Johnny Handsome
Mikey Chalmette needed cash badly, and quick, to save the bar he had poured his life into; with no collateral, he went to “Johnny Handsome,” a man unforgettable once seen, his face disfigured, Mikey one of the few who treated him as normal; Sunny Boyd, Rafe Garrett and a wheelman brought in on the job, the liability was her mouth rather than his face, but it was a setup, Sunny and Rafe riddling the place with bullets and running.
John Sedley sentenced to five years in prison, spending his days on a Louisiana farm chain gang, he was met by Doctor Steven Resher who wished to pursue a new approach to facial reconstruction; a new face, a new identity, a job in the docks, “Johnny Mitchell” leaving prison with no record but carrying the memories of the people who murdered his friend, able to infiltrate their operation unrecognised yet choosing to march up and introduce himself, immediately sparking suspicion in the shifty operators.
Based on the novel The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome by John Godey and adapted by Ken Friedman, director Walter Hill was known for his dynamic action and blending genres from The Warriors and Streets of Fire, but released in 1989 and set in New Orleans, all heat and sweaty southern accents, Johnny Handsome does not play to his strengths, the opening shootout giving way to a prolonged and dubious medical drama.
Forest Whitaker’s Doctor Resher determined but naive – who exactly is funding the extensive experimental and undoubtedly expensive surgery, and what kind of life can the recreated thug expect with little attempt made to re-educate or reintegrate him into society? – Johnny Handsome feels like it has also been under the knife, leaping forward and presuming the characters and their history will fill the gaps when instead there is little reason to care.
The transformation of Mickey Rourke miraculous, unbandaged with no swelling or scarring, speech therapy included in the bargain, his relationship with coy co-worker Donna McCarty (Elizabeth McGovern) seems present solely to give Sunny and Rafe later leverage against him, Ellen Barkin and Lance Henrikson so gleefully amoral and unrepentant to the point that they are parodies of eighties villains, huge hair and flash clothes, criminals who announce their presence even before guns are drawn.
A film of long build up and unsatisfying payoff which lacks the edge of Hill’s best films, an idea better on paper than in the execution, the surgery more successful than the script of narrative gaps and loose ends, the new edition of Johnny Handsome is supported by four commentaries by film critics and historians and interviews with Hill, McGovern, Friedman, makeup artist Michael Westmore and stuntman Allan Graf who plays the office manager.
Johnny Handsome is available on 4K UHD and Blu-ray now from StudioCanal
