, hyper femme fatale, over the top villain and a stoic and sarcastic gumshoe type copper. All of which operate in a sweaty and luridly coloured New Orleans. Add in Hill's eye for aggressive action sequences and it's neo a go-go. Hill gets strong performances from his cast, ensuring emotional bonds are not over egged and a clamour for sympathy and understanding kept to a bearable level by the actors playing the "good" guys "n" dolls. While giving Henriksen and Barkin licence to sizzle with sinister glee is astute and perfectly in tune with the material on the page. Leonetti's photography has the requisite pulpy noirishness to it, and the familiar twangs of Ry Cooder are never a bad thing in a Walter Hill movie. It's not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but those complaining about missed opportunities regarding rehabilitation - or that the liberal doctor turns out to be clinically wrong in his reform beliefs - really are missing the point or unaware of the world where something like Johnny Handsome lives. From the kinetic misery at film's start, to the "ever so in tune with film noir" finale, Johnny Handsome is well worth a look by anyone interested in noir's updated version. 7/10

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