Though primarily known as an actor, Dennis Hopper sat in the director's chair a handful of times. For one of these efforts, we head to 1990’s The Hot Spot.

A drifter, Harry Madox (Don Johnson) winds up in a small Texas town, where he takes a job as a used car salesman. He finds himself sexually interested in fellow employee Gloria Harper (Jennifer Connelly) while his boss George Harshaw's (Jerry Hardin) wife Dolly (Virginia Madsen) lures Harry into an affair.

When he discovers that bank workers leave the vault open during a fire, Harry plots a scheme to rob the facility under similar circumstances. When someone pulls off this kind of theft, Harry becomes the prime suspect and needs to deal with complications attached to the women in his life if he hopes to stay out of jail.

Even with a relatively low $10 million budget, Hot Spot lost money in 1990, as it barely earned $1 million at the box office. However, it probably did well on home video and cable for one specific reason: Naked Jennifer Connelly.

Heck, Naked Jennifer Connelly makes Hot Spot the gift that keeps on giving. Not even 20 at the time, Connelly's stunning looks ensured multiple generations of dudes would seek out the movie just to see her in the nude.

The question becomes whether or not the movie offers any value beyond Naked Jennifer Connelly. In my view, no, as Hot Spot becomes an oddly sluggish and dull experience.

How could a neo-noir that revolves around sex and crime seem so boring? Connelly and Madsen offer fine eye candy but that doesn’t feel like enough to carry the narrative.

Spot really does take forever to get to anything interesting, and it doesn’t use all that prep time to create three-dimensional characters. All the roles remain thin stereotypes that don’t benefit from the extended development time the film gives to them.

We find performances that veer from severely underplayed to overly broad. These never mesh so it feels like the actors come at the project from radically different approaches.

Connelly looks gorgeous and would eventually develop into a fine actor, but she seems wooden and flat as Gloria. On the other hand, Madsen camps up a storm as Dolly in a performance that also doesn’t fit, though at least Madsen’s scenery-chewing makes Dolly more interesting than the bland Gloria.

Johnson winds up somewhere in the middle, a problem since we need to buy Harry as a charismatic con man. Johnson simply fails to provide charm as the film’s lead and this leaves a hole at the center.

Thanks to Hopper’s emphasis on style and the work of cinematographer Ueli Steiger, Spot does look great. Though it can almost feel like a parody of noir conceits, the film consistently brings dynamic visuals.

Unfortunately, the movie’s impressive imagery can’t compensate for its slow pacing and erratic performances. Someone could’ve made a good thriller out of Charles Williams’ 1953 novel Hell Hath No Fury, but apparently Dennis Hopper wasn’t that person.

The Hot Spot appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. This became a largely solid Dolby Vision presentation.

Overall sharpness satisfied. Lower-light interiors leaned a little tentative but the majority of the flick brought accurate elements.

No issues with moiré effects or jaggies manifested, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt natural and print flaws remained absent.

The movie’s palette usually emphasized sun-baked ambers and oranges to suit the scorching Texas setting, though reds became a factor at times and blues showed up for nighttime scenes. The colors delivered hues that usually seemed well-rendered, though I felt they leaned a bit too hot at times.

Did the UHD's colors reflect the original photography? Possibly, but I couldn't help but think HDR cranked them up too high at times.

Blacks seemed dense and firm, while shadows offered good clarity, even if the darker shots showed the aforementioned mild softness. HDR added oomph to contrast and whites. Despite a few niggling concerns, this became a high-quality image.

I didn’t expect much from the circa 1990 DTS-HD MA 2.0 soundtrack but it created a surprisingly effective soundscape. While much of the audio focused on the front channels, the surrounds bolstered the action in a lively manner when necessary, such as during a dramatic building fire sequence.

This meant we got good placement and movement from the forward channels and useful reinforcement from the rears. Add some dynamic music and action from the back speakers at times and this wound up as a very good soundscape for a movie from 1990.

Audio quality also worked nicely, with speech that became natural and concise. Music appeared warm and full.

Effects boasted appealing range and accuracy, without concerns connected to distortion. Nothing here lived up to 2026 auditory standards but I thought the mix felt well above average for its release period.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Both came with identical audio.

The Dolby Vision UHD's image showed superior sharpness and more promninent grain but it also came with hotter colors. As mentioned earlier, perhaps these reflected the cinematographer's choices.

However, I thought the slightly cooler hues of the Blu-ray felt more logical for the project. The improvements found on the UHD made it a toss-up between the two but push come to shove, I preferred the look of the BD.

No extras appear on the 4K UHD disc itself but we get some on the included Blu-ray copy, where along with the movie’s trailer, we locate five featurettes. Shot for French TV during a 1990 promo tour for the film, Dennis Hopper spans four minutes, 35 seconds.

The director offers some general remarks about his life and aspects of Hot Spot. Not much of real value appears, as Hopper mostly tells us how hip he is.

Recorded in 2021, Virginia Madsen goes for seven minutes, two seconds and brings the actor’s thoughts about how she came to the film, her character and performance, and related thoughts. Despite the brevity of the piece, Madsen adds useful insights.

Also from 2021, actor William Sadler (6:24) talks about topics similar to those examined by Madsen, though obviously from his own POV. Sadler provides worthwhile notes.

Taped in 2023, film historian Nick Dawson (20:24) looks at director Dennis Hopper, genre domains and reflections on Hot Spot. He gives us a decent array of notes.

Another piece from 2023, crime writer Duane Swiercyznski (22:12) as he tells us about novelist Charles Williams and his work as well as the film adaptation. The best parts compare the novel to the movie.

The package concludes with a booklet that provides credits, photos, two essays and a circa 1990 piece that brought comments from Hopper. This finishes the set on a positive note.

While the film consistently boasts excellent cinematography, The Hot Spot comes with too many other issues to become an involving neo-noir. The film plods across its extended running time and never really kicks into gear. The 4K UHD offers good picture and audio along with a handful of bonus featurettes. Though Hot Spot comes with the potential to turn into something special, this version bores too much to get there.