Commando Squad (1987)

Commando Squad (1987)- * * *

Directed by: Fred Olen Ray

Starring: Kathy Shower, Brian Thompson, Sid Haig, Marie Windsor, Robert Quarry, William Smith, and Ross Hagen

Kat Withers (Shower) is an L.A. narcotics agent who cleans up the trash on the streets and asks questions later. Her boss, Milo (Quarry) informs her that a "renegade federal agent" named Morgan Denny (Smith) and his sidekicks Iggy (Haig) and Cowboy (Hagen) have not only moved their drug operation south of the border to Mexico, but that they've also kidnapped Withers's boyfriend Clint Jensen (Thompson). Never fearing a fight, Withers goes in search of her beloved Clint. Along the way, she faces many obstacles and challenges - but will Kat and Clint stop the baddies and their drug running? Is Kat Withers a one-woman COMMANDO SQUAD?


Fred Olen Ray is certainly no stranger to the action genre, having directed Armed Response (1986) and Operation Cobra (1997), among others. While Commando Squad boasts a strong first half, Ray seems to have lost interest around the halfway mark. Still, 'Squad has plenty to offer the 80's action film fan. For one thing, the cast of B-Movie favorites is incredibly strong. It's almost literally an all-star cast as Shower, Quarry, Smith, Hagen, Haig and Thompson are backed with Mel Welles, Russ Tamblyn, Ray regular Dawn Wildsmith, and Tane McClure and Michelle Bauer in small roles.


Perhaps the most inspired casting choice was Golden Age actress Marie Windsor as the Machine Gun Joe character, Casey. Not only that, she uses her employment at Hollywood Book & Poster as her cover! A poster for the John Savage film Soldier's Revenge (1986) is clearly seen in this scene, as are other notable background posters. Also, instead of a sign that says either Open or Closed, theirs says We Be Here or We Be Gone. Maybe locals to the area can tell us if that's their real sign.


Despite the slowdown of the second half, this is still a great role for Kathy Shower. Finally, we get to see her shooting many people and really getting in on the action. To show that she's undercover and serious, she wears a black-haired wig that gets her resembling Pat Benatar more than you might think. Interestingly, on the American VHS box cover we see Shower's blonde hair. On foreign issues, she had the short black hair. It must be a cultural thing.


From the outset, we're taken in by the sleazy backdrop, the sax and wailing guitar on the soundtrack, Shower's attitude and her shooting of baddies, and of course the fact that this is "One Last Job" for her, a cliche we always love. There's also a coke deal gone wrong, naturally enough. After they're ensconced in Mexico, we do get some action and blow-ups, including an exploding helicopter. We also get some classic Prerequisite Torture of the hero, in this case Brian Thompson. We're happy he was playing a good guy, similar to his role in Hired to Kill (1990). Sid Haig wears a Miami Vice-style white suit (remember this was 1987), and William Smith's voice is its normal, gravelly self.


A movie highlight occurs when we see that Kat Withers has what they call a Vengeance Knife. Apparently, this is a knife with an acid-filled blade. That could be the title for a film on its own.


While, overall, the whole of Commando Squad should have taken place on the streets, as it did in the first half, and things become a bit soft after that, there still is plenty of 80's charm and other noteworthy aspects that make it worth checking out.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty
 

Marked For Murder (1990)

Marked For Murder (1990)- * * 1\2

Directed by: Rick Sloane

Starring: Wings Hauser, Renee Estevez, Blake Bahner, James Mitchum, Ken Abraham, Ross Hagen, and Martin Sheen as Man In Park

When a TV news cameraman inadvertently films the murder of a police informant, everyone is after "The Tape". Because a fed, Winfield (Bahner), a TV news station owner, Emerson (Wings), and police higher-ups, including Rainier (Mitchum) all want the tape for various reasons, and no one can seem to get their hands on it, two employees of the aforementioned news station, Justine (Estevez) and Corey (Abraham), are framed for - and MARKED FOR - murder. So they are now on the run and trying to clear their good names. Things come to a head when Emerson tries to do a drug deal with Tyrell (Hagen), and then all hell breaks loose and the truth is finally revealed. Who will end up with the tape?



