Johnny Handsome [Blu-ray]

Director: Walter Hill Walter Hill

Overview

Small-time crook Mickey Rourke is mockingly named Johnny Handsome because of his grotesquely deformed face. While in stir on a robbery rap, Rourke is knifed by convicts in the employ of his former partner--and now bitter enemy--Lance Henriksen. While in the prison hospital, Rourke is cared for by a kindly doctor (Forrest Whitaker), who believes that the key to Rourke's rehabilitation might be a literal change of face. Undergoing plastic surgery, Rourke emerges as virtually unrecognizable to everyone but the audience. Paroled, Rourke seems to be willing to follow a straight and narrow path. Seems to be. Only Morgan Freeman, playing a hard-bitten law officer, sees through Rourke's "new leaf."

Product Details

Release Date:	07/27/2010
UPC:	0012236110446
Original Release:	1989
Rating:	R
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:33:00
Sales rank:	19,758

Special Features

"Wordsmith" featurette; "Eye of the beholder" featurette; "Action man" featurette; Original theatrical trailer; Video still gallery

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Mickey Rourke	John Sedley
Ellen Barkin	Sunny Boyd
Elizabeth McGovern	Donna McCarty
Morgan Freeman	Lt. A.Z. Drones
Forest Whitaker	Dr. Steven Fisher
Lance Henriksen	Rafe Garrett
Scott Wilson	Mikey Chalmette
David Schramm	Vic Dumask
Yvonne Bryceland	Sister Luke
Peter Jason	Mr. Bonet
J.W. Smith	Larry
Jeffrey Meek	Earl
Allan Graf	Bob Lemoyne
Ed Zang	Prestige Manager
John Fertitta	Prestige Salesman,Prestige Salesman
Raynor Scheine	Gun Dealer
Ed Walsh	Judge,Judge
Jim Burk	Prison Guard
Ken Medlock	Shipyard Accountant
Gie-G Duncombe	Accounting Secretary
Dick Butler	Shipyard Security Guard
Blake Clark	Sheriff
Eugenia Ives	Nurse
Bonnie Timmermann	Actor
Ry Cooder	Performer,Composer

Technical Credits

Ken Friedman

Nicholas Meyer

Walter Hill	Director
Ken Friedman	Screenwriter
Allan Graf	Stunts
Mario Kassar	Executive Producer
Charles Roven	Producer
Andrew Vajna	Executive Producer,Executive Producer
Nicholas Meyer	Screenwriter
Joseph Mercurio	Special Effects

Editorial Reviews

It's ironic that a film about physical deformity cured by plastic surgery undergoes a facelift of its own part way through, changing from an original cinematic entity into an all-too-ordinary crime thriller. Johnny Handsome goes downhill about the time that a facially misshapen and vocally muffled Mickey Rourke -- who seems to be giving a daring, vanity-free performance -- is miraculously transformed, scar- and slur-free, into the smoldering brooder we know so well. As soon as the makeup -- a superlative effort by former Oscar nominees Michael Westmore and Zoltan Elek -- gets stripped away, Johnny Handsome loses its vitality, resembling one of Rourke's prototypical seedy noirs a lot more than a thoughtful contemplation of identity and physical appearance. It's also unfortunately familiar territory for director Walter Hill, whose smart visual style, including some sharp cutting on form, gets neutralized by narrative clichés. Johnny Handsome hearkens back to the days when Morgan Freeman was still allowed to play unsympathetic characters, only two years after his menacing turn as Fast Black in Street Smart.

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