Jennifer Connelly is an Academy Award winning actress who might not have a long list of movies to her credit in the decades she’s been in the business, but has made a substantial contribution. After her star-making role in Jim Henson‘s Labyrinth in 1986, she cemented her success in the following decade, her alluring beauty and magnetic presence winning over audiences and charming critics alike. Don’t know how she did it? Read on for five defining Jennifer Connelly films of the 1990s.
The Hot Spot (1990)
As the 1990s kicked off, those who found fame the decade before on TV tried making the jump to the big screen. Such was the case for Don Johnson, famous for his pastel fashions and hard nose policing in the hit cop drama Miami Vice. In The Hot Spot, he plays a handsome drifter who comes to town, quickly falling for the young and beautiful Gloria Harper (Connelly). She works at a car dealership, where the dealer’s wife Dolly (Virginia Madsen) takes an interest in the drifter, the two soon entangled in a steamy affair, though you can bettie lovely and sensual Gloria on his mind. Bad times are coming.
READ MORE: 5 Forgotten Breakout Roles of Virginia Madsen
Directed by the legendary Dennis Hopper, The Hot Spot is ultimately a forgettable, bland thriller that would be long lost in the pantheon of cinema but has remained in the know for one very specific reason: Jennifer Connelly. More precisely, a fully nude Jennifer Connelly. It’s quite the leap from the adolescent persona of previous successes, such as Labyrinth, The Hot Spot definitively established the smoldering, playful woman she will embody for several to come films. Such as …
Career Opportunities (1990)
Meant to be a vehicle for supposed up and coming star Frank Whaley, it didn’t get him the attention he maybe should have had. Why? You guessed it: Jennifer Connelly. In this comedy caper, Whaley plays a young slacker working overnight as a janitor for a Target, finding himself with a possible new direction in life when Josie (Connelly), a daughter of a wealthy businessman, is locked in the department store with him. The two grow closer as the night passes and decide to head to L.A. to escape their lives, but first have to survive ’til morning when two petty thieves break in cause a little mayhem.
Directed by Bryan Gordon, this light laugher would and could have been the film really only has one thing going for it, and if you said Dermot Mulroney, then you’re missing the point of this post. The radiating Connelly absolutely lights up the screen with intense sexuality and girl-next-door charm, setting her leagues apart from her male counterparts. Her ride on a children’s coin-operated horsey ride (above), I’d guess could argues as being the exact moment she became a movie star. But put that aside, and Connelly transcends the rich-girl stereotype she’s playing, turning Josie into a truly believable young woman on the run from a bad situation. The horsey ride is easy to like, but it’s who Josie is that makes us fall in love. And she was just getting started.
The Rocketeer (1991)
Connelly followed up Career Opportunities alongside another actor whose star was on the rise but never quite took off. Billy Campbell was the headliner for Disney’s The Rocketeer, a well-received sci-fi action drama set in the 1930s where a young pilot comes across a powerful prototype jetpack that allows him to fly at great speed. He and his mechanic pal (Alan Arkin) use it to try fight the war and save his best girl (Connelly), an aspiring actress who gets mixed up with a Nazi secret agent.
Directed by Joe Johnson, this fun action adventure doesn’t strive for realism, instead, attempting to and mostly succeeding in capturing that old-time serial film feel with some great performances and solid direction. Again, as good as Campbell (and bad guy Timothy Dalton) are, they are practically eclipsed by Connelly as she burns up the screen, absolutely radiating glamor. Stunning in every scene, her now trademark mix of homespun charm and overt sexuality made her uniquely appealing. But fans had to wait a few years before she truly turned up the heat.
Mulholland Falls (1996)
Connelly took roles in a couple of smaller films, including a Chilean-Argentine drama starring opposite Antonio Banderas that didn’t get much attention (or love from critics), while also doing some television, but roared back to the spotlight in a 1950s era crime thriller about a special police unit who investigate a murder. Led by then big draw Nick Nolte, his small team of fedora-wearing cops had their own interpretation of the law, stopping at just about nothing to serve up some nasty justice. While reviews were mixed, and the film didn’t do so well at the box office, it has since gained a steady, ravenous following … and you already know why.
Directed by Lee Tamahori, Connelly plays the murdered woman, her screen time limited, seen in flashbacks mostly. However–and this is a big however–when she does show up, oh boy, does she melt the screen. Once again, Connelly electrifies with potent sexuality, essentially motivating every male characters in the plot. Connelly is breathtaking, her allure almost impossible to believe, she channels something deeply emotional, making this one of her most unsung performances. While I believe the movie is not nearly as muddled as initial reviews suggested, this is a catchy thriller made great by Connelly’s impressive, bewitching presence. It’s hard to forget, until you see …
Dark City (1998)
One of the most influential sci-fi films since Ridley Scott‘s Blade Runner, Dark City is a masterpiece of storytelling, a visually-enrapturing tale of humanity and hope that follows the disturbing path of a man named John Murdoch (Rufus Sewell) who wakes one day into a nightmare, one where only questions linger, and possible answers seem extraordinarily absurd. To say more would be to ruin the film, a richly-layered, complex experience that inspired many after it, including The Matrix.
Written and directed by Alex Proyas, Connelly plays Murdoch’s wife, a key character that lives in world where reality is being altered. While Connelly is a supporting character, she is crucial and becomes the driving force for why Murdoch persists. Indeed, if there were a list of visionary and iconic images of films from the 1990s, Connelly’s striking pose on the end of a pier would certainly be among the top. A must-see movie for sci-fi fans, it is also one of the most memorable for Connelly, who would go on from here, into the 2000s, and earn her place as one of cinema’s best.