Sweet Justice (1992)

Sweet Justice (1992)- * * *

Directed by: Alain Paris and Allen Plone

Starring: Marc Singer, Finn Carter, Cheryl Paris, Frank Gorshin, Marjean Holden, Michelle McCormick, Catherine Hickland, Patricia Tallman, Kathleen Kinmont, and Mickey Rooney







Sunny Justice (Carter) is a spunky female kickboxer not afraid to take on a man in the ring. This quality is going to come in handy, because she stumbles onto a small-town conspiracy that could go, eventually, all the way to the top. Upon the death of her sister Suzanne (Paris), the mayor of a dusty ol’ town named Los Olivos, Sunny returns home, and after speaking to the Sheriff and Suzanne’s boyfriend, Steve Colton (Singer), and local yokel Zeke (Rooney), she discovers the culprit: an evil land developer (yes, another one!) named Rivas (Gorshin) who is also dumping toxic waste into the old mine (presumably where Timmy from Lassie got stuck every week). Deciding  to cut through the bureaucratic red tape, Sunny reconvenes her old commando unit, an all-female fighting force sanctioned by the U.S. Army. Here is the team, along with some of their relevant credits:

-  Kim (McCormick) - from Hawkeye (1988) and Showdown (1993)
- Chris Barnes (Catherine Hickland) - from Robowar (1988)
-  M.J. (Marjean Holden) - from Ballistic (1995) and Automatic (1995)
- Josie (Patricia Tallman) - known for her work in horror movies, and had a small part in Road House (1989)
- Heather (Kathleen Kinmont) - we all know her, but for those who may not, she is the former Mrs. Lorenzo Lamas and was in a bunch of his movies, such as CIA Code Name: Alexa (1992), Final Impact (1992), and Snake Eater II: The Drug Buster (1989), among others, but she also starred in plenty of stuff on her own such as The Art of Dying (1991) and Gangland (2001), to name just a few. And in further non-Lamas Lamas news, this movie reunites Kinmont, McCormick, and Branscombe Richmond (in a tiny part) - all seen in the show Renegade.
- and, of course, Sunny Justice (Finn Carter), who, coincidentally, was on an unrelated TV show called Sweet Justice a few years later. And her sister, the hot mayor (Cheryl Paris), was in the unfortunate Liberty and Bash (1989).

Will this power-packed team of fighting women get to the bottom of the conspiracy and get their man? Find out today!

Sweet Justice is essentially a cross between Hell Squad (1986), China O’Brien (1990), and Frame Up (1991). To paraphrase our friend Cool Target, the first 30 minutes are kind of slow, but after that, things pick up and become very enjoyable. In Frame Up, the Evil Land Developer (perhaps we should start now capitalizing it and calling them ELD’s for short, we see them so much) was Dick Sargent, and here it’s Frank Gorshin. Maybe aging TV actors are drawn to the role because it’s so perfunctory? It must be like a working retirement for them. Gorshin puts in a wacky performance, even Riddler-esque you might say? Mickey “Maximum Force” Rooney (he’s synonymous with Maximum Force, isn’t he?) puts in a top-notch sit-down role, but to be fair, it’s tough to tell whether he’s standing or not because of his height. When one of Rivas’s goons punches Zeke in the face, that’s when all bets are off and the girls get their SWEET JUSTICE.

It’s your classic “assemble a team” movie, and we always enjoy those. You really have to admire anyone who’s willing to drop their job to go on an illegal killing spree with their buddies just because one of them enlists you to. There’s even a classic training montage and shreddin’ guitars play on the soundtrack during fights. You’ve gotta love it. The women and their diverse personalities and fighting styles keep it from becoming boring. We thought another title for the movie (or another like it in the future) could be “EMPOWERMENT”.  You get the idea.

The team leader, Sunny Justice, is a pre-The Fight (2001) woman who takes on men in the ring. She was truly ahead of her time. And in Street Corner Justice (1996), Marc Singer played the immortal Mike Justus. Sunny Justice and Mike Justus together again at last. We celebrated. Singer has never looked more like Kevin Bacon than he does here. Maybe it’s the hair. While Finn Carter takes on the Cynthia Rothrock role from the aforementioned China O’Brien (there’s even a fight in a gym just like in that movie), we thought that if Sweet Justice were made today, the part of Sunny Justice could be portrayed by Gina Carano.

Featuring the prerequisite sax on the soundtrack, as well as end credits ballad “The Glory of it All” by Sherry Cameron, Sweet Justice is rollicking entertainment, perfect for video stores of the 90’s. Released by Triboro on VHS at that time, Sweet Justice is sweet viewing.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty 

Showdown (1993)

Showdown (1993)-* * *

Directed by: Leo Fong

Starring: Leo Fong, Werner Hoetzinger, Michelle McCormick, Troy Donohue, and Richard Lynch




“How would you like a shovelhead?”
- James Long











 Kincade (Hoetzinger) is the leader of an evil biker gang that’s involved in everything from drugs to burglary to murder. After stealing some money from a racetrack, the gang finds a little town in rural Nevada with a population of 500 people named Sanctuary. Once there, they start terrorizing the townsfolk and causing all kinds of mayhem. 

The Commander (Lynch) needs help ridding his town of these people, so he calls in a Martial Arts instructor named James Long (Fong). They team up with Mickey (McCormick), a young girl whose father was murdered by the gang. But Sanctuary is named “Sanctuary” because it is filled with old retired gangsters, mobsters and criminals, and for some reason, federal, state and local laws do not apply there. So it’s going to be an uphill battle, but who will come out victorious at the end of the SHOWDOWN?

Leo Fong is someone we keep coming back to. Most people don’t know the meaning of the word “wooden” until they see one of his performances. But there’s something compelling about him you just can’t deny. Showdown seems to be his baby, as he stars in, produced, wrote and directed it. So it has that Fong-y feel you would expect. Yet he doesn’t seem all that excited to be there. But then again, he was 65 years old at the time of shooting, so maybe he was thinking about other things. Naturally it was released by AIP, this stuff is right up their alley. Luckily, this movie is funny for a variety of different reasons, not the least of which are its amateurish feel and non-actors - not to mention some hilariously choppy editing.

It starts with a fist-pumping hair-metal anthem as Hoetzinger rides in on his Harley. Despite getting top billing, with his name alone in a huge credit, this is his only film role to date. It’s a shame, he could have been a classic meathead actor of the day. Richard Lynch is on hand as “The Commander” - not to be confused with Chuck Connors as “The Colonel”. Lynch is more a sheriff than a commander, but it’s always nice to see him, especially in a good-guy role. Troy Donahue is here as “Police Captain”. You can see Fong put a lot of effort into naming his characters. It’s really just a cameo, he doesn’t have a real presence in Showdown.

There are some great styles on display, notably Fong’s Member’s Only jacket, and the bikers have plenty of stonewashed denim, as well as mustaches and crazy long hair to keep you interested.  A picture of them would have made a perfectly fine cover for the VHS, but for AIP, apparently, that would have been too sane and made too much sense, so they got some models who are not in the movie to appear on the cover. Why these people are better than the ones actually in the movie, we don’t know. So be aware that this picture is unrelated to the proceedings. 

Even though this was released in 1993, there’s still plenty of classic hair metal on the soundtrack from such bands as Riot House and DV8 (we don’t know them either). But another standout song is something called “Feast or Fantom” by Adrena. When is the soundtrack to Showdown going to be released?

If you can’t get enough Leo Fong or AIP silliness, you can't go wrong with Showdown.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett