Day Of The Assassin (1979)

 Day Of The Assassin (1979)- * *1\2

Directed by: Brian Treanchard-Smith

Starring: Chuck Connors, Jorge Rivero, Glenn Ford, Henry Silva, Susana Dosamantes, and Richard Roundtree

When the Shah of Iran's boat sinks to the bottom of a Mexican bay, word spreads that said sunken vessel contains treasure. And not just any treasure, mind you, but supposedly among the contents of the loot is a piece of paper with the most important information in the world. What is that information? Well, Christakis (Ford) wants to find out, and he's willing to pay big. So he hires Fleming (Connors) to get the paper. But it's not going to be easy, because treasure hunters from around the world want to get to it first, among them Fessler the Mute (Roundtree) and Dante Vallone (Rivero). Police Chief Jorge Gomez (Silva) is at a loss. Susana, AKA "The Princess" (Dosamantes) is swept up in it all. Which adventurer will walk away with the prized paper?


Day of the Assassin is a nice, harmless adventure outing that sports a handful of cool moments. It definitely has its flaws; it's a bit too "safe", if you know what we mean, and the peaks-and-valleys structure of the film has some pretty deep (i.e. slow) valleys. But, overall, it's pretty amusing and mildly entertaining, thanks to its cast, its quirks, and the direction of fan favorite Brian Trenchard-Smith.


It all kicks off with a fantastic opening sequence: a guy bombs, neck-snaps and knives people while parasailing. That's right, a man suspended by a parachute over a body of water by a boat manages to kill several people, while Jorge Rivero watches the incident through a pair of binoculars. We can't say we've ever seen that before.

Soon enough, we're introduced to Glenn Ford as Christakis. He wears gray formal suit pants and dress shoes with a cream-and-red Adidas warmup jacket, gold chain, and sunglasses. He may not be in the movie that much, but at least he has a funky wardrobe. Then we get to our hero, Fleming, played by our real-life hero, Chuck Connors. At least in Day of the Assassin, he looks like what Dolph Lundgren will look like 40 years from now. As Elderly Dolph goes on about his adventuring, he then encounters lots of his competition, the most noteworthy of which are Fessler and Gomez.


That's something we appreciated about the film - it features a panoply of middle-aged or older character actors that we know and love. Yes, Roundtree doesn't say anything (because he's "mute", you see), but it was nice having Ford, Connors, Silva, and Roundtree all together. Jorge Rivero is the young man of the group. Dosamantes is the only woman. Perhaps there should have been more women.


Connors, instead of wearing his usual Brooklyn Dodgers hat, has a variety of different baseball caps this time around. Maybe this was an in-joke because he always insisted on his trademark Dodgers cap, but he's seen with Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals (?) and perhaps one other baseball team's logo on his head. Or he'll put the hat on a desk in plain sight. Even in such a light and jaunty outing as Day of the Assassin, there's some Prerequisite Torture of our hero, Fleming. Guess you always have to have that, even in something pretty fluffy like this.

Other movie highlights include the standout score by Bebu Silvetti, who is perhaps best known in America for his Spring Rain disco album from 1977. He contributes some library music-esque funk and other notable cues. Put that together with the picturesque Spanish locations (although the movie is set in Mexico) and you've got two noteworthy elements right there.

When it comes to the films of Brian Trenchard-Smith (who's the original BTS), Day of the Assassin does not reach the heights of The Man From Hong Kong (1975), or the Jason Blade diptych Fists of Blood and Day of the Panther (both 1988) (he must like "Day of the..." movie titles), but it still holds a certain charm, especially when cars blow up with little or no provocation.


Day of the Assassin originally came to home video in the U.S. on the Prism label on VHS. There doesn't seem to be any DVD history of the film, then it jumped to Amazon Prime. Despite the film's shortcomings, there's still plenty to enjoy here, especially if you're a fan of anyone involved.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Raw Nerve (1991)

Raw Nerve (1991)-* *1\2

Directed By: David A. Prior

Starring: Ted Prior, Traci Lords, Jan-Michael Vincent, Randall “Tex” Cobb, Sandahl Bergman and Glenn Ford

AIP is a company that produced a treasure trove of low budget direct-to-video films that specialized in action movies, as the company name implies. Being a low-budget production company, you would think they would have been familiar with their forebear "American International Pictures" the original AIP. Why they used that name is a bit puzzling. Even though they made other types of genre movies, it was with action that they hit their stride. Although they ceased production in 1994, they left behind a legacy of VHS gems such as: White Fury (1990) , Alien Seed (1989) (with Erik Estrada), and Shredder Orpheus (1990) (Maybe they weren't all gems)

Raw Nerve is another supremely silly entry in the AIP canon. It was trying to be a serious contender with other suspense thrillers cluttering video store shelves at the time. There are too many missteps in its execution, star power notwithstanding.

At the local county fair, a woman is murdered in the Hall Of Mirrors. Meanwhile, local yahoos Jimmy (Prior) and slovenly alcoholic Blake (Cobb) are gearing up for a car race….until Jimmy sees visions of the murder from the “Prior” evening. He sweats profusely and freaks out in an exaggerated manner. It jeopardizes his racing ability and he almost dies. The couple of yokels in the stands were hoping for a fiery death. Despite the fact this race is at 9am on a weekday, the stands are packed. In between breakfast beers, Blake doesn’t seem too concerned about his chum’s plight.

Jimmy lives with his sister, Gina (Lords) she is a pre-med student and the “good girl”. She goes to the prom and two strange looking preppies in their late 30’s (and yet still in high school) offer Gina and her friend “wacky tabaccy”. While Gina is thinking of giving in to peer pressure, another murder occurs. Now Jimmy is the prime suspect but no one believes him, especially the police.

 Down at the local precinct, Detective Ellis (Vincent) is assigned to the case. His is put in charge by Captain Gavin (Ford). In addition, Bergman plays Gloria, a reporter trying to get answers from Jimmy and in the process strikes up a relationship with him. Who can resist his sweaty freak-outs? Jimmy is naturally suspicious of Gloria. Also in the love triangle is Ellis who was previously married to her. If all this seems too confusing, it is not.

While out one night soused out of his mind, Blake finds a mysterious red high heel. What is the secret of the shoe? Ellis and Gavin pursue Jimmy around town for most of the movie, which leads into a final confrontation on the top level of a parking garage. Blake with beer in hand (as usual) guns his truck through a concrete divider to his doom below….but is that the end?....is there one final twist?

Sadly this was Ford’s final film appearance. This follows the old saying: “Never have a last movie.” Just look at Raul Julia (Street Fighter,1994), Orson Welles (Transformers: The Movie, 1986) and John Candy and Peter Sellers as well. Now we can add Glenn Ford to this illustrious list. Randall “Tex” Cobb is a triumph as Blake Garrett. He is unshaven, his clothes barely fit, and he stumbles around drunkenly the entire film. He adds a lot.


Ford steals the movie despite his minimal screen time: While reminiscing about his early days with Vincent and what lead him to becoming an policeman , he mentions to him that he almost became a florist. When Vincent asks him why, Ford responds with THE line of the movie: unexpectedly informs us: "I like flowers."

Your nerves will be raw when you watch this classic tonight!

Comeuppance Review by: Ty & Brett