Yet another story of a guy and a girl on the run in a hot car, with a gun. LOVE AND A .45 is perhaps the best of the numerous recent stabs (ouch!) at this genre, though none of the 90s entrants match up to such 70s classics as THE LONERS, JOY RIDE, or BOBBY JO AND THE OUTLAW. College kid, driving from Ohio State to Lancaster, PA (he must be going via Miami; at one point he still has 560 miles to go!), rescues truckstop hooker from assault by trucker. Naturally they become travelling companions. During the trip she attempts to loosen him up with sex and a new wardrobe, but the trucker is in hot pursuit, and there are other complications, and it gets a bit bloody before it gets over.Kari Wuhrer really chews the scenery as the psycho, man-hating hooker and is quite over her head dramatically. The hero is a bit of a schlumpff, and the story fairly sleazy. Shot in Canada but it recovered long enough to hit pay-cable. Not even a good source of cheap thrills, since the filmmakers carefully keep Kari covered up to about PG-13 level during the 2 or 3 m.o. scenes.Try THE LONERS (1972) instead, which has career performances by Todd Susman and Alex Dreier, not to mention Dean Stockwell in his hippie biker phase and wonderful Gloria Grahame as a harridan mom.

I actually had hopes for this movie since I've seen Kari in a few other things and think she has some talent. Alas, this dud is a case study in what not to do in a screenplay. Completely undefined characters without a shred of likeability, and no plot whatsoever. Is it a road/buddy/comedy/thriller/romance/drama? The filmmakers don't have a clue, and neither do we.

If you're a fan of the incredibly stunning and sexy Kari Wuhrer (Kari Salin in this one)...this is a must-see. The acting, apart from Wuhrer is very "Showtime late-night". Which is ok, because that's where I saw it. Kari plays an abused hooker with an attitude (she's a natural). But it's the scenes in which she shows...uh...more that make it worthwhile. Two very revealing sex scenes- one in a barn, and one in a hotel involving handcuffs are unbelievable. Well, actually Kari is unbelievable. This one has a few different names but...whatever you want to call it. See it for ALL of Kari.

Exploitation movies get redefined every ten years or so. Changing tastes is not so much the reason as the changing ways to deliver this stuff to its public. In the era of direct to-video, and made-for (late night) cable, the genre has become fragmented, but prospered as well.One consistency throughout the ages is the need for a sexy woman-she needs to act a bit, but not too much because her actions should always speak louder than her words.Kari Wuhrer, once of MTV's Remote Control, is moving to the forefront here, She's a better actress than Shannon Whirry, younger, hipper than Shannon Tweed. Keep an eye out for her.At 86 minutes `Hot Blooded' as it was titled for DVD is not a major waste of time. And if you keep your finger near the ‘fast forward' button you can probably cut the time spent in half.As for David Keith, your 10 or so minutes are not worth whatever pittance they paid you. Step up to the plate son, or step away all together.