Under The Gun (1988)

Under The Gun (1988) - * * *

Directed by: James Sbardellati

Starring: Sam Jones, Vanessa Williams, Nick Cassavetes, Don Stark, Dan Tullis Jr., Michael Halsey, John Russell, and Rockne Tarkington








 Mike Braxton (Jones) is a rough-and-tumble St. Louis cop who is distraught after his partner dies during the course of what they initially believed was a routine investigation. But Braxton soon discovers his problems are about to get much bigger. His brother, Tony Braxton (Cassavetes), who we believe had a hit with “Un-break My Heart”, gives Mike a desperate call from L.A. and tells him he’s in deep trouble. It seems Tony was involved in illegal plutonium trafficking, and now the goons of the nefarious Simon Stone (Russell) are after him. 

Mike comes to L.A. and all hell breaks loose, with Stone unleashing his arsenal of goons on the unkillable cop, such as Frank (Halsey), Leon (Tarkington), and Joey (Stark), among others. Meanwhile Mike has to protect Samantha Richards (Williams) from the flying bullets and rocket launchers. Will they get out from UNDER THE GUN? Find out today…

Not to be confused with Under The Gun (1995), starring, and we quote the DVD box, the “likable action star Richard Norton”, THIS Under The Gun also features a likable action star, in this case Sam Jones. In the pantheon of 80’s action stars, we would rank the coolness of hair as follows: 1. Michael Dudikoff 2. Dolph Lundgren 3. Sam Jones. Having the third coolest hair of the 80’s action stars is no mean feat. (Feel free to leave a comment if you disagree with/want to add more to this list). Mike Braxton is the type of man who doesn’t back down from a fight, and there are plenty of cool action bits to keep fans entertained.

The baddies seem to have a larger-than-usual proclivity towards rocket launchers, which we certainly applauded, and Sam Jones gets some nice “hero shots” which cast him in a very valiant light. By contrast, Vanessa Williams plays the classic “complaining woman” and isn’t that likable. This clichéd role/performance was unfortunate and hurt the movie, but not enough for us to not recommend it. 

The sax/wailing-guitar soundtrack was entirely appropriate to the proceedings, and the fact that the illegal plutonium is being transported in a Robotech lunchbox adds to the interest, especially for 80’s fans like us.

And that’s just the thing, there were so many movies like this on the video store shelves of the 80’s and 90’s, it seems Under The Gun got lost in the shuffle. But the whole thing is well-paced and entertaining, so we can chalk up another winner to Sam Jones, one of the more reliable names of the day. This one only enhances his reputation. Featuring the catchy and energetic songs “Talkin’ Bout Love” by Debra Laws and “Paralyzed” by Brenda Reierson, despite a couple of minor flaws, we can put Under The Gun in the winner’s circle. 

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Class Of 1999 2: The Substitute (1994)

Class Of 1999 2: The Substitute (1994)- * * *

Directed by: Spiro Razatos

Starring: Sasha Mitchell, Nick Cassavetes, Gregory West, and Caitlin Dulany










In the future of 1999, punks rule the hallways and classrooms of our nation’s schools. Sure, they may look like they’re between 35 and 40 years old, but they still enjoy spray-painting the walls and causing general mayhem. But not if John Bolen (Mitchell) has anything to say about it. Bolen is a stone-faced cybernetic organism that believes just about everything in the world “leads to anarchy”. So he stops problems at their source by violently killing anyone he believes to be a no-goodnik. 

When a young, pretty, and somewhat naive teacher, Jenna McKensie (Dulany) wants to testify in a trial because she witnessed a murder perpetrated by evil student in his mid 30’s Sanders (West), school authorities do nothing, local cops advise against it, and her boyfriend Emmett (Cassavetes) is relatively ineffectual. It’s a good thing John Bolen is here to bring corporal punishment back to the school system! For some unknown reason, Jenna actually takes a shine to the possibly misunderstood killer robot. But when Bolen flips out and can no longer “maintain order”, will he mistakenly turn on Jenna? Find out today!

Why a second sequel to Class of 1984 (1982) - let’s not forget about Class of 1999 (1990) - technically speaking, needed to exist, we don’t exactly know - but there’s plenty of fun to be had here. Because it was filmed in the 90’s, it not only has some VR (because in the future students will learn using those big, bulky masks), but the final third of the film actually is a Paintball Gone Wrong, or PGW, slog. But therein lies one of the problems with the movie. 

