Heroes Stand Alone (1989)

 

Heroes Stand Alone (1989)- * *

Directed by: Mark Griffiths 

Starring: Chad Everett, Bradford Dillman and Rick Dean

Everyone seems pretty happy that all the violence that has plagued the Central American country of San Pedro has finally ceased. Whatever war that they were formally involved in has officially ended. Tensions arise when a mysterious plane crashes in San Pedro. Zack Duncan (Everett) leads a team of commandos in a search for the plane's black box. 

Whatever was recorded on the box must be awfully important, because a joint team of evil Russkies and Cubans are also after the box. Then, as you might imagine, shootings and blow-ups ensue. But when Walt Simmons (Dillman) eventually spills the beans on what's really going on, Zack has to search his soul to find out the true meaning of "shootings and blow-ups". Who will be on the receiving end of this Zack Attack? Well, as you may have heard, HEROES STAND ALONE.


Yet another in a seemingly-endless stream of jungle slogs, Heroes Stand Alone fails to distinguish itself from its vast array of competitors. While Rick Dean and Bradford Dillman are the strong points in an otherwise completely mediocre and average affair, even their combined talents can't really turn 'Heroes into something that rises above the fray.


In the great video store year of 1989, we as consumers were really spoiled for choice. So Roger Corman must have figured he could pump out some more of the same-old-same-old and at least it would be an option for video store patrons who were perusing the shelves. Heroes Stand Alone is all but forgotten today, however.


Maybe David Carradine was unavailable, as he was probably elsewhere in the jungle making his own slogs, so they filled his shoes with Chad Everett. Helpfully, the back of the VHS box informs us that Everett is, and we quote, a "popular film and television actor". I guess back in the days before Imdb, you had to say something like that so people wouldn't think they'd be wasting their time watching a movie with an unpopular film and television actor.


In any case, Everett sports a rather unflattering Moe Howard hairstyle and doesn't have a ton of charisma, which is needed if you're starring in an action film. Rick Dean has a lot more going on than Everett does. 

As is the case in way too many movies of this sort, it needed a better villain and more baddies for our heroes to shoot. It also needed more Bradford Dillman. His speech at the end was great and we needed more scenes like that. Also we could have used more scenes such as the one where a real-life Mario gets shot. This guy resembles Mario way more than Bob Hoskins ever did. Yet another wasted opportunity.


While there is an exploding helicopter, and most of the military jargon revolves around SAMs, it's all very standard, unexciting fare. When the Corman factory was deciding who they should get to direct this particular jungle outing, they naturally picked Mark Griffiths, whose previous two films were Hardbodies (1984) and Hardbodies 2 (1986). He brings a bit of that juvenile humor to the film, but he doesn't seem to understand action all that well.


In the end, Heroes Stand Alone is forgettable and the peacenik ending is about as lame as it gets. We'd love to love the film, as some of the ingredients are there, but, sadly, it seems like it's going to be standing alone on the dusty old shelves of the past.



Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

New Crime City (1994)

 

New Crime City (1994)- * *

Directed by: Jonathan Winfrey

Starring: Rick Rossovich, Rick Dean, Sherrie Rose and Stacy Keach

In the year 2020 - the future - crime is so rampant in Los Angeles that a huge section is cordoned off and dubbed "Crime City". Naturally, no one wants to go there, but Anthony Ricks (Rossovich) has to, because he's "The Best". At least that's what Police Chief Wynorski (Keach) calls him. After staging a mock execution for Ricks, presumably so he can be, in the eyes of the public, "dead", Wynorski gives him the task of infiltrating Crime City to stop the evil Ironhead (Dean) from unleashing a virus on the city. If he can get an antidote as well, so much the better. Along the way, he meets Darla (Rose), and the two of them face many trials and tribulations on the road to the ultimate confrontation with Ironhead. With the odds stacked against them, will they ever survive NEW CRIME CITY?


New Crime City (which we initially thought was called New Crime City: Los Angeles 2020, but apparently that's just the tagline on the VHS box) is yet another Roger Corman attempt to make Escape From New York (1981) with no budget. Much like Future Kick (1991), Bloodfist 2050 (2005), Dragon Fire (1993), and others, we have our heroes fighting their way through a "futuristic" wasteland on the way to their ultimate goal. These obstacles include, but are not limited to, going to a creepy monastery, Punchfighting, Punchfighting with electrical doohickeys that shock your opponent, and jousting while on dune buggies of some sort. Just like we do in 2020.

