Rapid Fire (1989)

Rapid Fire (1989)- * * *

Directed by: David A. Prior

Starring: Joe Spinell, Douglas Harter, Dawn Tanner, Ron Waldron, Michael Wayne, and Del Zamora











When the evil terrorist Mustapha Ahmed (Zamora) and his sidekick Eddy Williams (Wayne) escape military imprisonment and steal a high-tech, high-powered gun (See cover on the left), all hell breaks loose. Hansen (Spinell) calls in his best agent, a man named Mike Thompson (Waldron) to bring Ahmed and Williams to justice. 

Thompson initially balks at the assignment, but when he sees his chance to get revenge against Williams - who he served with in Vietnam (?) and who wronged him then - Thompson jumps at the chance. To complete his mission he teams up with Corie Parker (Tanner, whose only other credit is fellow AIP vehicle Center of the Web), a pretty government agent, as well as Pappy, a not-so-pretty mercenary with a larger than life personality and joie d’vivre. Will the three heroes rise to the occasion and stop the baddies? Find out today...

1989. Will the wonders birthed in that magical year never cease to issue forth? Here, the classic AIP team of David A. Prior, William Zipp and David Winters bring us Rapid Fire, not to be confused with Rapid Fire (1992). This Rapid Fire stars not Brandon Lee, but one Ron Waldron as Mike Thompson. Somehow, we can see the excitement on your faces. Waldron tries for Clint Eastwood in his speech and mannerisms, but comes off as a confused cross between David Heavener and Robert Hays (both no strangers to AIP, interestingly. Prior must have a type he’s looking for). 

He almost gets into a barfight in perhaps the same bar as seen in Hell on the Battleground (1989). Thompson has a truck named Rollin’ Thunder, and, as if that wasn’t enough, his license plate is “FLEX”. His vehicle contains a lot of text. But even with all that firepower, he can’t compare to Pappy.

Unquestionably, Douglas Harter as Pappy steals the movie. It obviously belongs to him. A longtime AIP mainstay, here he finally gets some time in the sun, and he clearly relishes it. Luckily, so does the audience. Pappy is a large, robust man who is bald but has a long beard. He’s usually wearing sunglasses and smokes cigars. His favorite activity is hanging out in his pool, drinking cans of Miller Lite while surrounded by bikini-clad babes. He has great taste in casualwear, and he doesn’t take life too seriously. Yet, he always gets the job done and you can depend on him. We really grew to love Pappy. There needs to be more people like him not just in movies, but in real life.

Countering the ebullience of Pappy, there is a sad undercurrent to Rapid Fire, as it was fan favorite Joe Spinell’s last movie. There are credits honoring his memory both before and after the film. Unlike Operation Warzone (1988), he does stand up here, so it’s not solely a sit-down role, thankfully. Spinell was a great talent and will surely be missed. He brought uniqueness, life, and interest to every role he played. It truly is a shame he left us before his time.

But back to the silliness at hand, the main baddie, Williams, resembles noted pervert and scumbag Anthony Weiner. At least towards the beginning of the movie. Somehow, after repeated flashbacks and paranoid dream sequences, he goes more towards the Heavener side of things, confusingly, just like our hero Mike Thompson. I guess the Heavener look was big back in ‘89.

As usual with AIP, it seems a lot of time and care went into the music. The great Steve McClintock handles it once again, and he delivers some radio-ready songs that were as good as any of the hits of the day. His “C’Mon (My Hometown)” out John Cougar Mellencamps John Cougar Mellencamp, and Bob Harvey’s “The Shack”, well...it out Bob Segers Bob Seger. The songs enrich the movie and ignore the low budget. Sure, there’s a lot of shooting, car stunts, Prerequisite Torture of the hero and whatnot, and even the heartbreaking passing  of Joe Spinell, but we can always go back to “My Hometown”. That seems to be the message, and it seems to fit.

Featuring a very bizarre, totally out-of-left-field denouement, Rapid Fire is more AIP madness you have to love and enjoy.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty 

Deadly Illusion (1987)

Deadly Illusion (1987)- * *

Directed by: Larry Cohen and William Tannen

Starring: Billy Dee Williams, Vanity, Morgan Fairchild, and Joe Spinell













Hamberger (BDW) is a Private Detective living it up in New York City with his girlfriend Rina (Vanity). He’s contacted by a mysterious man who offers him $100,000 to murder his wife. Intrigued, Hamberger does some recon and decides to just go and meet the woman in question. After meeting Sharon Burton (Fairchild), an entire can of worms opens for The ‘Berger, as double-crosses, murder and mayhem ensue. Will Hamberger live to sizzle another day?

