I like neo-noir. But this film insults your intelligence. First, Frank Miles (Russo) looks like a scraggly ex-con, but somehow puts the moves on a hot-looking waitress Dora (nicely played by Theresa Russell) with personal problems, by asking her simple, creep-type questions. They actually hook up, straining credibility. Even strippers have higher standards than this. In the meantime, Miles shows his true colors as the "repentant" thief by violently going after the guy who stiffed him out of a job $200 grand. That was some job for such a low-level punk as Miles. I guess he is not really "reformed" at all. Some thugs sent by the kingpin try to dispatch him, but they forgot their guns, so Miles takes care of them, but always leaving a thug to come back and kick his ass to keep the action going. yawn. So much for sympathizing with this moronic character. After the hot waitress gives him a date and even shows up at his place of work (junkyard), Miles is hooked and stalks her after she doesn't return his phone calls. He finds out she has an ex-husband giving her the business. And that's when the fit hits the shan. It's Frank and Dora from here on in, together with a box filled with dreams. But wait, Frank must go back to his crappy hotel down in the city to "pick up a few things" leaving Dora alone in her dark hills home after they have done some horrible misdeed. what, he has to pick up his lucky toothbrush? He just got out of the slammer, fer chrissakes. He comes back of course to more trouble. But the bad guys leave, and so Frank once again goes back to his crummy hotel to "play it cool. He comes back and the bad guys are this time out for blood. Frank kicks ass, but once again doesn't quite check to bodies to make sure they are all unconscious, and so we have a hostage sich-ee-ashion where Frank must come back again, and play hero. But no plot twist this time, folks. Frank comes in and the last 20 minutes of the film is about as dark and depressing as any noir could be. Except we had to endure 80 minutes of bumbling mess. I was very disappointed. The dialog was cliché and the characters were cutout. The acting was fairly decent, but James Russo should stick to acting, not writing. He shows by this effort he cannot write a sympathetic, believable story to save his life. 4 points.