Running Hot

Mark Griffiths – 1984 – USA

Running Hot (also marketed as Makin' It and Lucky Thirteen for reasons unknown) has a young Eric Stoltz on the lam after escaping his police escort during a prison transfer to death row.  The only friendly address he can head to belongs to a kooky, obsessed fan (Monica Carrico) – at least a decade his senior, and a prostitute – who fell in love with him while watching his trial on TV.  Believing Stoltz that he was wrongfully accused, Carrico agrees to join him on a quest to find the real culprit.  There is a certain charm to the shoddy, sleazy silliness of it all.  Stoltz's character doesn't do anything interesting or have many original thoughts, which makes it hard to accept him as a hero or an anti-hero, whichever was the intent; he merely comes off as an impatient and uptight kid who wants everyone to not annoy him.  The most intriguing aspect of the story – the fact that this older woman on the fringes of society has nurtured a delusional crush on this young criminal – goes mostly unaddressed throughout the film.  It becomes just one of many quirky details tossed against the wall to see which of them stick.  The tone shifts too wildly as well; sometimes it's a light-hearted romp but then it always deteriorates into histrionic melodrama.  Not unenjoyable by any means, but you're just always waiting for it to be a little better.  The debut of writer/director Griffiths, who went on to helm the 80s trash classic Hardbodies later the same year.