1/11/2011

Killpoint (1984)

Killpoint (1984)-* *

Directed by: Frank Harris

Starring: Leo Fong, Richard Roundtree, Cameron Mitchell, and Stack Pierce













When a cache of guns is stolen from a local armory, and street thugs are running wild shooting everyone in sight, there's only one man tough enough to stop the madness: Lt. James "Jim" Long (Fong)! But he's been feeling depressed lately as his wife had been raped and killed earlier that year. So he teams up with ATF agent Bryant (Roundtree) and the entire Riverside, CA police department to track down the baddies responsible. Luckily for Long's revenge scheme, the same evildoers are behind the attack on his wife as well as the stolen guns: crimelord and all-around kingpin bad guy Joe Marks (Mitchell) and his murderous assistant Nighthawk (Pierce). Will Long and Bryant bring the culprits to justice, and, more importantly, will local TV station KHUD report the story accurately?

The stars of Revenge of the Bushido Blade (1980) reunite for this amateurish, haphazard effort that, while certainly imperfect, has its entertaining qualities and would have been ideal for undiscerning drive-in audiences of the day. For example, the editing is choppy: one minute we're seeing Cam Mitchell having a grand old time as Marks, the next we get a several-minute training sequence with Fong in a gym with absolutely no setup or dialogue, then we're back at the police station with Roundtree, etc. 

Add to that the use of mumbling non-actors in a semi-documentary style (members of the Riverside police department are named extensively in the credits), and the hilariously wooden anti-acting (read: clearly reading from a written source) of Michael Farrell (not the guy from MASH) as Long's Captain, Skidmore, and you get a few yuks, but nothing substantial.


Fong as Long is as perfectly wooden as he usually is, and his hair is charmingly Ramones-ish this time around. But the star of the show once again is the immortal Cam Mitchell. He looks like he's having a ball as the nefarious Marks, and hams it to the max, but in the best way imaginable. Marks/Mitchell is the type of villain whose main activities include wearing sunglasses and an ascot to bed, and teaching his dog (Sparky) to smoke, as well as boring stuff like killing prostitutes and enabling the L.A. area to go into martial law. God bless Cameron Mitchell. We'll never see another like him.

Stack Pierce, besides having an awesome name, is suitably menacing as Marks' consigliere, and looks like what would happen if Bill Cosby turned evil. The great Richard Roundtree is under-utilized and should have done much more. After teaming up with Leo Fong, he'll probably go back to teaming up with Harrison Muller, Jr. Either that or Ernest Borgnine.

So yes, it does have some of the trappings of low-budget filmmaking such as poor audio and a weird pace, but it was director Frank Harris' first directorial film. Unfortunately, his mediocrity seems ingrained, as his next two features, Low Blow (1986) and The Patriot (1986) seem to prove. In the action department, it's pretty much shootings and training sequences and not much else, although Fong does give one unlucky suspect an interrogation he'll never forget.

Starring Sparky the dog as himself (as his credit goes) in a movie-stealing performance, though he can't quite top Mitchell, they work well together. Killpoint was released by Crown International, and then put out on VHS in the U.S. by Vestron. Featuring the catchy closing song "Livin' on the Inside" by Ramona Gibbons, Killpoint isn't really a great movie, but its personalities like the repeat-offender crew of Fong, Pierce and Mitchell make it reasonably worthwhile.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

10 comments:

Direct to Video Connoisseur said...

I always like to check out Vestron releases I haven't seen yet, so I may give this one a shot. That Cameron Mitchell factor is especially intriguing-- a good baddie can sometimes be better than a good hero.

Karl Brezdin said...

Ty, great review here! Killpoint, along with Low Blow and a few other Leo Fong movies, is on my roadmap too and I'm really looking forward to Cameron Mitchell bringing his unique style of aloof (possibly drunken) acting to the table. Got this as part of the 10-pack Maximum Action sets and this was the film pimped on the cover so I have somewhat high hopes for it as a trash classic.

Ty said...

DTVC: I hope you get a chance to see it. Cameron Mitchell does a decent job as the baddie. He always classes up the joint, even when he overacts.