While director Rick Sloane's later effort Mind, Body & Soul (1992) - also starring Wings Hauser - is his most watchable effort that we've seen to date, it seems that he was still perfecting his formula with Marked For Murder. His prior films such as Hobgoblins (1988) and Blood Theatre (1984) can be quite painful to sit through at times, but 'Marked marks a marked improvement over those initial horror-esque outings.


However, the film lacks a certain dynamism. The pacing, let's just say, is pretty slack. Sometimes it's nonexistent. Mr. Pacing just kind of leaves the building right before the final showdown. That being said, It is kind of impressive that Sloane and the gang made a film about people looking for a VHS tape for 90 minutes.


The humor, such as it is, doesn't work, and there's a lot of facepalm-inducing dumb dialogue that's really dumb. Not to mention stupid. But it's all somewhat pleasant and rather harmless stuff. Many improvements could have been made in just about every department in order to make things better, but Marked For Murder is far from the worst thing we've ever seen.


It seems likely that Sloane just corralled a bunch of B-Movie names (and one or two A-Movie names) and just sort of hoped that by simply putting them in front of the camera, magic would happen. Yes, Wings Hauser unquestionably has "It" - that magnetic, indefinable screen presence that audiences like. But his appearance in the film is intermittent. He comes and goes like radio static. When he's around, things definitely improve.


Renee Estevez is cute and appealing as the female lead, and it's probably because of her that Martin Sheen makes a dialogue-less cameo as "Man in Park". Clearly a shining moment for his resume. Blake Bahner is involved in one of the silliest car chases/crashes we've seen in some time, but we're dealing with Marked For Murder here. Would we expect anything less? Also, there's a character in the movie called Spider. Bahner is most famous for playing Brad Spyder. Coincidence? Jim Mitchum has a glorified cameo, though he does get more dialogue and screen time than Martin Sheen this time around. Hagen doesn't show up until the end, but what Hagen you get is good Hagen.


During the extra-silly nightclub scene, Marky DeSade provides two songs, "T.V. On Trial" and "Young Girls". There are two musicians who called themselves Marky DeSade, one from the band Ded Engine and one from the punk band The Hypnotics. I'm not sure which one wrote these songs, but in any case they're not the type of songs anyone would dance to in a nightclub. But Marky did go on to work with Rick Sloane on some of his later films. Just one of the many mysteries behind Marked For Murder.


Marked For Murder would make an interesting double bill with Midnight Warrior (1989). Both are DTV films that deal with the TV news business in one form or other. Fans of any of the B-Movie favorites involved may want to check it out, but 'Marked goes from silly to stupid a bit too often for most people's taste, we think.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

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

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

Armed Response (1986)

Armed Response (1986)-* * *

Directed by: Fred Olen Ray

Starring: David Carradine, Lee Van Cleef, Mako, Brent Huff, Lois Hamilton, Ross Hagen, Michael Berryman, and Dick Miller

Jim Roth (Carradine) is a Vietnam veteran, family man, and owner of a bar. His father Burt (Van Cleef) hangs out there, as do other brothers Tommy (Huff) and Clay (Goss). It’s a close family, as Jim’s wife Sara (Hamilton) and young daughter Lauren (Chodan) also stop by on occasion. But the Roth family is about to encounter some trouble in the form of Yakuza boss Akira Tanaka (Mako), who desperately wants a valuable statue and will stop at nothing to get it, mainly because he will use it as a bargaining chip to prevent a Chinatown mob war with the Tongs. 

When Clay stupidly gets involved with Tanaka (and his evil bodyguard F.C. (Berryman), it sets off a chain of events where various members of the Roth family get in trouble - and Jim, who suffers from Vietnam flashbacks and nightmares, must team up with his, and I quote, “pappy”, Burt, to go back into an American-Asian war by gearing up to blow away the Yakuza. Add into this mix the slimy Cory Thorton (Hagen), as well as other various and sundry unsavory characters, and there’s going to have to be an ARMED RESPONSE!

The prolific Fred Olen Ray followed this movie up with Cyclone (1987), and you can identify this period of his long career, as the two films share many traits. They’re both fast-paced actioners loaded with B-movie stars about underworld characters trying to get a certain item, with one torture scene. They also both have that 80’s vibe and plenty of memorable music on the soundtrack.