We were less than impressed with Deadly Illusion. Maybe it was due to the “two-director” syndrome - evidently the great Larry Cohen was replaced with William Tannen, the director of Hero and the Terror (1988) and Inside Edge (1992) - but the results are ultimately lackluster. To be fair, the action elements herein are very much muted; it’s more of a film noir-influenced mystery-thriller. But you take the cast into account, and you can’t help but feel this should have been so much more.

BDW is as smooth and suave as ever, and his narration is indeed charming. After watching Deadly Illusion, it’s easy to see why legions of Americans went out in droves and purchased pallets of Colt .45.  But there’s a lot of cheesy humor in this movie, and a lot of it has to be delivered by Mr. Williams, and we personally found it weird to see him in that kind of role - if the film was a bit more straight-faced, the one-liners would have had more oomph. 

Vanity and Fairchild provided their classic female B-movie support roles, and the good news is that fan-favorite Joe Spinell is on board. The bad news is that it’s only a cameo, and they spell his name wrong in the credits. With more Spinell, the movie as a whole could have moved up another rung on the ladder.

That’s kind of indicative of the overall vibe of “missed opportunity” of Deadly Illusion. Plus, there was so much competition in video stores at the time - how could this movie compete with the far-more-awesome-yet-still-kind-of-similar Action Jackson (1988)? Or even Fortune Dane (1986) for that matter? The makers of Deadly Illusion should indeed have gone the Fortune Dane route - make it a 50-minute TV pilot and maybe, if it’s developed further, put episodes out on VHS - because that format would have worked better here. Being that it’s boring and slow in many spots, 90 minutes or so seems like an unnecessary amount of Hamberger to take in one sitting.

It does have that “It’s 1987 in NYC” kind of vibe, which is welcome, and there are plenty of shots of the World Trade Center towers, which we always like to point out and celebrate. There’s even a scene of BDW and Fairchild eating in a restaurant where the towers are directly over her head, even looking like antennae popping out of her skull. At least that’s better than this silly dark-haired wig she dons at other various times, and maybe that’s the true “Illusion” here.

Featuring the catchy end credits song “Illusions are Real” by Stephanie Spruill, despite a couple of bright spots, perhaps unsurprisingly for this troubled production, Deadly Illusion doesn’t really hang together and is an unsatisfying viewing experience.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up from our buddy, The Video Vacuum! 

One Man Jury (1978)

One Man Jury (1978)-* * *

Directed by: Charles Martin

Starring: Jack Palance, Chris Mitchum, Pamela Shoop, and Joe Spinell











Lt. Jim Wade (Palance) is an L.A. Cop On The Edge who hates scum. Imagine if a John McCain/Clint Eastwood-type (hmmmm....) grumpy older man who continually told the neighborhood punks to get off his lawn not only had a gun and a badge, but teaches police school at night! His partner is Sgt. Blake (Mitchum) and together they’re hunting for a serial killer plaguing the city known as “The Slasher”. In order to get closer to The Slasher, Wade makes some underworld dealings, mainly with gangster Abatino (Spinell). But Wade is tired of the legal system that gives both serial killers and gangsters slaps on the wrist, so he takes the law into his own hands and becomes a ONE MAN JURY.

Now this is what 12 Angry Men (1957) should have been! Just One Angry Man. But in all seriousness, this is a decent-enough cop drama that will entertain you throughout the majority of its running time. It’s great to go back to the days when cops had wide ties, three-piece suits and smoked cigars anywhere they pleased. In many ways, One Man Jury is kind of old-fashioned...it plays as if an older director, whose career goes back to the 1940’s,  was asked by a production company to make a Dirty Harry (1971) knockoff. And indeed, this was writer/director Charles Martin’s last movie, dying a few years after its completion. None of this is meant to come off as negative, One Man Jury is still worth seeing.

