Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I enjoyed this although I can see why others might not and having looked into why so many names are missing from the credits (including Hopper's) the truth is out and this once ran 180 minutes instead of current 95mins. So, clearly chopped about which explains some jumps and perhaps some of the extra seeming quirkiness and it did occur to me when the film changes gear three quarters through that you would need to like Hopper to stay with this. Despite everything, this looks good almost all the time, you can see Hopper's eye searching out the urban and rural landscapes and never missing a good sky shot. And then there is Jodie Foster, who I'm not usually very fond of watching and the main man himself. Hopper does lumber himself with an accent he seems not really to be able to manage but the chemistry between the two is unmistakable and a delight to watch. The dialogue, red hot at the start gets a bit groggy towards the end and I see Alex Cox is part credited with the script (another name withdrawn). Charlie Sheen, Joe Pesci and no less than Bob Dylan are more who appear on screen but not on the credits. I can't imagine I've really sold this very well but I like it and would love to see the longer version which I understand was once available on video.

Since Dennis Hopper died yesterday, I feel honour bound to visit his filmography.This is one of those films which left an impression, mainly because of the absolute bizarreness of the plot.A hit-man (Hopper, cast according to type), for no apparent reason, falls in love with his target (Jodie Foster, after The Accused, before Silence Of The Lambs). He catches her and then, even more unbelievably, she falls in love with him.One wonders if this might, perhaps, have been a wish fulfilment piece written by a mafia hit-man. Whatever its genesis, one notes that the director is Alan Smithee, the Hollywood convention for a director who insists that his name is removed from the piece in disgust at the way it has been abused by those who have control of the final cut. Given that "Alan Smithee" is the name pasted over "Dennis Hopper", things become interesting. One also notes that, absent from the credits is the name Joe Pesci, despite the fact that Mr P has a not insignificant part in the proceedings.Something clearly went very badly wrong, and not much of the story of what happened seems to be in the public domain. But it sounds to me as if it's probably a better story than the story told in the film itself!

Despite the shameless overacting by almost the entire cast, and, despite the "chop shop" editing of the DVD, and, despite the two famous actors (Charlie Sheen, Joe Pesci) who yanked their names from the credits, and, despite the randomness and somewhat unbelievability of the script, and, despite the movie's tendency to vacillate wildly between genuine tension, dark humor, titillating nudity, and cartoonish situations, in spite of all these potential faults, "Backtrack" is very watchable. It has fantastic on location photography, that only adds to the enjoyment of a somewhat flawed, nevertheless intriguing, and ultimately entertaining movie. - MERK

Dennis Hopper's BACKTRACK (Catchfire) had everything going for it- good plot potential and great cast. How did everything to go so wrong? I bought the set- up, yet came away feeling this film was the result of Hopper making a bar bet that he could bed Jodie Foster and get paid to party with his friends in the arty enclaves of New Mexico, then throwing together this production to win the bet.The high point for me was Bob Dylan's cameo as a chain saw wielding deconstructionist (maybe a metaphor for the whole film) and his barely intelligible dialog: "(mumble, mumble), Laddy John Dill, (mumble, mumble)..."Years later I ran into Dill at an art school reunion and it provided the perfect icebreaker..."Hey man, I just saw a horrible film where Bob Dylan dropped your name. That doesn't happen everyday, does it?"