Forced To Kill (1994)

Forced To Kill (1994)- * *

Directed by: Russell Solberg

Starring: Corey Michael Eubanks, Kari Whitman, Michael Ironside, Rance Howard, Clint Howard, Mickey Jones, and Don Swayze

Johnny (Eubanks) is a dedicated repo man who looks a lot like a young Patrick Dempsey. He’s so into his repo’ing, he’s built a whole life for himself and his fiancé, Heather (Whitman) and they’re on the road to marriage. When Johnny’s boss tells him to drive a Jaguar from L.A. to Utah, Johnny hits the road without a care in the world.


Suddenly, he runs afoul of stereotypical rednecks Rance (Howard) and his sons Dwayne (Swayze) and Neil (Jones). This crazed family takes note of Johnny’s fighting skills, so naturally they put him in chains and force him to fight/train in local Punchfighting competitions. Sheriff Wilson (Ironside) is certainly aware of the situation…but what side is he on? All the locals, including higher-ups in the government come to these illegal Punchfighting matches. But when the sinister good-ol’ boys kidnap Heather, Johnny goes out for revenge, and this time he’s not just forced to fight, he just may be…FORCED TO KILL.


We’re all familiar with the classic Coreys of the 80’s. Those being, of course, Haim, Feldman, and Hart. But like one of the lost tribes of Judah, there was another Corey who is only being uncovered today: Corey Michael Eubanks.

Unusually for a PM film, Forced To Kill is just kind of lackluster. The filmmakers probably just assumed that they had an awesome ace in the hole by getting Bob Eubanks’s son to write, executive produce and star in the film. And while Corey Michael Eubanks (henceforth to be referred to as CME) is indeed a gem, this movie has some structural problems that even he can’t overcome. 

The simple plot is extremely repetitive and there are no real surprises. At about an hour in, we get into boring tournament sequences that just aren’t that interesting to watch. There’s no one, singular, charismatic, evil villain such as a Brakus to provide a foil to CME. On top of that, to have stereotype redneck characters as these baddies are is just played out. Although, to be fair, if you’re going to get some redneck baddies, it was smart to get Don Swayze and Mickey Jones, who specialized in that sort of thing.

In other cast news, we do get two Howards for the price of one – both Rance (playing a guy named…Rance) and Clint Howard are on board. One of the better scenes appears when a bunch of aging punks (not quite in their 40’s as is usually the case but they appear to be getting there fast) begin bullying Drifter (Clint Howard) and CME intervenes and beats up the bullies.

Director Solberg is primarily known as a stuntman but he doesn’t hold it together too well behind the camera. A lot of what we see is stodgy and the pacing is off. We don’t even get as many CME wisecracks as we should. On the bright side, we do get some classic PM car flips and blow-ups, this time done up in a country-fried style rather than of the usual urban variety. While we appreciate the difference, it just wasn’t enough to keep the movie afloat. 

In the end, Forced To Kill (not to be confused with Trained To Kill or Forced To Fight) is Punchfighting by numbers. That was disappointing because some of the talent on screen is capable of much better. On the whole, it’s not weird, wild, and wacky enough for our tastes. While the movie isn’t bad, it’s really just okay - we can only wholeheartedly recommend it for Punchfighting completists. Or Don Swayze completists. We know you’re out there.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett 

Also check out write-ups from our buddies, Bulletproof Action and The Unknown Movies!

Savate (1995)

Savate (1995)- * * *

Directed by: Isaac Florentine

Starring: Olivier Gruner, Ian Ziering, Ashley Laurence, Michael Palance, James Brolin, Donald Gibb, Marc Singer, Rance Howard, and R. Lee Ermey










Joseph Charlegrand (Gruner) is a French Legionnaire and a pioneer of a fighting style developed by the Legion, known as Savate. He and his fellow military men would practice their Savate and get into good-natured tournaments to hone their skills. But then along comes the dastardly Ziegfield Von Trotta (Singer) - who wears a monocle so you just KNOW he’s evil - and he heartlessly kills one of Charlegrand’s comrades. It turns out that Charlegrand must travel to the United States in his quest to find Von Trotta and get revenge for his friend’s death. This is the immediate post-Civil War period in Texas, mind you. Charlegrand becomes friendly with a brother-sister pair of homesteaders, Cain (Ziering) and Mary Parker (Laurence). 

The evil mayor of the town, Benedict (Ermey in an uncredited role) wants the land and threatens to raise taxes to exorbitant levels. The townsfolk resist, and Benedict has some gunslingers such as Mitchum (Palance) to enforce his will. But Benedict also holds an international “Tough Man” competition with a cash prize. Perhaps Charlegrand should enter the competition, as no one in the wild west has seen kicking in fights before. Will he find Von Trotta, get revenge for his friend, beat Mitchum and the boys, help the homesteaders, fall in love, win the competition, and become a hero to the small town? It seems like a tall order, but will the power of Savate win the day? Find out later...

