Jack’s Back (dir. Rowdy Harrington, 1988)
John Wesford (James Spader) is a medical student who doesn’t play by the rules. He works in an Echo Park free clinic and treats patients in a homeless camp. He eschews a white coat for a white suede jacket. You know he values the tired and weary because he wears a Chicago Cubs baseball cap. He clashes with his boss in a manner identical to a maverick detective arguing with his superior, because Rowdy Harrington has seen more cops shows than he has medical dramas.
It’s November 1988 in Los Angeles, and a killer has been stalking the streets and killing sex workers. It’s the one hundredth anniversary of the Jack the Ripper murders, and this man is imitating them. It’s the night of the final murder. He’s committed the crime when John arrives at that day’s patient’s home. The copycat killer subdues John and stages a suicide-by-hanging to pin the crimes on him.
At the moment of John’s death, his twin brother Rick (James Spader, again) wakes up from a nightmarish vision. He’s psychically connected to John and has seen his murder. Now, it’s up to him–a former teenage delinquent, Army veteran, and manager of the Second Sole Shoe Store with an attractive scar by his left eye, an earring, and a black leather jacket–to clear his brother’s name and capture the real killer.
Take a moment and luxuriate in the film you’re imagining as you read that plot description. It sounds fun, right? Like just the right amount of camp and suspense to make for a good eighties B-movie?
Well, that’s not the film that exists. The reality is that Jack’s Back is utterly forgettable. There’s no suspense. Even the badly done twist is obvious because of the casting. Spader’s entertaining enough, and it’s easy to see why he had a career, but this is not even Boston Legal, let alone Crash. Speaking of Cronenberg, this isn’t Dead Ringers. You’re not going to get any amazing composite shots of James Spader interacting with himself. The best thing that the movie has going for it is its moody, synth heavy score. It’s a little over the top, but at least it’s something to keep you going.
Rowdy Harrington would, however, enter the cinematic pantheon the following year when he wrote and directed his masterpiece Road House.
October 28, 2018
oliveresque 