Johnny Handsome

1989 film by Walter Hill

Johnny Handsome is a 1989 American neo noir crime thriller film directed by Walter Hill and starring Mickey Rourke, Ellen Barkin, Forest Whitaker and Morgan Freeman. The film was written by Ken Friedman, and adapted from the novel The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome by John Godey. The music for the film was written, produced and performed by Ry Cooder, with four songs by Jim Keltner.

John Sedley is a man with a disfigured face, mocked by others as "Johnny Handsome." He and a friend are double crossed by two accomplices in a crime, Sunny Boyd and her partner Rafe, and a Judge sends Johnny to jail, where he vows to get even once he gets out. In prison, Johnny meets a surgeon named Fisher, who is looking for a guinea pig so he can attempt an experimental procedure in reconstructive cosmetic surgery. Johnny, figuring he has nothing to lose, is given a new, normal looking face (making him unrecognizable to the people who knew him) before he is released back into society. Lt. Drones, a dour New Orleans law enforcement officer, is not fooled by Johnny's new look or new life, even when Johnny lands an honest job and begins seeing Donna McCarty, a normal and respectable woman who knows little of his past. The lieutenant tells Johnny that, on the inside, Johnny is still a hardened criminal and always will be. The cop is correct. Johnny cannot forget his sworn vengeance against Sunny and Rafe, joining them for another job, which ends violently for all.

The film was a box office failure. Hill later said "the foreign reception has been good but I think that's not unexpected. Whether it would work for an American audience was always problematic. I frankly never thought it would, given what it was, because it was a film that was certainly not a feel good movie. I liked it as a piece of work."

The soundtrack for the movie was written by Ry Cooder, with 4 of the 16 songs co written with Jim Keltner. The music was performed by Cooder, Keltner and Steve Douglas, with occasional horn backing, arranged by Van Dyke Parks. The soundtrack was produced by Cooder.

After the film's theatrical run, the film was released on videocassette and laserdisc in 1990 by International Video Entertainment. In 2002, the film was finally released on DVD, but without any bonus material and was shown in only a full frame presentation. In 2010 the film was released on Blu ray through Lions Gate Entertainment in its original widescreen presentation. However, the TriStar Pictures and Carolco logos were removed in favor of a StudioCanal logo.