Fan-favorite director Isaac Florentine sure seems like he was having fun directing this one. He playfully reworks some classic Western (and especially Spaghetti Western) tropes, themes, and, for lack of a better word, cliches, and serves them up in his own, inimitable style. In other words, it’s “SWOOSH”-ing sound effects in the old west. It’s all pretty tongue-in-cheek and relatively upbeat - Florentine’s tribute to the movies he obviously loves and grew up with.

Sure, as moviegoers we’ve seen this plot countless times before, from Desert Heat (1999), to The Final Alliance (1990), to, well, just about anything you can name dating back through the history of cinema. But that’s not the point. Florentine has transposed modern-day fighting skills over an old west setting, and we thought that was pretty cool. You get to see Olivier Gruner as a cowboy. That alone is worth a look, and the concept of ‘Western Kickboxing’ is just so nutty, you have to love it. The music by Kevin Kiner is an unashamed and unabashed Spaghetti Western...well...bonanza, complete with Edda Dell’Orso-style vocals.  It really helps things along. But before you get too excited, there are, of course, some drawbacks.

A lot of times in the movies we’ve seen, there’s no one, clearly delineated baddie. Here, there are too many! You’ve got Von Trotta, Benedict, Mitchum, and any number of fighters in the Punchfighting ring (yeah, the Tough Man competition is Punchfighting. Old West Punchfighting.) Ermey is uncredited, Ashley Laurence doesn’t really do anything at all in the second half, Singer’s character isn’t really set up as well as he could have been, and was James Brolin even in this? His screen time is so minuscule, it’s barely a cameo. And, as usual, at times the movie drags a bit. But, as a display for stunts and fights, which we assume is the main point, it certainly succeeds, and we appreciated the offbeat angle of it all.

Somehow, Ian Ziering looks younger here than he does on 90210 (though to be fair, on that show the male leads were 39-year-old high school students), and he even does some light Ziering-Fu. Clearly this is Ian (pronounced eye-an, of course), at his best. Donald Gibb brightens things up and brings to mind the Bloodsport (1988) parallels, and, in a rare treat, Ashley Laurence says “Get off my land” instead of a cantankerous old man. So that was nice.

While PM was the production company, the movie was released on VHS in the U.S. on A-Pix with the undistinguished title The Fighter. For a reasonably enjoyable homage to Spaghetti Westerns featuring some B-movie names and some notable moments and ideas, Savate comes through.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Also check out write-ups from our buddies, DTVC and The Video Vacuum! 

Tiger Heart (1996)

Tiger Heart (1996)- * * *

Directed by: Georges Chamchoum

Starring: Ted Jan Roberts, Timothy Williams, Art Camacho, Christopher Kriesa, Rance Howard, Jennifer Lyons, Matthias Hues, and Robert LaSardo










Eric Chase (Ted Jan) is a teenager who lives to practice Martial Arts at his local dojo. Even when his best buddy Brad (Williams) cajoles him into going to parties with bikini-clad babes, nothing can stop Eric from sparring with his local tots and his Sensei (Camacho - simply billed as “Sensei”). When Eric meets the beautiful Stephanie Simmons (Lyons) at the deli across from his beloved dojo, it seems first love may be in the air. 

Unfortunately, Nat (Kriesa) is your classic evil land developer, and he’s sending out squads of punks and/or goons to scare people out of their homes and businesses so he can build one of those despised malls on their property. Led by Paulo (LaSardo), the goons eventually end up at Mr. Johnson’s (Howard) deli - where Eric’s paramour Stephanie happens to work. Defending her honor, Eric uses his long-practiced Martial Arts skills on the goons - but can this one kid fight off the coming real estate war? Find out today!

Classic Ted Jan all the way. If you’re familiar with his work, such as the entertaining A Dangerous Place (1995), here is more of the same. Which is a good thing, because both movies have a youth-oriented, fun, upbeat feel. The likable Roberts did a lot of work for PM, but this may be the standout. His buddy Brad is the wacky sidekick. To him, the Haim/Feldman vehicle License To Drive (1988) is more than a movie. It’s a template to base your entire life upon. 

Even though Brad begs for his dad’s car keys and promises to eat his vegetables if he can have them, actor Timothy Williams was 29 years old at the time of filming! Let’s not forget this is a man/kid who wears a Hawaiian shirt with a Billy Joel “River of Dreams” T-shirt underneath - tucked in. Clearly this is a man who knows where he’s going in life. Interestingly, Ted Jan co-starred with Feldman in A Dangerous Place. Coincidence?

Once again, Roberts wears hugely oversized clothing, and his age is indeed in question. One minute his sister (McComas) says she has to babysit him, the next minute he’s driving and saying he’s going to college next year. But one thing is for certain: Eric can’t go out and fight evil land-developer punks unless he finishes his summer reading. That’s almost an exact quote from the movie. This indeed might be the first recorded instance of the term “summer reading” on film. What a first. 