Plus it’s great to see Chris Mitchum and Jack Palance team up as cops. Especially when they’re chasing after the great Joe Spinell, a Comeuppance Reviews fan-favorite actor. Pamela Shoop plays the classic liberal counterpart to Wade as well as his love interest, and Angel Tompkins appears for a few short minutes. Jim Wade truly was the Marion Cobretti of his day. Based on his love of crime statistics, anyway. But truly the star of the show is Palance. Here we must quote from the back of the Star Classics VHS box (keep in mind this is on the back of the box - pretend you’re in a video store in the 80’s and you want to know the plot of this movie):

“Jack Palance is one of the very few talents who has the capacity to convey the full spectrum of emotions in this film. At six foot four, two hundred pounds, features chiseled in solid granite, and a soft, yet threatening-as-thunder voice, he’s everyone’s image of what an uncompromising avenger should be.”

Well, now that you know Jack Palance’s weight, that should firmly convince you to see this movie post-haste. But One Man Jury is one movie that has the guts to have the message of “violence IS the answer!”

So if that floats your boat, and we’re guessing that if you’re reading this site right now that it does, One Man Jury should fit the bill. But be advised that it’s not very “extreme” - a lot of its charm comes from its old-school ways.

 Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a review from our buddy Keith at The Unknown Movies!

Vigilante (1983)

Vigilante (1983)-* * * *

Directed by: William Lustig

Starring: Robert Forster, Fred Williamson, Richard Bright, Joesph Carberry, Don Blakely, Carol Lynley, Willie Colon, Woody Strode, Steve James, Rutanya Alda, and Joe Spinell












Eddie Marino (Forster) is a blue-collar guy who goes to his factory job, then goes to the local dive bar with his friends (Nick, Burke, and Ramon - Williamson, Bright and Carberry, respectively), then comes home to his loving wife (Alda) and son. His simple life is interrupted when a vicious street gang led by the evil Rico (Colon) and Prago (Blakely) invade his home and assault his wife and son. Feeling defenseless against everyone from small-time drug pushers on up, Nick forms a vigilante group because the court system is a corrupt failure and isn’t protecting its citizens. Now crime is running wild so everyday citizens must stand up and fight. Eddie is initially resistant to the idea, but after seeing shyster lawyers like Eisenberg (Spinell) pull the rug out from under good-faith lawyers like his own, Mary Fletcher (Lynley), Eddie snaps and is sent to jail for contempt. It’s while he’s inside that he meets Rake (Strode)...but when he gets out, he decides to join Nick’s group after all and it’s then that the truth that he initially denied comes out: if you want justice, you have to do it yourself.

Why, oh why aren’t there more movies like Vigilante? We will never stop pining for them. Just about everything about Vigilante is awesome. From the second you see the font the opening credits are in, you know the movie is going to be good.  The cast is amazing: it’s one of Fred Williamson’s best - he puts a lot of energy into it and gets all the best lines. Plus he’s just so cool. There are moments when he breaks through the top of the coolness thermometer. Joe Spinell is perfectly cast as the sleazy lawyer. He has a small but integral role, as does Steve James. Come to think of it, same for Woody Strode. Robert Forster is always worth watching. Jay Chattaway’s music is superb and ties it all together.

Revenge movies are one of our favorite things to watch, and the gritty NYC locations of the 80’s are simply mesmerizing. The post-Death Wish (1974) cycle of The Exterminator (1980), Vigilante, and The Protector (1985), and, to a certain extent, Exterminator 2 (1984) give an excellent picture of the New York City of the day. It’s simply fascinating, not to mention addictive to watch - if you know any other movies like these, please write in a comment to suggest them!

The Anchor Bay DVD is excellent, with a beautiful widescreen transfer that looks great, and some nice extras. There’s not much more to say, really...for a great movie from a never-to-be-duplicated time period, with a top-notch cast that’s fast-paced and entertaining from start to finish, with a great message...Vigilante rules! What more could you want? If you haven’t already, just buy the DVD today!

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a review by our buddy, M. Brown from Two Dollar Cinema!

The Messenger (1986)

The Messenger (1986)-* * *

Directed by: Fred Williamson

Starring: Fred Williamson, Cameron Mitchell, Christopher Connelly, Sandy Cummings, Frank Pesce, Stack Pierce, Magic Wand, and Joe Spinell 










Jake Sebastian Turner (Fred) is an ex-Green Beret in ‘Nam who became a cat burglar. He was busted in Italy and served three years in an Italian prison. When he gets out, one of his old contacts offers him $500,000 or more if he can exact revenge on the drug dealers that killed his son. He takes the job, meanwhile reconnecting with his old flame Sabrina (Sandy Cummings). When drug-dealing scum kill her, Turner kicks into gear, going from Rome, to Chicago, to L.A. and finally to Las Vegas tracking and killing “drug gangsters” as they are called, but also helping people that have been harmed by them along the way, meeting different people and getting into different scenarios in every city he visits. Police Captain Carter (Mitchell) and his number two man, Leroy (Pierce) are trying to track down this “Messenger of Death”, but FBI Agent Parker (Connelly) is sympathetic to his vigilante ways. Watch Fred become a one-man war on drugs in The Messenger!