It’s truly a case of “spot the stars” as almost every character in the movie is a B-film name. It would be impossible to go into detail about each and every one, but Lee Van Cleef is memorable as the dad we all want. He gets all the best lines in the movie. Why he’s supposed to be David Carradine’s - as well as Brent Huff’s - FATHER is kind of weird, but it adds to the fun. Carradine puts more energy into his performance than he did in Future Force (1989), but that’s not saying much. And the daughter, Dah-Ve Chodan, can proudly stand in the pantheon of cute and precocious daughters alongside Lauren Levy, Sarah Dampf and Lisa Boynton. Mako brings his memorable voice and evil walking stick along and is menacing as the baddie. And it’s nice to see Michael Berryman in an action movie.

From the funny opening, to the prerequisite barfight, to the fact that the Vietnam flashbacks provide added action bits, as well as some depth of characterization, to the stuntwork (featuring all the car chases and shootouts you would expect), and the fairly short running time, Armed Response certainly doesn’t overstay its welcome.

The “older” action stars Carradine and Van Cleef show that you don’t have to be a young punk to beat the baddies, and there’s a nice message of family togetherness and even some Reagan-era patriotism, which we always like seeing.

Armed Response is a nice little flick that’s certainly worth checking out.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Action U.S.A. (1989)

Action U.S.A. (1989)-* * * *

Directed by: John Stewart

Starring: Gregory Scott Cummins, William Hubbard Knight, Ross Hagen, Barri Murphy, Cameron Mitchell, William Smith, and Hoke Howell












Action U.S.A. is simply awesome! From the title on down, the movie delivers in every possible way.

Truly the Crank (2006) of its day, the plot blasts off when rockin' dude with an attitude Billy Ray (who drives a hot Corvette with the license plate SLEEK 1) is offed by some gangsters and his girlfriend Carmen (Murphy) goes on the run and goes into the police protection of FBI agents Clay Osborne (Cummins) and Panama (Knight). The bad guys bring in the big guns with Drago (Hagen), a cowboy with a big gun and a bad attitude. They are on the trail of some stolen diamonds Billy Ray supposedly had, and that the gangsters want, including Frankie Navarro (Mitchell) and corrupt agent Conover (Smith). Will Osborne and Carmen develop a relationship while on the run? Will Panama be okay? Hang on to your seat!

One of the genius things about Action U.S.A. is that the filmmakers were smart enough to give it a simple plot so they could include the maximum amount of action, and the film is a speedy 80 minutes. The film is by stuntmen, and for the fans. Because they worked in the stunt industry, they had a firm grasp on what the audience really wants. On top of the non-stop crazy stunts, chases, helicopter stunts and blow-ups, there is actual chemistry and humor amongst the cast! The good guys are likable and the bad guys are evil/funny. This movie truly has it all.

The characters of Clay, Carmen and Panama work off each other perfectly, as do the baddies Drago and his henchmen Lucky and Hitch. Clay and Panama have a pre-Roddy Piper/Billy Blanks thing going, but with less bickering. They also have some great outfits, such as Panama's black suit and pants with white socks. He also has a belt AND suspenders. Those pants aren't going anywhere. But I digress.

Shot in Texas, the film bears a bit of a resemblance to Sno-Line (1986) in some ways. There is a much better than average barfight, but everything in this movie is above average. The game is really stepped up here. If you see this somewhere, you must buy it because it has a lot of re-watchability. If this ever was to be remade by Hollywood, it would be filled with CGI junk and stupid tricks. This has stunt after stunt made by the pros, and it's great to watch. It's the real thing. It's refreshing.

There are some great songs to complement the action, and the music is by Del Casher, the inventor of the wah-wah pedal (although no wah's are heard on the fist-pumping soundtrack).

This movie is a hidden gem and a true fan favorite. It has to be the best thing ever put out on the Imperial label.

The presence of genre favorites Cameron Mitchell, Ross Hagen and William Smith brighten the movie even more. They all look like they are having fun. If this movie has any flaws, it's that it could have used a bit more Cam. That's really the only negative to this engaging, thrilling, fun and upbeat experience!

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty