Slam Dance (1987)

An artist, framed for the murder of a woman, is drawn into a web of corruption, blackmail and deceit.

Director:

Wayne Wang

Writer:

Don Keith Opper

Stars:

Tom Hulce, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Virginia Madsen

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Hulce	...	C.C. Drood
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio	...	Helen Drood
Virginia Madsen	...	Yolanda Caldwell
Don Keith Opper	...	Buddy (as Don Opper)
Adam Ant	...	Jim Campbell
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Det. Benjamin Smiley
John Doe	...	Det. John Gilbert
Millie Perkins	...	Bobby Nye
Herta Ware	...	Mrs. Raines
Judith Barsi	...	Bean
Robert Beltran	...	Frank
Rosalind Chao	...	Mrs. Margaret Bell
Sasha Delgado	...	Girl at Nursery
Joshua Caceras	...	Boy at Nursery
Marty Levy	...	Detective

Storyline

A cartoonist who had an affair with a girl who is murdered gets himself embroiled in a high-level cover-up of a sex scandal involving his lover. By using his artistic talent to try and reconstruct the scandal, he attracts attention to himself by the people involved, and becomes a target himself.

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Plot Keywords:

cartoonist | cover up | murder | artist | neo noir | 

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Taglines:

Hot kiss. Cold sweat. Last chance. Slamdance.

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Genres:

Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 October 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dançando Com o Perigo

Box Office

Gross:

$406,881 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Zenith Entertainment, Island Pictures, Sho Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Lisa Niemi Swayze (playing Miss Schell) had to do the scene in which Drood crashes in on her dead body twice, once naked for the movie and once wearing underwear for the trailer, so that the trailer could be rated for all audiences.

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Quotes

Yolanda Caldwell: You're supposed to say you love me now.

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Soundtracks

"Bing Can't Walk"
Written by Stan Ridgway
Performed by Stan Ridgway and Mitchell Froom
Produced by Mitchell Froom
Published by Mondo Spartacus/Illegal Songs

User Reviews

Irrelevant

Won't say "Slam Dance" was exactly a waste of time since it has some relatively interesting moments, parts to make you wonder. What I will say about this movie is that it was just too much of so less, off-beat, weirder by the minute and with not much to say. Here's an obscure film that needs to remain obscure, a film noir trying to be funny with humorless comedy intertwined with two or three good suspense scenes.

My main interest in seeing this was because of Tom Hulce in one of his first roles after the acclaim for "Amadeus" but he doesn't repeat the same qualities of that role. Not because it's different characters (both artists though) but simply because he's just not funny while playing this wimpy cartoonist trying to solve the mystery behind the murder of his love affair, a femme fatale (Virginia Madsen) involved with powerful and dangerous people. There's small portions when his character is charming and playful - specially towards kids and his daughter Beane (Judith Barsi) - but there are times when of eminent danger when he's desperate and he's trying to be cool and it just doesn't work. It makes things worse. And the whole thing of him dissecting the case is to be watched with a straight-faced expression in disbelief with everything going around, it's not confusing as it could be but it's just so not involving and lacking of good explanations (Adam Ant's character for example).

What does "Slam Dance" gets it right: all of the scenes with Virginia Madsen, presented in flashbacks exposing the torrid love affair between she and the cartoonist, there's magic going on between them; and the explanation on why she was killed, part of the final moments. It's extremely frustrating the whole way until we get there. It's like uh huh why should I keep going on in figure out who killed the woman? It loses time and essence and you're there for too little, almost nothing. A little watchable because of Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Millie Perkins and Harry Dean Stanton. 5/10