Fred Williamson once again proves he’s at the top of his game when it comes to the action stars of the 70’s and 80’s. He starred, co-wrote, co-produced and directed this film, and, thanks to his Fred-Fu, was probably Martial Arts coordinator as well. The film might have an odd pace, but it’s Fred’s unique vision that makes it good. Thanks to some of the politically incorrect elements, as well as the ultra-funky score and musical stings (by William Stuckey), you couldn’t make this today. And because, at the time of this writing, it has not been released on DVD, this VHS-only Fred is a true artifact of the time. He also passes a movie marquee showing Raw Deal (1986), and we always like to see these kinds of preservations on film.

As if the strong presence of Fred doing his “Death Wish thing” as has been said, wasn’t enough, he assembled a killer cast: Cam Mitchell plays the angry Police Captain (basically the exact role he plays in Hollywood Cop, 1987), who always has the nub of a cigar in his mouth. And he’s teamed up for what seems like the hundredth time with Stack Pierce, and we always like seeing them, especially when they’re together. In the “awesome glasses” sweepstakes, Christopher Connelly gives Cam a run for his money here, and Connelly also has some great lingo, at one point calling fan favorite Joe Spinell, and we quote, a “Suckfish”. Oddly enough, that word (?) seems familiar and we think we’ve actually heard it uttered before on film. But we can’t remember which movie.

But besides all the names we know and love, we should also point out some of the lesser-known supporting cast: Benny, Fred’s Chicago contact and hot dog chef, is great, and FBI Chief Connors is truly a national treasure. But the drug dealer/pimp known in the movie as Sweet Louie, played by Magic Wand (did they really have to change his name to Sweet Louie?) has an amazing suit with dollar signs on it, making him the Black Matthew Lesko (or “Blesko” as it’s called by people in the know).

Because it was the 80’s, it has a title song (in this case by Jacob Wheeler),  which we always love, and other characters get their own song as well, such as “Sabrina”. It’s a tradition Fred would follow for years to come - just see Night Vision (1997) and its song “Dakota Smith”. So check out some prime, if overlooked, Fred today with this enjoyable outing.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Operation Warzone (1988)

Operation Warzone (1988)-* *

Directed by: David A. Prior

Starring: Joe Spinell, Fritz Matthews, William Zipp, Sean Holton, and Chet Hood



"They Told 'Em War Was Hell...They Were Right!"

Get ready for yet another romp in the jungle courtesy of  David Prior and AIP. In this particular Vietnam war scenario, Sgt. Holt (Matthews), Cpl. Butler (Zipp) and Cpl. Adams (Holton), among other soldiers, are bravely fighting in the impossible conditions of the ‘Nam jungles. During a firefight, they rescue two Tunnel Rats, Jenson (King) and Hawkins (Cianetti). It comes to light that there is a mysterious, unseen man, dubbed “The General” that has classified documents that could supposedly end the war. Much of the madness can be traced back to Washington and the corrupt George Delevane (Spinell). In a Firehawk-like situation, the soldiers don’t know who to trust, and there could be a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. Will Holt and the boys make it home alive? Or will the behind-the-scenes dealings get the better of everyone?

Mindless shooting. Exploding huts. Endless machine gun firefights. Uninteresting explosions. Brain-numbing stupidity. Inexcusable boredom. Zero character development. Unexplained Australians. Goofy chases. Prerequisite torture sequence. An unnecessary fistfight scene that is so absurdly extended it makes the “put on the glasses” scene from They Live (1988) look like a blip. These are some basic snapshots that should give you some idea of the “we have to sit through it” vibe of Operation Warzone.

