Johnny Handsome
| Johnny Handsome | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Walter Hill |
| Produced by | Charles Roven |
| Screenplay by | Ken Friedman |
| Based on |
The Three Worlds of Johnny Handsome by John Godey |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Ry Cooder |
| Cinematography | Matthew F. Leonetti |
| Edited by | Donn Aron Carmel Davies Freeman A. Davies |
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Production
company |
Carolco Pictures
The Guber-Peters Company |
| Distributed by | Tri-Star Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
|
94 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Box office | $7,237,794 334,941 admissions (France) |
Johnny Handsome is a 1989 American crime drama 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 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 novel was published in 1972. The New York Times called it "part psychological novel, part action thriller" which "moves like a runaway train, and is as expert an example of the genre as anybody is going to come across." The Chicago Tribune called it "wholly engrossing".
Film rights were bought that year by 20th Century Fox who announced the film would be produced by Paul Heller and Fred Weintraub for their Sequota Productions Company. However the film was not made.
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