Product Details

• Actors: Dennis Hopper, Jodie Foster, John Turturro, Dean Stockwell, Vincent Price
• Directors: Dennis Hopper
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Lions Gate
• VHS Release Date: January 25, 1995
• Run Time: 102 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302296919
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #215,129 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Dennis Hopper directed, as well as acted in, this moody mess from 1989, which was barely seen for a couple of years until getting a boost from the rising fame of its star, Jodie Foster. Looking startlingly young, Foster plays a conceptual artist who witnesses a mob hit, thus becoming a target herself for an assassin (Hopper). But instead of killing her, Hopper's killer falls in love, demonstrating his passion by stalking her at a distance, "owning" her every move and keeping her in exile from ordinary life. The resulting isolation squeezes Foster's creative spirit, forcing her to confront doubt and self-loathing--everything that artists suffer as the price for self-expression. Deeply self-conscious, with a calculatingly meditative tone that becomes inseparable from Hopper's tenacious voyeurism (the film's most obvious commercial hook--Foster's nude scene--is almost prayerful in its pathology), Backtrack wants to be a confessional fable about the artistic process. Instead, it's a muted yet rambling confession about the sinner inside a filmmaker, which would be great if Backtrack were, say, Rear Window. But it surely isn't. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars DVD is NOT the Director's Cut!, May 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Backtrack (DVD)

For those who don't know, there are two versions of this film:

The European version titled "Catchfire", which runs 98 minutes (more or less) and has a music score by Curt Sobel. The director of the film, Dennis Hopper disowned this version--it is credited to Alan Smithee instead.

Then there's the director's cut, "Backtrack", which runs 116 minutes (more or less), and features a different score by Michel Columbier. This version is available on video.

I don't know why, but the DVD release is in fact the shorter European cut w/ alternate score--despite keeping the "Backtrack" title and Hopper's name on the credits as director. Oh, and the back of the box credits Michel Columbier as composer, which is very odd considering not a note of his music is present in this version.

A simple mistake by the distributor Artisan? Or are they simply trying to pull a fast one on the consumers? Either way, I strongly suggest that you either wait for a proper release on DVD or purchase the VHS version instead, which to my knowledge remains as the director's cut.

Maybe Hopper changed his mind about which cut he prefers, but I highly doubt that.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Butchered movie, July 19, 2005

By 

Victoria A. Wildermuth (Odessa, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Backtrack (DVD)

Don't buy this DVD. Buy the VHS director's cut. The movie has been wrecked by haphazard edits. The DVD doesn't even make sense. This is not a bad film. Buy the VHS, but run as far as you can from this DVD. It's a rip-off.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars WARNING!, August 30, 2004

By 

E. Newman (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Backtrack (DVD)

A word to the wise from one who got burned: the Artisan DVD release is the expurgated cut. The story makes no sense once they've trimmed the Jodie/Dennis sex scenes, so don't buy it. Shame on Artisan.