Tough and Deadly (1995)

Tough and Deadly (1995)-* * *1\2

Directed by: Steve Cohen

Starring: Roddy Piper, Billy Blanks, Richard Norton, Sal Landi, Phil Morris, James Karen, and Lisa Stahl












Elmo Freech (Piper) is a rough-and-tumble Private Investigator and ex-cop who does things his way. He ends up teaming up with a mysterious man who has lost his memory, John Portland (Blanks). But Portland appears to be a trained fighter, and together the two men - who certainly don’t always see eye to eye - get deeper and deeper into a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. They’re going to have to work together and fight to get to the truth. Can they do it?

Tough and Deadly is classic 90’s fun at its best. One of its main strengths is its healthy dose of humor. So many movies out there, DTV actioners included, take themselves so seriously - finally, here’s a movie with the guts to not take itself so seriously, but also has some killer stunts and fights, which are taken seriously. So it strikes a near-perfect balance of tongue-in-cheek, well, cheekiness, with some nice bone-crunching action. It’s a surprisingly rare mix, so our hats go off to the filmmakers on this win.

The movie really gives you what you want: on top of the humor, the stunts, fights, etc., it has a very good pace and nice energy. You can actually SEE what’s going on. Nothing is shrouded in shadow. Considering there’s a barfight AND a poolhall fight, as well as a (completely inexplicable) training sequence followed by a montage, Tough and Deadly truly has it all. 

Let’s not forget the Billy Blanks and Richard Norton fight, which gets the movie off to an engaging beginning. There’s also the classic “I want to listen to country!” “I want to listen to rap!” CD player confrontation between Freech and Portland. Just the names of the characters are insane - Elmo Freech, Winston Briggers (Karen), Trekkler, and Freech’s assistant Maureen Peek (Stahl). Yet, the great Richard Norton plays...Agent Norton. Does he feel cheated that he didn’t get a wacky name? At least he’s on board. That’s all that counts. 

Naturally, it all ends in the time-honored abandoned warehouse. Also Elmo Freech has a poster in his house that simply says “Pasta Sauce”. For his interior decoration skills alone, you should see Tough and Deadly.

It’s easy to see why Piper and Blanks teamed up again after Back In Action (1993). Piper’s charm and Blanks’ woodenness make an excellent combination. It’s sad that they didn’t team up on any more movies after this. But at least we have two. While debate continues to rage as to who -  John Portland or Elmo Freech - is Tough and who is Deadly - there’s certainly no shortage of face-punching action in this prime example of what the 90’s Direct-To-Video era could do.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

Also check out write-ups by our buddies, DTVC and Cool Awesome Movies!

Back In Action (1993)

Back In Action (1993)-* * *1\2

Directed by: Paul Ziller

Starring:  Roddy Piper, Billy Blanks, and Rob Stefaniuk

"One Cop. One Vigilante.

Alone They're Unstoppable. Together They're Invincible."










In 1958, Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier starred in The Defiant Ones (later remade as Fled in 1996). A decade later, Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis Jr. starred in Salt and Pepper (1968), the title of which pretty well spells out its intentions - in our overly-PC society we won't be seeing anything like that anytime soon. Then we saw Robert Culp and Bill Cosby team up for Hickey & Boggs (1972). But then "Black and White Action" reached its highest pinnacle to date in 1993 with the titans Billy Blanks and Roddy Piper in...BACK IN ACTION!

Roddy Piper plays Frank Rossi, a cop on the edge on the mean streets of Toronto. He's trying to stop a crime syndicate run by the evil Kasajian (Nigel Bennett) and his ultra-sadistic henchman Charles "Chakka" Bender (Matt Birman). When the gang shoots Rossi's beloved partner Wallace (Barry Blake) during a graveyard shootout, and then Chakka savagely eviscerates Wallace in front of Rossi's eyes, Rossi vows revenge.

Meanwhile, ex-Special Forces soldier, and now cab driver Billy (Blanks, who must have a Tony Danza-like contract wherein he can only play characters named Billy) gets swept up in the mayhem when he attempts to protect his sister Tara (Kai Soremekun). Her boyfriend is in the Kasajian gang, and she witnessed plenty of murder, and now she's the gang's number one target.

It thus transpires that Rossi and Billy come together, initially with different goals, but now with the same one: eliminate the Kasajian gang. But will their incessant bickering do them in before the gang does?

Back in Action delivers the goods. There is plenty of action and they sure don't skimp on the violence. The young-looking Piper is extremely charming, and has genuinely great comic timing and charisma. and this is easily Blanks' best performance. His karate moves are done with aplomb (and with a lot of growling and grunting). The filmmakers give the viewers a lot of what they want here - a REALLY evil villain that will elicit boos and hisses, constant action and violence, and a bit of nice camaraderie between the lead dudes.

What's weird is that this is the first Blanks/Piper vehicle, yet it is called BACK in action. Shouldn't the follow-up, Tough and Deadly (1995) be called Back in Action? What are they back from exactly? Anyway...

Bizarre antics ensue when two men, who can only be described as "The Karatio Brothers" invade Blanks' apartment. They seem to be twins with beefy physiques who wear striped spandex and seem like a meathead version of Mario and Luigi. Luckily Billy fights them, gratuitously (?) in his underwear. Another great (?) Blanks moment is when he runs in slow motion while screaming and shooting two machine guns. Compare that to self-indulgent dreck like Ticker (2001) where Steven Seagal simply walks down a hall and does nothing action-related. The villain Kasajian in some sort of trance, chanting "smoke is death" over and over again. And watch out for "The Giant"...

Piper's contract must include a 15-minute fight scene, which occurs during the prerequisite bar brawl. He gets to employ some of his wrestling moves such as a sleeper hold and a choke slam. Roddy and Billy should have been the "Wesley and Woody" that swept Hollywood in the mid-90s. Alas, it was not to be. Can you imagine these two in Money Train (1995)?

For a fun, entertaining time, with a lot of high-quality technical elements like good camerawork, Back in Action is prime stuff.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett