FLASHBACK. Directed by Franco Amurri; written by David Loughery; produced by Marvin Worth for Paramount. Starring Dennis Hopper and Kiefer Sutherland. Rated R.
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A lot of '60s nostalgia movies will probably start appearing now, regardless of how well or poorly Flashback does. One can only hope that those yet unmade pictures will learn from this one's mistakes.
Flashback starts out with a good, solid story idea, and an interesting pair of characters. But towards the end it gets unforgiveably sloppy. Too many contrivances and extreme situations send it down in flames, and not even a clever surprise twist at the end can save it.
Hopper goes back to his roots here, in a way, playing Huey Walker, a fast-talking counter-culture hero from the '60s. He's finally apprehended by the FBI (for a prank played on Spiro Agnew) and is to be transferred to Spokane, Washington, to serve out his sentence.
John Buckner draws guard duty and lets Sutherland, unlike Hopper, play somewhat against type, as a no-nonsense yuppie G-man. The two guys make a good comic duo. Hopper gets a lot of funny, if also raunchy, lines, and Sutherland makes a good straight man.
Things get confused in the second half of the picture with revelations about John's hippie past and the rampages of a sadistic sheriff (Cliff DeYoung) to contend with. Through it all, the two stars remain appealing characters. It's not their fault that the story disintegrates around them. But their appeal isn't enough to save the movie.
The same is true for most of the minor characters. Carol Kane does another of her championship cameos as an unrepentant flower child. And Richard Mazur and Michael McKean generate a few laughs, in spite of their characters being agonizingly contrived.
February 7, 1990