Hero Rick Rossovich looks like if Harland Williams was a Baldwin brother. He gives a monotone, monosyllabic performance that is truly Ron Marchini-esque. It's also pretty funny. He comes off as possibly a jerk (?) but the audience doesn't hate him. But they never really grow to like him either. By comparison, Rick Dean as Ironhead puts in a Jim Carrey-like portrayal, so the audience really does hate him. It was the 90's, after all, and Jim Carrey was hot. The box art makes Rossovich look like some kind of robot. He's not. Like us, he's just a man.


It's clear that the makers of Doomsday (2008) must have seen this movie, because the character of Juice (Ross) must have been an influence on that film. We were very happy that fan favorite Sherrie Rose was one of the leads here. She helps a lot in maintaining audience interest. We never really warm to her character either, but at least it's Sherrie Rose. She puts a lot of good energy in, and that was nice to see.


Stacy Keach's role is small but he helps things too. His character name, Wynorski, is a not-so-subtle nod to Jim, who has ties to Corman. Keach has some sort of indefinable accent that presumably is meant to make him seem sinister. Both Rick Rossovich and director Jonathan Winfrey worked with Keach again on the 90's Mike Hammer TV series. The experience of working on New Crime City together must have really bonded them.


Winfrey would go on to direct both Excessive Force II: Force on Force and Bloodfist VII: Manhunt the next year after this, in 1995. Apparently, New Crime City was shot in Peru. That might explain certain things, including the soundtrack and on-screen appearance of a Spanish-language band labeled in the credits as Frangio Antich & "Los Perros", but are known as simply Los Perros in their native country. Apparently these guys were a pretty big band in Peru, and they supported Ian Gillan on his Peruvian tour in 1992.


New Crime City has some amusing moments, but it's not exactly required viewing. It probably sat on a lot of video store shelves back in the 90's. Only fans of the Corman assembly line that made these sorts of things would be interested in going out of their way to see it.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

One Man Army (1994)

One Man Army (1994)-* * *

Directed by: Cirio H. Santiago

Starring: Jerry Trimble, Melissa Moore, Dennis Hayden, Rick Dean, and Yup The Dog as Hank













Jerry Pelt (Trimble) is a devoted Martial Arts instructor in the big city, who loves teaching tots how to punch and kick. When he receives word that his beloved grandfather has died, he travels to the country to go to his funeral. Once there, he finds the old town of Johnson City is rife with gambling, prostitution and corruption of every kind. There’s even illegal, underground Punchfighting taking place at the local watering hole. Jerry then teams up with lawyer Natalie Pierce (Moore), his old buddy Eddie (Hayden), and his trusty dog Hank (Yup) and he goes on a crusade to clean up the town. In order to do this, he must defeat Sheriff Boze (Dean), so Jerry runs for Sheriff himself. But it’s going to take all that Jerry Pelt has to save the town, his friends, his dog, and himself from the evil forces in Johnson City. Can he do it?

The man with Sean Penn’s face and Reb Brown’s voice returns for One Man Army, a movie with a storyline that will seem familiar if you’ve seen China O’Brien (1990), or even fellow Cirio outing The Devastator (1985) (among many other possible influences). Because this is a Corman-produced Cirio movie, the running time is only about 75 minutes - and in that time a lot of pleasantly dumb and very silly action is crammed in. 

We really like Jerry Trimble, and we felt this movie was better than his Die Hard knockoff Stranglehold (1994). We felt his character, Jerry Pelt (is he like Tony Danza, who contractually can only play characters named Tony because he cannot respond to any other name?) was put in an interesting position: He’s forced to Punchfight, and then wants to shut down the Punchfighting ring once invested with the legal authority to do so.  We don’t think we have ever seen that before.

