Sudden Death (1977)- * * *
Directed by: Eddie Romero
Starring: Robert Conrad, Don Stroud, Felton Perry, Larry Manetti, Ken Metcalfe, Angelo Ventura, and John Ashley,
"I'll eat my shoes if that chump ain't fuzz" - Wyatt Spain
Somewhere in the Philippines, a cabal of evil businessmen intends to plunder the local sugar cane crops. Bands of local mercenaries are fighting back, and when "good businessman" Ed Neilson's (Metcalfe) family is slaughtered, he turns to his buddy Duke Smith (Conrad), an ex-Special Ops CIA agent, to find out who committed the atrocity. Smith then calls friend/associate Wyatt Spain (Perry) and they link up with local contact Buffalo Tinker (Ventura). Yes, Buffalo Tinker is involved. The three men then proceed to blast around the Philippines busting heads and attempting to get answers. But our heroes face fierce resistance in the forms of John Shaw (Ashley) and his goon Dominic Aldo (Stroud). Who will come out alive, and who will face...SUDDEN DEATH?
Not to be confused with Sudden Death (1985) or Sudden Death (1995), this, the first of the Sudden Deaths (it seems that about every decade or so a movie comes out called Sudden Death), is well worth seeking out. If you're a fan of 70's drive-in style actioners, complete with large-collared, loud-patterned shirts, gigantic cars, and un-PC dialogue, this is a fine exemplar of that. Underlining the 70's vibe is the pacing and even the downbeat ending, which is the sort of thing that era specialized in and that you don't see today.
On a more uplifting note, quite literally, is the fantastic score by the great Johnny Pate. His opening song is tremendous and his music is uniformly fine throughout. Two of his other scores include Shaft in Africa and the little-seen Brother on the Run AKA Black Force 2 (both 1973). Whenever we see his name pop up in the credits, it's a rare treat. As of this writing, there is no CD or vinyl release for the Sudden Death score, but that needs to happen.
It was fantastic to see Robert Conrad in the role of head badass. Freed from the constraints of television, he can swear and beat up baddies with the best of 'em. He and Felton Perry make a winning team. We thought Perry was very likable here and he gets a lot of great lines. Who better than them to unravel the corporate intrigue and get into some barfights and warehouse fights along the way? While both men are charismatic, only Robert Conrad is man enough to wear tight pink shorts and a necklace and still come off as 100% man.
The legendary John Ashley is very cool here, and his voice is a joy to listen to. He'd be perfect for a 70's radio DJ: it's easy to hear him saying such things as "And now, next up in the hit parade, The Doobie Brothers with China Grove..." or some such thing. No wonder he was chosen to do the opening narration for The A-Team. In fact, there is a certain A-Team vibe going on here, but, rather than be sanitized for TV, it's melded into the Philippine action style we all know and love, with additional hints of The Retrievers (1982) or The G.I. Executioner (1971) (though rest assured it's far better than the latter).
A terrific cast of familiar faces, funktastic music and 70's style to spare - and it all wraps up in a scant 82 minutes! There's a lot to love with Sudden Death. Released on VHS on the classic Media label, this is a recommended film and in dire need of a restoration.
Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty
4 comments:
Man I love 70s action. I looked for this after reading your review and found it on YouTube with a trailer. Will definitely check it out. Awesome review.
It got a DVD release https://www.blu-ray.com/dvd/Robert-Conrad-Double-Feature-DVD/76236/ which I have and it's excellent
Joesph: Thanks! Definitely worth watching
Chris: Thanks for the info! Cool movie, agreed
Actor/producer John Ashley interview:
https://archive.org/details/TrashCompactorV2N61992/page/n5/mode/1up
T.:I have not seen Sudden Death. Was that film done stateside?
J.A.:No, that was done in the Philippines. Eddie directed it. The script was written by a black writer named Oscar Williams. We shot it in Manila.
I knew Oscar. Bob, Oscar and I got together. Oscar wrote it for Bob Conrad and Jim Kelly. You remember the black martial artist.
T.:Yeah. He was in Black Belt Jones with the gorgeous Gloria Hendry.
J.A.:I can't remember why, but Jim Kelly fell out. The script had a lot of martial arts in it, so Bob suggested Don Stroud. I recommended getting Eddie Romero to direct it because he's not only knowledgable, but oriented toward our end of the business over here in the U.S. I produced it for Caruth Byrd, a very wealthy guy from Dallas.
It's actually a pretty decent little movie, but Caruth was not real knowledgable about the business. He found some fly-bynight company that gave him some kind of deal, what was in his mind, a really good one. I kept saying that it's only a good deal if the picture makes money. I didn't know the company, and it didn't feel right to me. (It was not AIP, as listed in the Filmography, but a company called Bryanston, which folded in the Seventies.— J.L.)
The picture finally came out in a very limited release, no publicity, nothing. It died and immediately went to tape. Tape then was not the big thing it is today.
You would like the movie. It's set in downtown Manila, and is about narcotics. Bob Conrad was very upset about how Caruth threw the movie away.
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