Karl: Thanks Karl! Any movie with Leo Fong is worth seeing for his wooden but hilarious acting and fighting. The Low Blow review is coming soon and that is cool you got the 10-pack Action set. I think Scorpion with Tonny Tulleners is on that set.

Karl Brezdin said...

Ooooooh, I was very curious about that one because I got unusually stoked by Tullener's mustache in the Scorpion thumbnail on the back cover. Any thoughts on it?

I will DEFINITELY be covering that in the next few weeks.

Ty said...

Scorpion is a silly, sometimes slow action movie. Our review of it is on the site! Tonny's 'stache is pretty killer!

Lee Nicholson said...

Used to rent this one out all the time in the 80's (even though it was cut to ribbons for violence) But for reasons unknown, it's remained a favourite. I got the uncut R1 on a double set with 9 DEATHS OF THE NINJA (so i think it's from the same 10 movie set....which i may have to purchase) SCORPION is ok for a few chuckles. Tullener is the only guy to beat Chuck Norris in a professional fight (sadly true)

Ty said...

That is very cool that you have the uncut version of Killpoint!

That's interesting that Tullener beat Norris.

Always wondered what his move was to beat him?

Anonymous said...

Great film! Classic B grade stuff. I first saw it on beta around 85 or 86. I remember recording the end song on to cassette along with music from "Bare Knuckles" (Robert Viharo & John Daniels), "Black Bullet" (Isaac Hayes), a song "Hard Times USA" from some film starring Warren Oates and some other mid to late 70s, early 80s films. Had it playing in my car during the 80s from memory. Still have the 35+ yo tape. Unearthed it a while back. Actually, I forgot what film the song was from until I picked up a VHS copy around 1999/2000 in a second hand shop.

Well, there's a lot to find fault with this film if someone's looking for it. I don't! I love B grade actioners and this one rates as a real favorite. Stack Pierce who is one of my all time favorite actors was an amazing presence. One of the most underrated and under appreciated actors you'll ever see. He had that same presence as Percy Rodrigues and William Marshall as well as a similar look. His part as Nighthawk is a beast. Cameron Mitchell is just so weird. He played it well. Leo Fong is cool and the action is good. And how about the real life enforcement officers playing parts! Oh and Steve "Nasty" Anderson playing that crazed heavy! Sad news is that Steve passed away last year (January 24, 2020).

I've seen "Killpoint" at least eight times. I have it on VHS, DVD and laser disc. It was a pity that Richard Rowntree's character was killed off in the movie but at least he was in it. As I mentioned in my comment about "Blood Street", Fong's a member of that Wooden-actors-club that includes Keanu Reeves and Peter Graves. I love the guy for a number of reasons. One is that he gets the job done. His boxing skills were always great. The other is that for a man of his age, he did stuff that other actors his age or even younger would struggle with. And he's 92 now and still going. So to me, "Killpoint" was one of those good action films you and your buddies could pick up from the local video store for an action movie night, watch and enjoy for its action. And IMO it did have an OK story line.

I loved the music for the film by Herman Jeffries. So 80s! I could never find anything out about him though. Daryl Stevenett (Diane Stevenett's brother) contributed some music, and appears in it doing a country song I think.

And the ending song "Living on the Inside" by Ramona Gibbons (real name Romona E. Gibbons) is an 80s classic. Wow! It's in the category of those songs that grows on you with each listen. The lyrics are great! I wonder if that is Herman Jeffries doing the male backing voice in the song? The song wouldn't be out of place on a comp album with "Children of the Night" by Buddy Miles from the film "Maniac Cop 2"

IMO if "Living on the Inside" was released on single and promoted properly, it would have charted somewhere for sure! It used to play on YouTube in a "Killpoint" End Credits clip. But now a couple of YT channels have it on its own. I hope someone one day will have the sense to track down the master-tapes and put it on a compilation. I'd even suggest that an album of music from Leo Fong's movies would be an ultra-cool thing. For years I wondered what Ramona would have looked like. Was she Jewish-Italian, African American or Puerto Rican etc.? I would conjure up an image in my mind of a club singer with makeup and in a fur coat. Had she released any recordings? After seeing people here & there on the net asking questions about her, who was this woman singing the song etc., I found out that she is the author of "Evolution of a Christian". Her own bio. I also discovered she was in a Motown-review group called Sh’Girls with Jennifer Yuill and Lori Lynner. Anyway, she turned out to be an attractive African American woman with an interesting story to tell.