A dog named Yup plays Jerry’s devoted sidekick (sadly it’s his only credited movie role to date) - and he’s listed proudly among the other actors in the opening credits. At first when you see “And Yup as Hank”, you feel confused, but Yup has a surprisingly big role, and has to do a lot of stuff to help Jerry. His dog acting was impressive, we have to say. Fan favorite Nick Nicholson is on board, pretty much guaranteeing that this movie was shot in the Philippines (not California as we’re led to believe). Melissa Moore is always nice to see - her batting average is pretty high, having appeared in Samurai Cop (1989) and The Killing Zone (1991).

One Man Army is brief, derivative fun from start to finish. It won’t tax your brain or your schedule. Trimble fans need to come out of the woodwork, so here we are talking about one of his mini-classics.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Also check out reviews from our buddies, DTVC , Fist Of B-List and The Video Vacuum! 

Nam Angels (1989)

Nam Angels (1989)-* * *

Directed by: Cirio H. Santiago

Starring: Brad Johnson, Rick Dean, and Vernon G. Wells 











During the Vietnam war, Lt. Calhoun’s (Johnson) men are taken prisoner by a tribal group run by “A mysterious white man” who is also a “round-eye”, named, oddly, Chard (Wells). The top brass considers the trapped men “expendable” but Johnson does the only logical thing: he recruits four Hell’s Angels for a five-day mission and bribes them with millions of dollars of gold dust hidden in the hills of ‘Nam. All they have to do is help Calhoun rescue his men. The ‘Angels reluctantly agree, and there is some trouble and strife along the way, but a badass from West Texas who fights with a lasso and sawed-off shotgun (that would be Calhoun), teaming up with some tough biker dudes is going to be a double-team that will prove tough to beat. Will Calhoun’s gamble work?

At first, this Cirio movie seems to be yet another Vietnam/jungle slog that seems very familiar. But once the bikers come into the equation, things change for the better and you realize that you should be giving the filmmakers points for originality. It was only natural: take two exploitation genres - the (Vietnam) War movie and the Biker movie, and simply find a way to mash them together and make it work. Thankfully, it does, and Roger Corman can put this one in his win column.

Brad Johnson looks like a young Tom Berenger, but this isn’t exactly Platoon (1986). Vernon G. Wells is properly evil, especially with his ponytail. Amidst the classic barfights and “pew-pew!” shooting scenes, at least on the Corman-released DVD we saw, we noticed some odd editing. It looked like the opening credits and perhaps some other scenes were re-edited for this DVD release. We can’t confirm this, and it’s doubtful they cut out anything good, but it would be interesting to see a different print.

If you read our Operation Warzone (1988) review, you’ll remember how we discussed that movie’s highly inappropriate soundtrack, with 80’s synthesizers blaring in ‘Nam. Well, Nam Angels falls into that same trap. But if you’re looking for logic, why are you watching this movie in the first place?  There are a lot of nonsensical things going on here, from the plot itself to the John Milton quote at the end. But bikers poppin’ wheelies in the jungles of ‘Nam is cool enough to make up for it.

Nam Angels is worth checking out.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Bloodfist III: Forced To Fight (1992)

Bloodfist III: Forced To Fight (1992)-* * *

Directed by: Oley Sassone

Starring: Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Richard Roundtree, Rick Dean, and John Cardone








Jimmy Boland (Wilson) is in prison after a barfight gone wrong. Now in prison, he fights a guy named Luther because he raped his friend and Luther dies because of it. Now the Black gangs on the inside want to kill Jimmy. The White racists welcome him into their camp, but Jimmy refuses. Now he’s got two prison gangs out for his blood, and, being the loner that he is, Jimmy Boland is...forced to fight! Jimmy is put in a cell with the intellectual and respected (by most) Stark (Roundtree) and they become buddies. Also, the pedophile Diddler (Cardone) is portrayed as sympathetic and he and Jimmy also forge an uneasy friendship. Seeing as Wingate State Penitentiary is considered to be a state-of-the-art facility, the higher-ups are hushing up a lot of the corruption and misdoings. As alliances on both the inside and outside are constantly shifting, will Jimmy be able to expose the truth and fight his way to freedom?