It moves along at a nice clip for a little over the first half, but then slows way down towards the end. It’s almost like a robot running out of fuel. It needed to have a giant lunch like John Bolen does in the movie. The movie is at its best when Bolen is going around killing punks, but can that sustain a whole 90 minute film?

Sasha Mitchell is great as Bolen. Imagine a robotic Keanu Reeves. Which shouldn’t be too tough. Mitchell as this Keanu-bot shines in his role, especially when he just stands there emotionlessly after walking away from an explosion. Most people would continue to walk. He just stands. That’s just how emotionless he is. 

He really meets his match against the punks (even in the end credits, they’re known as “punks”). They tend to wear jumpsuits, and have strange makeup and bizarre hair. Because it’s the future, you see. Sometimes they even wear their jumpsuit with a leather vest. Now that’s a fashion statement. 

But as we’ve seen before, Bolen has an all-black “revenge outfit” that he puts on when things get serious. Mitchell has some good lines and some very entertaining stone-faces that help the movie along. But once it gets to the PGW section, the movie as a whole seems to lose focus and go off the rails.

The whole venture is classic 90’s, from the VR to the PGW. This particular VHS seemed to be a video store mainstay back in the day. While some people may say this movie is nothing more than a “Substitute” for a better film, we say it brings back video store memories and isn’t bad. And any movie that takes place in the future which is now the past gets extra points in our book.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Also check out a write-up from our buddy, DTVC!

Quiet Cool (1986)

Quiet Cool (1986)-* * *

Directed by: Clay Borris

Starring: James Remar, Adam Coleman Howard, Daphne Ashbrook, Jared Martin, Joe Sagal, Chris Mulkey, and Nick Cassavetes

Joe Dylanne (Remar) is an NYC cop on the edge who always gets his man. One day, he gets a call from his former girlfriend Katy (Ashbrook), asking for his help. It seems some of her relatives have disappeared and she wants Joe to investigate. He agrees, and he travels to a very, very rural town called Babylon somewhere in the Northwest (the movie doesn’t specifically say what state, but it was filmed in California). It turns out that evil marijuana growers and dealers are taking over the town, and Katy’s family ran afoul of them. The only survivor was Josh (Adam Coleman Howard). Now the city cop with the bad attitude and the rural survivalist boy must team up in order to get revenge on the baddies, led by Prior (Martin) and Valence (Cassavetes).

Quiet Cool is a highly entertaining and solid film that deserves more attention. God bless the 80’s, when movies like this were being made by the boatload. The only problem is, the quality was coming so thick and fast back then, it was hard to keep up and a lot of movies that should get more recognition fell through the cracks. That’s yet another reason why video stores are so important. Quiet Cool is one of those movies. It’s 80’s awesomeness through and through, from its sax-drenched soundtrack to its Western-style ending.

Remar is perfect as Dylanne, the guy that doesn’t go anywhere - ANYWHERE - without his motorcycle. He plays the country mouse/city mouse role but with an edge. He’s a law and order kind of guy, but realizes that these villains are ruthless and evil, and this is now the law of the jungle, or at least forest. His conversion to the ways of revenge will have you cheering. Howard as the boy who shows a surprising aptitude for killing people is a worthy foil. Cassavetes as Valence strongly resembles Elvis.

It’s important to remember that back in the 80’s, pot dealing was thought of as a much more serious threat than it is today. Now all the pot stuff you see is played for dumb laughs, so, when viewing Quiet Cool through 21st century eyes, you might say “what’s the big deal”, but that’s incorrect. You have to think back to Nancy Reagan and “Just Say No”. Here, the pot dealers are EVIL and that’s perfectly valid. In many ways, Quiet Cool resembles The Devastator (1985), but it had the power of the burgeoning New Line behind it, so it just has a more professional look.

Naturally, there is a title song, and this one’s very impressive. It’s rockin’, it says the name of the film, and is unbelievably catchy. “Quiet Cool” (the song) by Joe Lamont should have been a huge hit on the charts. Quiet Cool (the movie) has some good violence, and doesn’t waste a minute of your time. With a schedule-friendly running time of less than 80 minutes, there’s no excuse for not checking out this fine film.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett