B-Sides: Scorpions Hit Freejack Between the Eyes
Steve Barton
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Two things have always remained with me from Geoff Murphy’s 1992 sci-fi action flick Freejack. The first is how Rene Russo’s character was supposed to age 18 years, but only her hairstyle changed. The second is “Hit Between the Eyes”, the title song provided by the Scorpions.
Based on Robert Sheckley’s novel Immortality, Inc., which was set thousands of years in the future rather than 18 years later, Freejack stars Emilio Estevez as a racecar driver teleported at the moment of his fiery fatal car wreck from 1991 to the futuristic world of 2009, a time in which the hole in the ozone layer has ravaged the impoverished populace, bubble cars are the most popular vehicle, and dying billionaire Anthony Hopkins plans to transplant his mind into Estevez’s body. Emilio escapes, is branded a “freejack,” and now finds himself pursued by evil bounty hunters called “bonejackers” led by Mick Jagger in a role that will help remind you why he didn’t star in too many movies.
I take it back. There are actually three things I always remember about Freejack, and the third is seeing Estevez promoting the movie on some entertainment show and being very candid about his own low opinion of the film. “If this doesn’t work, I’ll just try something else,” he stated somewhat dejectedly. It didn’t, and he did.
The odd thing about the Scorpions’ music video for “Hit Between the Eyes” is that they chose to use a live version of the song rather than the studio recorded track heard in the movie. Who knows? Maybe they weren’t completely satisfied with the song any more than Estevez was with the film.
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Categorized:B-Sides
