COLD AROUND THE HEART

US, 1997, 95 minutes, Colour.
David Caruso, Kelly Lynch, Stacey Dash, Chris Noth, John Spencer, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Richard Kind.
Directed by John Ridley.

Cold Around the Heart is a story of two criminals, in love with each other, but not sufficiently in love to betray each other – and eventually kill each other.

Kelly Lynch is a strong femme fatale. David Caruso, often unsympathetic on screen, is her partner in a robbery in which she kills three bystanders. She engineers that he should be arrested while she escapes with diamonds. She visits a fence, Pruitt Taylor Vince, he meanwhile escapes from the jail and tries to catch up with her. He picks up a young woman, Stacey Dash, as a hitchhiker but she pulls a gun on him. He reverses the roles and she joins him in his search for his girlfriend. He teams up with a friend (Chris Noth) and visits Uncle Mike (John Spencer).

The film is a psychological thriller, the mind and mentality of the man who loves his girlfriend. It is a portrait of a selfish woman who can weave her wiles around most people. In the end, it is the young hitchhiker who gets the diamonds. There is an interesting supporting cast including Chris Noth, John Spencer, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Richard Kind in early scenes as the man’s lawyer.

1. A crime thriller? Story of love and betrayal?

2. The American landscapes, the open roads, the small towns? Prisons? The musical score?

3. The title? Whose heart? Ned, Bec? Especially Jude?

4. The opening, the police pursuit, Ned and Jude in the car, Jude opening the door, pushing Ned out? Her escape? His being arrested?

5. Ned, his offhand lawyer? His opportunity to escape? His getting a car, picking up Bec, her pulling the gun? His reversing the roles? His having her as an accomplice? His mission to find Jude? Following her, tracking her down, Uncle Mike? His friend T? Finding Jude? The arguments, his love for her? The issue of the diamonds? The pursuit, his catching up with her? Her sweet-talking him? The embrace, her stabbing him? Bec and her pulling the gun? Ned and his getting the gun, shooting Jude? The final embrace? Bec taking the photo?

6. Jude, ruthless, her killing the people in the robbery? Driving, pushing Ned out of the car? The escape? Going to Johnny Costello, the argument about fencing the diamonds? His response, his refusal? Her taking the jewels? Being pursued by Ned? Catching up? The role of Bec? The attempted reconciliation, the gun? Her stabbing Ned? Her being shot, her declaration of love – how credible?

7. Bec, on the road, with the gun, escaping her abusive father, pretending to be pregnant? The shot? The otherwise empty gun? Her being with Ned, following him, participating in the search for Jude? Finally pulling the gun? The deaths of the two, her taking the photo? Her taking the diamonds, going to Canada as Ned advised? Paying the clerk at the railway station with the diamond? The photo on the noticeboard – and her narration of the story?

8. The role of the supporting cast, T., his relationship with Ned, Jude, his comeuppance? Uncle Mike? Johnny ‘Cokebottles’ Costello and the fencing of the diamonds? The attorney and his offhand manner? The angry man when Jude was looking for Cokebottles?

9. A piece of Americana – of the late 1990s? Memories of Bonnie and Clyde? The psychological twist with the love-hate?