For the trope this special is loosely based on see,
Hooker with a Heart of GoldA five part internet special written and directed by
Brad Jones. It tells the story of an unnamed
hooker who has a
literal heart of gold surgically implanted into her body at the hands of a fringe, out-of-work doctor named Dr. Rogen. The doctor is desperate for his experiment to succeed so that he may pay off an insane gangster named Steele. It just so happens Steele's twin brother, Zalman, is the aforementioned hooker's pimp, both of them being masterfully played by Brad Jones himself.
What follows in an incredibly well written and well edited homage to all of Brad Jones favorite films genres, from exploitation to revenge to low budget snuff films that never saw the light of day (and thankfully never did). Jones'
choice of soundtrack really steals the show though. His love of
70's soul and disco to old school rock and roll to beloved hits of the
80's really shine here and add to the overall presentation.
Tropes included:
- Acting for Two: Brad Jones, who plays brothers Zalman and Steele, two of the main villains.
- Action Girl: The hooker.
- Actor Allusion: Zalman (played by Brad Jones) makes reference to low budget films much like the Snob does. In fact, his whole performance as both Zalman and Steele is very Snob-like, if he were a sociopath.
- Author Appeal: Brad's wife Jillian sure does a lot of sexy things in this movie ...
- Big Bad: Steele
- The Bluebeard: Steele, who clearly has a snuff fetish among other issues. Who knows how many women he's gone through.
- Broken Bird: The hooker.
- Cast Incest: The actors who play Doctor Rogen and the hooker are married, as are the actors who play Steele/Zalman and Janet
- Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangster: Steele defines this trope. Even after getting his fingers cut off and losing an eye, he never loses his cool or his edge, he just gets Darker and Edgier
- The Danza: Subverted. Dr. Rogen looks like Seth Rogen, but is not played by him, a fact even the director can't get his head around.
- Danger Takes A Back Seat: A hilariously casual version when Steele sits up in the back of Doc's car in broad daylight.
- Deadpan Snarker: The hooker. She conducts her dialogue pretty nonchalantly in most scenes.
- Downer Ending: Part 4. Good news? Don allows Dr. Rogen to go save the Hooker. Bad news? He's a little late...
- The Dragon: Don and Mike
- Drugs Are Bad: Averted. The Hooker's cocaine habit only seems to make her stronger. No anvilicious statement here.
- Everything's Funkier with Disco: Pretty much every time there's a scene between The Hooker and Zalman, a funky disco record will be playing in the background.
- Eye Patch Of Power: Steele.
- Heel Face Turn: Don takes a while to get there, but in the end he shoots Steele in the back, allowing Dr. Rogen and The Hooker to live.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Ed Glaser plays a hitman who's the best at being the worst.
- Hookers and Blow: Subverted in that the Hooker is the one with the cocaine habit.
- Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Quite literally. She's a pretty nice person, too.
- Hope Spot: In part 2, it seems that things may end happily for Dr. Rogen and the Hooker... but then we learn that Steele's involved now...
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Don,ultimately
- Made from Real Girl Scouts
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: Pretty much the whole cast, but especially Brad Jones.
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Rogen is quite eccentric but no where near as insane as the actual villains.
- Morality Pet: Janet, for Steele
- Neighbourhood Friendly Gangsters: Dr. Rogen initially sees Steele and his boys this way... until about the third time they pulled a gun on him.
- Nintendo Hard: Zalman is fond of old really horrible NES video games and forces his accomplice to play them non-stop at gun point. A possible Shout Out to The Angry Video Game Nerd.
- Psycho for Hire: The trio of mercenaries who are the best at being the worst.
- Punch Clock Villain: Mattie and Don, who unlike the other bad guys don't seem to derive pleasure out of doing bad things all that much.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Say, did you ever like Neil Young's "Heart of Gold"? You won't after seeing Part 4!
- Shout Out: Probably unintentional, but as you recall, The Hooker's cocaine habit makes her stronger, like one Snowflame.
- The three hitmen are all named after characters played by Pierre Kirby.
- Left the Background Music On: Happens when Janet is dancing for Steele.
- Wham Episode: Part 4. "I'm going to steal her heart!" And he does.
- Wretched Hive: The city the story takes place. To paraphrase Dr. Rogen: "Is everyone in this town a fucking sleazebag!?"
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