Cheers Mr. B.

BTW: This needs to be on Blu-ray asap!

Anonymous said...

Great film! Classic B grade stuff. I first saw it on beta around 85 or 86. I remember recording the end song on to cassette along with music from "Bare Knuckles" (Robert Viharo & John Daniels), "Black Bullet" (Isaac Hayes), a song "Hard Times USA" from some film starring Warren Oates and some other mid to late 70s, early 80s films. Had it playing in my car during the 80s from memory. Still have the 35+ yo tape. Unearthed it a while back. Actually, I forgot what film the song was from until I picked up a VHS copy around 1999/2000 in a second hand shop.

Well, there's a lot to find fault with this film if someone's looking for it. I don't! I love B grade actioners and this one rates as a real favorite. Stack Pierce who is one of my all time favorite actors was an amazing presence. One of the most underrated and under appreciated actors you'll ever see. He had that same presence as Percy Rodrigues and William Marshall as well as a similar look. His part as Nighthawk is a beast. Cameron Mitchell is just so weird. He played it well. Leo Fong is cool and the action is good. And how about the real life enforcement officers playing parts! Oh and Steve "Nasty" Anderson playing that crazed heavy! Sad news is that Steve passed away last year (January 24, 2020).

I've seen "Killpoint" at least eight times. I have it on VHS, DVD and laser disc. It was a pity that Richard Rowntree's character was killed off in the movie but at least he was in it. As I mentioned in my comment about "Blood Street", Fong's a member of that Wooden-actors-club that includes Keanu Reeves and Peter Graves. I love the guy for a number of reasons. One is that he gets the job done. His boxing skills were always great. The other is that for a man of his age, he did stuff that other actors his age or even younger would struggle with. And he's 92 now and still going. So to me, "Killpoint" was one of those good action films you and your buddies could pick up from the local video store for an action movie night, watch and enjoy for its action. And IMO it did have an OK story line.

I loved the music for the film by Herman Jeffries. So 80s! I could never find anything out about him though. Daryl Stevenett (Diane Stevenett's brother) contributed some music, and appears in it doing a country song I think.

And the ending song "Living on the Inside" by Ramona Gibbons (real name Romona E. Gibbons) is an 80s classic. Wow! It's in the category of those songs that grows on you with each listen. The lyrics are great! I wonder if that is Herman Jeffries doing the male backing voice in the song? The song wouldn't be out of place on a comp album with "Children of the Night" by Buddy Miles from the film "Maniac Cop 2"

IMO if "Living on the Inside" was released on single and promoted properly, it would have charted somewhere for sure! It used to play on YouTube in a "Killpoint" End Credits clip. But now a couple of YT channels have it on its own. I hope someone one day will have the sense to track down the master-tapes and put it on a compilation. I'd even suggest that an album of music from Leo Fong's movies would be an ultra-cool thing. For years I wondered what Ramona would have looked like. Was she Jewish-Italian, African American or Puerto Rican etc.? I would conjure up an image in my mind of a club singer with makeup and in a fur coat. Had she released any recordings? After seeing people here & there on the net asking questions about her, who was this woman singing the song etc., I found out that she is the author of "Evolution of a Christian". Her own bio. I also discovered she was in a Motown-review group called Sh’Girls with Jennifer Yuill and Lori Lynner. Anyway, she turned out to be an attractive African American woman with an interesting story to tell.

Cheers Mr. B.

BTW: This needs to be on Blu-ray asap!

Ty said...

Thank you for taking the time to write this very through analysis. Cool you're a super fan!''

We agree 100 percent. On the Revenge of the Bushido Blade Bluray, There's a long interview with Fong and a potential Killpoint Bluray is hinted at. Hope it comes true.