Fists Of Steel (1989)

 

Fists Of Steel (1989)- * * *1\2

Directed by: Jerry Schafer

Starring: Carlos Palomino, Marianne Marks, Robert Tessier, Rockne Tarkington, and Henry Silva

Carlos "Conquistador" Diaz (Palomino) is an ex-Marine who served in 'Nam. Due to some sort of accident with his hands, his knuckle and finger bones were replaced with metal joints. Hence, he truly has FISTS OF STEEL. The CIA tries to recruit Diaz because they want to catch an evil baddie named Shogi (Silva) and his sidekick Katrina (Marks), who is described as "The Best". Naturally, at first Carlos is unimpressed with the CIA's offer, but when they show him what appears to be news footage of Shogi killing his father, he then gets hoppin' mad and goes on his own mission to get revenge against Shogi. He ends up traveling to Hawaii, where he encounters more baddies, such as Saylor (Tessier) and Rijar (Tarkington). But will Shogi feel the wrath of Diaz's FISTS OF STEEL?


Fists of Steel - not to be confused with Hands of Steel (1986), the classic Paco Queruak vehicle - starts with a cool song and logo, so the audience immediately gets sucked in. Then we see Henry Silva's Shogi character, inexplicably dressing up as various different characters in order to kill people. Just why he does this is never explained later in the film. Maybe the idea is that he's just so evil, he enjoys playing a bit of dress-up as a hobby as he kills his prey.


You really do care about Carlos's plight, and the whole thing overall has an odd vibe that's easy to love. As of this writing, Fists of Steel is a VERY rare movie, and not deserving of its hard-to-find status. You've gotta love Carlos's gym buddies and some of the other non-actors that give FOS a lot of flavor. No one knows why Silva is named Shogi, but Tessier is a sailor named...Saylor. Makes sense.


Every supposed flaw of Fists of Steel could be turned into a positive. For example, the movie is very repetitive - it seems there wasn't a lot of plot to be developed in between the fight/action scenes, so a lot of dialogue is repeated multiple times - but that can be very funny. The idea that the Carlos Diaz character has metal hands isn't really played up to the fullest - usually that just means that an extra-loud noise is heard whenever he punches anybody. That's pretty much the extent of it. But it all works out in the end because no one ever said all of this is supposed to be on a completely even keel.


With that in mind, there are two twists towards the end of the film (don't worry, no spoilers here). Let's just say that one is completely unsurprising, and the other one is truly a surprise. As if a movie of this sort even needed a twist, here they give you two. Or, really, in our eyes, one. But Palomino facing off against at least two guys who exclusively play baddie roles - Silva and Tessier - it's all worth it right there.


Director Jerry Schafer worked with Francis Ford Coppola on one of his first projects, Tonight For Sure (1962), and then a scant 19 years later directed Female Mud Wrestling Championships (1981), a documentary about female mud wrestling championships. This project featured both Carlos Palomino (as a referee) and Marianne Marks (as an interviewer), which led into his final directorial project, Fists of Steel. What a career.


Featuring the memorable songs "Eyes of the Stranger" by Nicci Sill, and "Left With the Right" by Robert Terry, Fists of Steel is a worthwhile and fun watch, if you can find it.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Nasty Hero (1987)

Nasty Hero (1987)- * * *

Directed by: Nick Barwood

Starring: Scott Feraco, Carlos Palomino, Raymond Serra, Robert Sedgwick, Teresa Blake, Jon Tenney, Rosanna DaVon, and Mike Starr

Chase (Feraco) is a cool dude with an attitude. His attitude is warranted, however, because some baddies framed him for car theft and he was left to rot in jail for six months. All Chase wants to do is work as a sort of "car courier" who delivers cars from Vic's (Serra) garage to their wealthy clientele. But the evil Bradford (Sedgwick) is in cahoots with corrupt cop Hackett (Starr) in a nationwide car theft ring. When the baddies realize it's not so easy to get rid of the appropriately-named Chase, they kidnap Yolanda (DaVon), the niece of his buddy Carlos (Palomino) and Chase's love interest, and Carlos's girlfriend Virginia (Blake). Now Chase and Carlos have to save the cars, the girls, and the day. With the odds stacked against them, Chase may still have one certain trick up his sleeve...but will he be the NASTY HERO everyone expects him to be?


Nasty Hero is a completely enjoyable 80's gem that is unheralded and just waiting to be rediscovered. It's a sort of cross between Banzai Runner (1987) and No Man's Land (1987), but with a strong dash of Miami Vice thrown into the mix, thanks to its locations in and around the Miami area during 1986-87 when Miami Vice was at its height. The female leads, DaVon and Blake, both appeared in episodes of 'Vice.

Scott Feraco makes for a strong central hero, and he has a great voice, which shines during the opening voiceover. The score by Ross Levinson is superlative and perfect for the subject matter of the film. So right from the jump, from the audio aspects alone, the viewer is sucked in and the movie never lets go. It's a shame that Feraco only has six known acting credits to his name, and doubly a shame that none of them are with Vince Murdocco. The posters would be amazing: FERACO and MURDOCCO in...Blood Justice. Or something like that.



Further praise must go to the lighting, which is colorful and 80's-tastic, and Feraco is always shown in a heroic and dramatic shadow. The camerawork must be singled out for accolades as well, which has a lot of Sam Raimi-esque energy to it. Amazingly, Nasty Hero is the only credit for director Nick Barwood, who clearly had talent and a big future in filmmaking. What happened we may never know, but Barwood delivered the goods here and more people need to see that and appreciate it.



The icing on the cake is that Nasty Hero is a mere 79 minutes. It's actually more like 75 before the credits. We're always saying how movies are too long, and now someone is finally, FINALLY listening. It has to not be a coincidence that fun, enjoyable movies like Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) and Nasty Hero are 79 minutes and they breeze by, while ponderous, self-indulgent opuses that shall remain nameless are what Hollywood seems to prefer. Nasty Hero can proudly say it's in the tradition of "have some fun and get out" films that don't take up much of your time, but they're worthwhile because they pack in all the good stuff that you want to see.


Nasty Hero has a good good guy, a bad bad guy, car chases, beat-ups, and the time-honored nightclub scene. There's really nothing to dislike about it. Vinegar Syndrome should release it on Blu-ray, so then it will be out of VHS purgatory and more readily available for all to see.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up from our buddies at Bulletproof Action!