Matthews, Zipp and Holton are all AIP regulars, doing many things both in front of and behind the camera. It seems, contractually, Zipp cannot be in a movie that doesn’t take place in a jungle. So he must have been right at home. Holton looks completely different that he did in White Fury (1990). In ‘Fury he’s a snot-nosed little punk, and here he has an adult mustache and appears at least ten years older - but ‘Warzone  came out two years BEFORE White Fury! How quickly they grow up...or something like that. The legendary and excellent actor Joe Spinell is on hand, and his presence is much appreciated, but it’s what we call a “sit-down” role. In other words, in many instances, from Mickey Rooney in Maximum Force (1992), to Henry Silva in The Violent Breed (1984), to Spinell here (just to name a few), the movie production will hire a name actor to do some scenes over the course of a day or two, give or take. But all the actor’s scenes are sitting down. They never leave their chair. It just kind of exposes the penury of a given production. Here Spinell gives his sit-down role, which is better than many of the other actors’ more action based scenes, but the bottom line is the movie definitely could have used much more Spinell.

Another thing worth mentioning is the highly inappropriate music. Although the movie is set in 1960’s Vietnam, a happy, upbeat, jaunty 80’s synthpop song that sounds exactly like Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” blasts onto the soundtrack. I know it seems incredible, but it’s true. What were they thinking? That being said, Steve McClintock’s closing credits dirge “Shadow Of A Doubt” is catchy and one of the best things about Operation Warzone. You gotta hand it to AIP. Almost all their movies have at least one catchy, memorable, original song. It’s really a fairly dependable thing. No matter how “bad” the movie is, at least there will be a song. When is someone going to release a CD, “AIP’s greatest hits”? It would be amazing!

Dumb on top of dumb on top of dumb, Operation Warzone is a misfire.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

The Last Fight (1983)

The Last Fight (1983)-* * *

Directed by: Fred Williamson

Starring: Fred Williamson, Ruben Blades, Willie Colon, Joe Spinell, Darlanne Fluegel, Sal Carollo Tony Sirico, and Don King











The Last Fight is an interesting and worthwhile boxing/gangster film written and directed by, and starring, fan-favorite Fred Williamson.

Andy "Kid Clave" Perez (Blades) is a good-natured boxer and singer, but unfortunately also a "bad gambler" that owes gangster Joaquin Vargas (Colon) a lot of money. Vargas offers a "deal" to take fifty percent of Andy's action in the fight game. Sadly, this affects Andy's beloved elderly manager, Papa (Carollo). When some of Vargas' overzealous goons start interfering with people in Andy's inner circle (trying to carefully sidestep spoilers here), Fred Williamson steps in, reprising his role (from 1976's Death Journey and No Way Back as Jesse Crowder, A private detective and ex-cop. Will Crowder get answers? Will Kid Clave get his title shot? Or will outside circumstances prevent him from achieving his dream?

One of the interesting things about  The Last Fight are the appearances by real people. While a fictional film and not a documentary, it features real-life boxers Jose "Chegui" Torres and Salvador Sanchez, and boxing people Bert Sugarman and Don Dunphy, not to mention...wait for it...DON KING! AS HIMSELF! ACTING! INVOLVED IN THE PLOT! IT'S CRAZY, MAN! Actually, it's not that crazy, but it's certainly not boring to watch. Real-life musical collaborators Blades and Colon are also front and center as the troubled boxer/singer and the hirsute gangster (when he wears sunglasses, you really cannot see his face), respectively. Also speaking of real-life aspects, the NYC locations, especially the Times Square of the early eighties provide some good grit that enliven the proceedings.

Besides Williamson, another one of my favorite actors is on hand, for one scene: the great Joe Spinell plays the gangster Colon answers to. The role isn't too dissimilar from the one he plays in that other boxing movie, Rocky (1976).

As far as criticisms go, I would have liked to have seen more Spinell, but maybe that's just me. Also there is a certain lack of originality, but that's okay because who really cares about that anyway? There are some stodgy acting moments, which is more than forgivable because not only is that common and par for the course with low budget/independent films, but a lot of people involved are non-actors. But there is also some bad "boxing-acting". By that I mean some pretty silly feigned punches and dodges. Weirdly, in the end credits, Darlanne Fluegel is simply "Darlanne". I don't know if whoever typed the credits was afraid of spelling her last name wrong, or trying to launch her like "Madonna" or "Cher", but her last name is missing.

Williamson steals the show as Crowder, giving himself pretty much all the best lines in the movie. It is always a joy to watch him. I wish I was as cool as Fred Williamson.

I would describe The Last Fight  as a curio that fans of boxing/boxing films should definitely see, and if you are an 80's/Fred Williamson/Joe Spinell/drive-in-style film fan such as myself, you should definitely check out The Last Fight, released on VHS in the U.S. by Thorn-EMI.

Comeuppance review by: Brett