''Heartbreakers'' is a 1984 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

starring

Peter Coyote Peter Coyote (born Robert Peter Cohon; October 10, 1941) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, author, and narrator of films, theater, television, and audiobooks. He worked on films, such as ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982), '' C ...

and

Nick Mancuso Nicodemo Antonio Massimo Mancuso (born May 29, 1948) is an Italian-Canadian actor, artist, playwright, and director. Beginning his career as a stage actor, he had his breakthrough role in the 1981 drama ''Ticket to Heaven'', for which he won th ...

. It was written and directed by

Bobby Roth Robert Jay Roth (born 1950) is an American television and film director, screenwriter and producer. Life and career Born and raised in Los Angeles, Roth began his tertiary education at the University of California, Berkeley studying philoso ...

. The film was entered into the

35th Berlin International Film Festival The 35th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 15 to 26 February 1985. The retrospective was dedicated to ''Special effects''. The Golden Bear was jointly awarded to '' The Woman and the Strangler'' directed by Rainer Simon a ...

Plot

Two friends in their mid 30s, Blue (Coyote) and Eli (Mancuso), each arrive at crossroads in their lives. Blue is a painter specializing in fetishistic portraits of women, usually selling his images to porn magazines. Eli's father wants him to take over the family's undergarment business that has been paying for Eli's playboy lifestyle in the fast-paced and decadent

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

of the 1980s. Blue is given an opportunity to have his work featured in gallery showing as legitimate art if he can create enough new pieces to fill out a show. His sexy

busty The breasts are two prominences located on the upper ventral region of the torso among humans and other primates. Both sexes develop breasts from the same embryology, embryological tissues. The relative size and development of the breasts is ...

model ( Carol Wayne) has a crush on Blue, and to please him even appears willing to participate in a threesome including Eli. An ex-flame, Cyd ( Kathryn Harrold), brings out the jealous worst in Blue now that she is seeing an artist rival of his (

Max Gail Maxwell Trowbridge Gail Jr. (born April 5, 1943) is an American actor who has starred on stage, and in television and film roles. He is best known for his role as Detective Stan "Wojo" Wojciehowicz on the sitcom ''Barney Miller'' (1975–1982 ...

). Blue's self-destructive behavior also puts at risk his relationship with Liliane (

Carole Laure Carole Laure (born August 5, 1948) is an actress and singer from Quebec, Canada. Career Throughout most of her career, Carole Laure primarily collaborated with Anglophone singer, songwriter, producer, and director Lewis Furey, whom she met i ...

), the manager of an art gallery about to exhibit his work.

Cast

as Arthur Blue *

as Eli *

as Liliane *

as King *

James Laurenson James Philip Laurenson (17 February 1940 – 18 April 2024) was a New Zealand stage and screen actor based in the UK. Early life Laurenson was born in Marton, New Zealand. He was a student at Canterbury University College in Christchurch (now ...

as Terry Ray * Carol Wayne as Candy *

Jamie Rose Jamie Rose (born November 26, 1959) is an American actress and acting coach. Born in New York City, Rose was raised in Southern California, where she began her career as a child actor, first appearing in commercials. She made her feature film de ...

as Libby * Kathryn Harrold as Cyd * George Morfogen as Max *

Jerry Hardin Jerry Hardin (born November 20, 1929) is an American actor. Hardin has appeared in film and television roles, including the character nicknamed Deep Throat in ''The X-Files''. He has guest starred in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and '' St ...

as Warren Williams * Henry G. Sanders as Reuben (credited as Henry Sanders) * Walter Olkewicz as Marvin

Production

The character of Blue was loosely based on real-life artist Robert Blue.

Behind the Scenes

This would be Carol Wayne's final film appearance before she died under mysterious circumstances on vacation in Manzanillo,

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

just months after the film's release.

Soundtrack

''Heartbreakers'' (1985) is the twenty-fifth major release and seventh soundtrack album by the German band

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup of the grou ...

. It was released in April 1985 by

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...

Track listing

Personnel

Edgar Froese Edgar Willmar Froese (; 6 June 1944 – 20 January 2015) was a German musical artist and electronic music pioneer, best known for founding the electronic music group Tangerine Dream in 1967. Froese was the only continuous member of the gro ...

– keyboards, electronic equipment, guitar *

Christopher Franke Christopher Franke (born 6 April 1953) is a German musician and composer. From 1971 to 1987, he was a member of the electronic group Tangerine Dream. Initially a drummer with The Agitation, later renamed Agitation Free, his primary focus eventua ...

– synthesizers, electronic equipment, electronic percussion * Johannes Schmoelling – keyboards, electronic equipment

Reception

The film received a mixed to positive critical reception. ''Heartbreakers'' holds an 80% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

based on ten reviews.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heartbreakers 1984 films 1980s buddy drama films 1984 drama films American buddy drama films 1980s English-language films English-language buddy drama films Films about fictional painters Films directed by Bobby Roth Films scored by Tangerine Dream 1980s American films