Bloodfist 3: Forced to Fight was the first in the Bloodfist series not to be connected to the first two. It really should have been called simply Forced to Fight, but the ever-crafty Roger Corman must have thought they should unnecessarily slap the Bloodfist moniker on it just to be safe. Seeing as how this movie actually went to the theater but tanked, it was the final theatrically-released Bloodfist film. The fact that three made it to the theater is still impressive.

Truly this is Don the Dragon’s Death Warrant, and he carries it off in his own inimitable way. The filmmakers seemingly really tried to make him look like Lou Diamond Phillips this time around. Much like how Frank Zagarino was meant to resemble Dolph Lundgren in Armstrong. But it’s really not needed, The Dragon stands on his own. For this movie, they actually got another name, Richard Roundtree. His role is substantial and he acquits himself well in what is really an ensemble film. 

Then again, he was competing directly against French Fry (Callahan) and Weird Willy (Schott) so all bets are off. But he took the role seriously, which is good. Peter “Sugarfoot” Cunningham of Above the Law (1986) fame is here as an inmate named Champ. Though he’s not credited in the film, we strongly believe Ian Jacklin is on board as well, as one of the Aryans, or, as they call themselves, “Scooter Trash”. I know, I don’t get it either.

The movie is entertaining, and, for its kind, surprisingly well-written. There was an attempt to be serious here and deal with real issues. We felt that was done well and an interesting change of pace. The pace was to be changed once again with the fourth Bloodfist film, whose tone is much lighter. 

The tradition of the actor/fighter’s championship titles appearing along with their credit is maintained, Eric Lee helped with the fight coordination, and the Michael Elliott score is worth pointing out as well. Also, for movie night, the prisoners all watch TNT Jackson (1974). That probably wouldn’t occur today. In actuality, a lot of the prison scenarios here aren’t completely realistic. But hey, Wingate is a new kind of prison.

This Don the Dragon prison film under the Bloodfist banner is worth seeing.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Raiders Of The Sun (1992)

Raiders Of The Sun (1992)-* *

Directed by: Cirio H. Santiago

Starring: Richard Norton, Ned Hourani, Nick Nicholson, Brigitta Stenberg and Rick Dean



"They Don't Take Prisoners....THEY TAKE LIVES."









Brodie (Norton) is a warrior in a post-apocalyptic world. He works for the Alpha League, a democratic society trying to keep the madness and the roving bands of scavengers at bay. The leader of the bad guys, Clay (William Steis), is a traitor to the Alpha League cause. Since there is constant shooting between the factions, it is discovered that there is a shortage of gunpowder in this barren world, and whoever finds any will rule the wastelands. So the Alpha League sends Brodie in search of the now-precious material. Along the way, he falls in love with a native, mountain girl named Sierra (Lani Lobangco). The primitive society she comes from, of course, has a mine full of gunpowder. They use it for religious ceremonies. Oh, and most of the people in the mountain village are midgets. The baddies just want to plunder it all but now Brodie and his midget army must defend the mine. Meanwhile, the warrior Talbot (Blake Boyd) wants to get back to his wife Vera (Stenberg), but she's kidnapped by the baddies and jailed. Will they reunite? Will the good guys get the gunpowder? Why is this all happening...again?

I'm not sure if it should be applauded or condemned that they were still making Mad Max (1979) knockoffs in the 90's. This Corman production left it in the capable hands of mainstay Cirio Santiago, and I suppose that's the wisest possible decision under the circumstances. He does a competent job, nothing great. If Richard Norton wasn't involved, this would be a real slog. He doesn't do a ton of martial arts in the film. It's different to see him with a beard. That's obviously a character choice, as you can't really shave after the apocalypse and you must protect your face.

The baddies, like in Karate Cop (1991), wear football equipment. There are some interesting antagonists this time around, such as Nick Nicholson from No Dead Heroes (1986), and characters such as Hog Head, Meat Ball and of course the duel between Talbot and Gonzo Gonzales (Hourani) where they swing back and forth on ropes swiping at each other is, well, not memorable, but...something.

Yes, there is the constant shooting and blow-ups, and the standard post-apocalyptic stuff like wacky costumes and cars with weird things attached to them. And yes, it is pretty dumb. It doesn't add much to any of its post-nuke forbears. It holds your interest, only just barely. But it's not really meant as anything other than cheap entertainment, so you can't judge it that harshly.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty