mgtbltp Directed by Sondra Locke this is a gritty story of an Los Angeles femme fatale vice cop Lottie Mason (Theresa Russell) and her "Walk On The Wild Side" of cusp of Noir. It is a dance with with death, love, power and temptation. It's probably one of the Last of the Warner Brothers Noirs.A 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 '80s, Madonna is in vogue. The scene is accented by wet pavement reflecting neon. A long ringletted blonde "angel" is strutting her stuff in tight gold Lamé snakeskins, but this celestial Femme Fatale has clipped wings. She'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 Lottie's darkside.Impulse is set strictly in Squaresville, it's a story of the world of hard working cops doing their everyday busts. Lottie'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 she's only been with cops and she rattles off squads, Vice, Homicide, and Bunco rather than names. Gardener asks about Lottie's quasi-stalker encounter with Lt. Joe Morgan (George Dzundza) an ex boyfriend that she didn't report. Lottie says it's because he'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:Another 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 Lottie's world. Stan is attracted to her and they have an affair though Lottie is still a bit standoffish a bit gun-shy.After 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.At the bar she'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 "I'd get on a plane and go somewhere I'd never been". Tony pulls out a deck of hundred dollar bills and counts off ten, Lottie tells him she wants to go "first class". Tony adds another five, but tells her that first she'll have to go to his house. On impulse Lottie picks up the dough and follows him out to his Beverly Estates house.When 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. The 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.Sondra 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 Russell'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 can't say enough about the Noir stylistic cinematography which is excellent.

Claudio Carvalho In Los Angeles, Detective Lottie Mason (Theresa Russell) works undercover as a whore on the streets or a junkie with the vice-squad leaded by the corrupt Lt. Joe Morgan giving support and arresting clients and drug dealers. She is also having sessions with a police psychologist for evaluation because she killed a criminal. She also has troubled relationships and high debts with her credit card. When she works with the District Attorney Stan (Jeff Fahey), they feel attracted for each other and have an affair. After an assignment where she was almost killed, she has a flat tire while driving home. She goes to a bar to kill time while her car is fixed. Completely upset, she meets the charming criminal Tony Perón (Shawn Elliott) that Stan is chasing, but unknown for her, and he offers a huge amount for her to go to his place. While in his fancy house, she regrets and tries to find a meas of escape. But she witnesses the execution of Tony, and she anonymously calls the police. In the house, she finds a key of a locker where there is a bag with one million dollars that Tony stole from drug dealers. While the police search the unknown woman, Lottie lives a dilemma about what to do with the money.I have just watched "Impulse" at least five times so far, and in my opinion it is one of the best thrillers of the 90's. The good story has a great direction of Sondra Locke, the characters are very well developed, and Theresa Russell is amazingly beautiful and sexy and has one of her best performances. The ambivalent conclusion is perfect, and the viewer can only guess the destination of the money. Unfortunately this movie is totally underrated in IMDb, misguiding the readers. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "Tentação Perigosa" ("Dangerous Temptation")

sol1218 Fairly interesting movie about an undercover policewoman which unfortunately gets muddled. As the story tries to cover too much ground that in the end leaves everyone watching confused and unconcerned about what it's trying to tell them. Trying to mix big time drug dealers and protected witnesses who the DA is trying to get to testify against their former associates, the mob, with an obsessive and corrupt police officer. Together with an undercover policewoman who has enough problems outside as well as inside the police department doesn't jell together in this very complicated and confusing movie. Besides all the negative things one can say about the movie "Impulse" the one very positive thing about the film is the appearance and acting of it's beautiful and talented star Teresa Russell. Teresa makes you, in many cases, forget the plot holes and inconsistencies of the movie just by watching her whenever she's on the screen.

George Parker In "Impulse" a female undercover cop (Russell) stings johns, gets involved with a drug bust, and...yada yada yada. A typical and ordinary Hollywood crime genre product with Russell and Fahey sharing the spotlight, "Impulse" is a par flick, shot entirely in and around L.A., with the usual ugly bad guys, macho cops, chases, shootouts, etc. with the emphasis on drama over action. Nothing new here. Best enjoyed with your favorite beverage and munchies.