Heart Beat (1980) Review

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(More customer reviews)I won't even pretend to be an expert on the Beat movement. I read "On the Road" in college but it didn't leave a lasting imprataur on me. Ditto for Burroughs' "Naked Lunch" which I couldn't get through. I did read Tom Wolfe's account of the Merry Pranksters, "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" as well as Lenny Bruce's bio and enjoyed them thoroughly. I didn't approach "Heart Beat" with high expectations and they were more than transcended. Director John Byrum's film has it's own jazzy rhythms that make it unique and unto itself. We see Jack Kerouac(John Heard) and the Cassadys (Nick Nolte and Sissy Spacek) not as leaders of a movement but rugged individualists who defy the norm and go to the beat of their own muses. The film is immeasurably helped by a powerhouse performance by Nolte as Neal Cassady, a real charmer who may be a ne'er-do-well or a rebel. Heard and Spacek are good in more subdued turns as the friend and spouse who at times are repelled then embrace Neal's antics. The late Ray Sharkey gives a great turn as an Allen Ginsburg type as does John Larroquette as a conservative TV host. Terrific period detail from art designer Jack Fisk, Spacek's real-life husband, and gorgeous score from Jack Nietzche. I remember this film received lukewarm critical and commercial success at the time of it's release but it is definitely a film ahead of it's time.

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Q & A (1990) Review

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(More customer reviews).
A truly gripping, action-packed and yet really moving cop film with a _raw_ complex plot (no other way to describe it) and some absolutely brilliant performances by Nick Nolte (as Brennan, a puritanical white cop too blurred by his convictions to see the error of his racist, reckless ways), Armand Assante (as a latin drug warlord and the antagonist of Nolte's character) and Timothy Hutton (as Riley, an ex-cop lawyer assigned now by the DA's office to investigate Nolte).
This is no LA Confidential or City Hall because there is much lesser of Hollywood here. Instead, expect some in-your-face narrative of police corruption, compromised idealism, racism, even a pithy take on homosexuality. The biggest surprise is the Puertorican druglord character played to the T by Armand Assante, right down to latin American quirks and verbal cadence - easily Oscar nomination material.
What's a review without some gripes though, so here. The one thing that befuddles the plot a little is the character of Riley's subplot romantic interest. Lumet's daughter herself played this role and I found her to be more than a little taut. This little apparition of an ex-love will have you wondering about what it means to the story otherwise (clue: not much) especially a reference to Riley being surprised on seeing his latin american girlfriend's father because he was black. Why this was anything special I do not know -- I'd be surprised to have a latin girlfriend for 2 years and then see her father and find out that he was black. If there was some highfalutin racism meme intended, I'd venture to say it fell flat on its foot.
Secondly, perhaps some (only some) scenes may be a tad overdone in terms of their dramatic rendering e.g., a totally unnecessary scene with a transvestite prostitute snitching away in front of the druglord or a scene with Nolte dealing with prostitutes and actually groping one of them to determine whether (s)he was a woman. Such needless scenes, and there are preciously few of them thankfully, somewhat bogged down the otherwise perfect pace of the movie.
Nonetheless, this is quite an intelligent film with a very real, gripping theme and terrific acting all round. Definitely worth at least a good evening's rental.

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