Impulse – Von gefährlichen Gefühlen getrieben (1990)

Impulse – Von gefährlichen Gefühlen getrieben: Directed by Sondra Locke. With Theresa Russell, Jeff Fahey, George Dzundza, Alan Rosenberg. Lottie is a vice cop in LA posing as a hooker and likes the action. She meets Stan, who’s also single. He needs her for a major drug bust.

“Directed by Sondra Locke this is a gritty story of an Los Angeles femme fatale vice cop Lottie Mason (Theresa Russell) and her u0026quot;Walk On The Wild Sideu0026quot; of cusp of Noir. It is a dance with with death, love, power and temptation. Itu0026#39;s probably one of the Last of the Warner Brothers Noirs.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eA piano riff dissolves the blackness into an elevated view of a sleazy Hollywood, hot sheet motel block, at the corner of Las Palmas and Sunset Blvd., one of those all look alike City of Angels low profile strips. Time the late u0026#39;80s, Madonna is in vogue. The scene is accented by wet pavement reflecting neon. A long ringletted blonde u0026quot;angelu0026quot; is strutting her stuff in tight gold Lamé snakeskins, but this celestial Femme Fatale has clipped wings. Sheu0026#39;s trolling the midnight drift, a lure with hooks. Lonely sad losers cruise the mainstem scoping the fast skirts that will get them a shot at 20 minutes of ecstasy. The opening title sequence displays the workings of the vice stakeout with the excellent noir-ish stylistic cinematography of Dean Semler. The piano riff repeats and become a leitmotif for Lottieu0026#39;s darkside.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eImpulse is set strictly in Squaresville, itu0026#39;s a story of the world of hard working cops doing their everyday busts. Lottieu0026#39;s night in and night out tolling the low company is affecting her personal life. Her various Vice assignments, i.e., impersonating a streetwalker, a junkie, a B-girl hooker, a drug dealer has her visiting the division PR office and the psychiatrist/counselor on a regular basis for an hour session mandated by Internal Affairs. They want to know if having to lie and deceive on a regular basis is affecting her job. Her Doctor, Dr. Gardner seems more interested in her personal life her debts and her love life. Lottie when questioned about her torpedoed relationships states that sheu0026#39;s only been with cops and she rattles off squads, Vice, Homicide, and Bunco rather than names. Gardener asks about Lottieu0026#39;s quasi-stalker encounter with Lt. Joe Morgan (George Dzundza) an ex boyfriend that she didnu0026#39;t report. Lottie says itu0026#39;s because heu0026#39;d say she encouraged it. But Lottie makes a confession that she is mainlining on the power of her femininity while staring at her reflection in the window in a great sequence:u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnother assignment has Lottie going undercover as a heroin junkie in a shooting gallery, this combined with a second storyline concerning a 2 year old case, a witness protection program witness and a double cross drug deal in NYC brings a District Attorney named Stan (Jeff Fahey) into Lottieu0026#39;s world. Stan is attracted to her and they have an affair though Lottie is still a bit standoffish a bit gun-shy.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAfter an adrenaline rush chase down a high-rise and shootout with two drug trafficking perps in a grocery, Lottie is on stressed and on edge, Stan tries to comfort her but she wants him to back off and give her space. She takes off in her Camaro to unwind. She gets a flat tire drives into a service station and while the tire is changed drops into the bar across the street and into Noirsville.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAt the bar sheu0026#39;s picked up by Tony Peron (Shawn Elliott) who is coincidentally and unbeknownst to Lottie, the drug dealer partner of the man Stan has in witness protection. He asks her if there was anything in the world she could do what would it be. Lottie tells him u0026quot;Iu0026#39;d get on a plane and go somewhere Iu0026#39;d never beenu0026quot;. Tony pulls out a deck of hundred dollar bills and counts off ten, Lottie tells him she wants to go u0026quot;first classu0026quot;. Tony adds another five, but tells her that first sheu0026#39;ll have to go to his house. On impulse Lottie picks up the dough and follows him out to his Beverly Estates house.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhen Tony gets her to his place he begins to get busy with it. Lottie holds him off telling him she wants to freshen up. Tony tells her to use the upstairs bedroom bath. Lottie has second thoughts as she stands by vertical blinds in a nice sequence. Afterwards while washing her face she hears two gunshots, and peering down the stairway spots Tony dead on the tile floor. The shooter is actively searching the house. Since her gun was confiscated after the recent shooting Lottie scrambles to hide from the killer. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe shooter leaves the house and Lottie checks out Tony popped twice in the head. She goes through his clothes finding a locker key in his jacket. She wipes down all the surfaces she touched calls the cops disguising her voice and splits. At the airport the next day she opens the locker and finds a suitcase with close to a million dollars.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSondra Locke did a wonderful job at directing this little Neo Noir gem. The writing by John DeMarco and Leigh Chapman, is competent and consequently the characters are very well developed. This is Theresa Russellu0026#39;s best performance. The rest of the cast are Jeff Fahey as Stan, George Dzundza as Lt. Joe Morgan, Lynne Thigpen as Dr. Gardner, and Shawn Elliott as Tony Peron. The music by Michel Colombier is great along with the various pieces that comprise the soundtrack. Again I canu0026#39;t say enough about the Noir stylistic cinematography which is excellent.”