But the movie is totally 90’s through and through, from the clothing to the dialogue. Robert LaSardo gets a lot of nice screentime here. Normally he’s relegated to the background, but he’s the main “street baddie”. His fellow punks walk around with boomboxes on their shoulders, so you know they’re evil, not to mention disruptive. The “save our community” plot was also done in fellow PM movie Private Wars, and some scenes feel very familiar.

The title song is a lot of fun too, and it even features the lyrics “power comes from discipline!” - you don’t hear that, lyrically, every day. Thank you John Gonzales and Derol Caraco for that. It’s hard to believe that this fast-paced romp was directed by the same guy who directed the abysmal Musketeers Forever (1998). This is so much better than that. The PM style is out in force, so it’s almost like, abstractly, PM itself directed the movie. Also, it should be noted that there is an uncredited cameo from Matthias Hues to watch out for.

Tiger Heart is an enjoyable “entry-level” action movie best suited for people who don’t take themselves so seriously.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

B.O.R.N. (1988)

B.O.R.N. (1988)-* * *

Directed by: Ross Hagen

Starring: Ross Hagen, William Smith, P.J. Soles, Gregory Scott Cummins, Hoke Howell, Claire Hagen, Clint Howard, Rance Howard, and Russ Tamblyn












Buck Cassidy (Hagen) is a big-hearted cowboy who, with his wife Della (Claire Hagen) have, over the years, adopted seventeen foster children. When three of his adopted daughters are kidnapped and thrown into an unlicensed ambulance, the nightmare begins. It turns out innocent people are being taken from off the street, put into dingy operating rooms, and their organs are removed and sold to the highest bidder on the black market. 

Dr. Farley (Smith) is the sinister surgeon, Jerry (Clint Howard) is the creepy male nurse, Liz (Soles) is the secretary, and the super-evil Hugh (Tamblyn) is the agent that acts as the liaison between the desperate families that need the organs and the unwilling participants. So Buck contacts his old buddy Charlie (Howell), a retired LAPD cop, and the two of them search all over the L.A. area for the missing girls. But will they be too late?

The main reason we sought this movie out is because it contains most of the cast and a lot of the crew from one of our favorite movies, Action USA (1989). B.O.R.N. is almost like a dry run for their later masterwork. Ross Hagen, Claire Hagen, Gregory Scott Cummins, William Smith and Hoke Howell all reconvened the next year after B.O.R.N. to make the great Action USA, and the second unit director for B.O.R.N., John Stewart, became the director for Action USA, and later Cartel (1990). So when we heard that the Action USA team had tried their hand at a horror-themed film about a “Body Organ Replacement Network”, obviously our interest was piqued.

But you can tell they wanted to do an action movie all along, because there are shootouts, fisticuffs and car chases in B.O.R.N., making it less a straight-up horror movie and more a thriller with some action and horror elements.

William Smith is delightfully unintelligible as the main surgeon. Sure, it’s odd to see Smith as a surgeon, but that adds to the weirdness. PJ Soles is almost unrecognizable as the big-haired Liz. Russ Tamblyn stands out as one of the more evil baddies we’ve seen in a while. Clint Howard, playing, surprisingly, a creepy rapist, later reprised his role in Street Corner Justice (1996) (and probably a lot of his other roles as well). Rance Howard is also on board and he resembled Night Court’s Harry Anderson more than his brothers Ron or Clint.

At first it’s hard to tell who’s who in the movie, because everyone is inexplicably wearing cowboy hats in modern-day L.A., but eventually you can discern who the characters are. The editing is almost as choppy as Dr. Farley’s scalpel-work, but then there are some oddly funny moments to distract you from that, such as when Buck and a large group of people are at a large dance called “Adopt A Grandparent Day” and they’re all dancing in a circle singing “Beautiful Dreamer”.

 And sure, there’s a bit of what you might call “surgery gore”, but the main problem is that the movie needed to be tightened up. Most of the running time consists of Hoke and Hagen searching around town for the missing daughters. It’s almost like the B.O.R.N. concept couldn’t fill 90 minutes on its own. There should have been more going on plotwise. But there are enough silly/Un-P.C./worthwhile moments to keep the movie afloat.

In the music department, a band called Pigmy Love Circus plays at the aforementioned “Adopt A Grandparent Day” (good gig!) and Dawn Wildsmith is uncredited as the singer. Wildsmith was also in Cyclone (1987) with Russ Tamblyn and John Stewart, not to mention Armed Response (1986) with Ross Hagen. The end credits song (which also appears in one of the many scenes when Hagen is searching the city in his van) is “sung” by Ned Albright. It seems this was his first attempt at singing. Not just in front of a microphone at a recording session...I mean EVER. Is this the best they could have gotten? NED ALBRIGHT?

In all, B.O.R.N. is an amusing curiosity, and its claim to fame, besides its cast, is that it paved the way for Action USA.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett