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!

Gang Boys (1994)

 

Gang Boys (1994)- * * *

AKA: Skins

Directed by: Wings Hauser

Starring: Wings Hauser, Linda Blair, Dave Buzzotta, Mitch Hara, and Cole Hauser 

Joe Joiner (Wings) was an L.A. cop, but after a certain unfortunate incident, he left the force, fled to Mexico, and now lives on a boat. As a full-time alcoholic, he's constantly drowning his sorrows. When his fifteen-year-old son Marjoe (Buzzotta) is assaulted by a gang of skinheads, his mother Maggie (Blair) reaches out to Joe. After seeing with his own eyes the menace that this gang of skinheads is causing in the Hollywood area, Joe begs Maggie and Marjoe to help him kick the booze once and for all. On his road to recovery, not only does he attempt to repair the fractured relationships in his life, he also has a simple yet ingenious plan to deal with the local skinhead population - permanently. But will leader of the GANG BOYS, Bentz (Cole Hauser) prove to be the ultimate demon - out of the many that he has - for Joe Joiner?


Sandwiched in between Romper Stomper (1992) and American History X (1998), Gang Boys proves to be an undiscovered gem in the Wings canon. At least it features way more actual skinheads than Skinheads: The Second Coming of Hate (1989), which had surprisingly few. This must have been a passion project for Wings, as he directed, co-wrote, and co-produced the film, and even sang a song on the soundtrack. His wife Cali, his son Cole, and his daughter Bright also act in the film, so it really was a family affair. It's interesting subject matter for them to cover.

You'd think, after watching the opening credits and the first few minutes of the film, that this is pretty low-rent stuff, especially with all the "S's" in the credits made to look like Nazi SS S's, with those sharp edges. When such credits as "Associate Producer" are meant to look menacing, it seems a little odd. But if you stick with the movie, you'll see that it's filled with genuinely good acting and drama. The whole cast really brings their A game - you'd expect that from Wings, Cole, and Linda Blair, but even side characters such as Bruce the Vendor (Hara) really stand out.

Gang Boys isn't, strictly speaking, an action movie. It's more of a family drama, and when Wings goes into his "recover and revenge" mode, you'll be right there with him, cheering him on. The role reversal with his son, who now is caring for his father, is both touching and funny by turns.


A movie like this, with not a lot of money behind it but with a lot of heart, rises and falls on its actors, and Wings must have known this, because they elevate Gang Boys to a level it wouldn't be otherwise.


While both Wings and Linda Blair sing songs on the soundtrack ("Walkin' On the Right Side of the Devil" and "Since You've Been Gone", respectively), unfortunately, a lot of the music and dialogue is hampered by some bad audio on the VHS transfer. It was released on a small label, so it didn't reach many video stores in America. They were obviously a low-budget operation, and that goes for the quality of their tapes, as well as their quantity. That's a shame, because Gang Boys deserves better.


I know it seems like a long shot at this moment, but hopefully someday there will be a Blu-ray release of Gang Boys. That way, the public will see a cleaned-up version of a movie that should be more well-known and more often talked about. We recommend it.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Coldfire (1990)

 Coldfire (1990)- * * *

Directed by: Wings Hauser

Starring: Wings Hauser, Asher Brauner, Michael Easton, Kamar De Los Reyes, Albert Cutt, and Addison Randall 

A new drug has hit the streets of L.A. It's called Coldfire and it looks like a bit of blue Powerade in a little vial. In order to stop the spreading scourge of Coldfire, two young police officers, fresh from their latest assignment of posing as high school students to root out Coldfire users, throw themselves into the newest and hottest drug war. Jake (Easton) and Nicky (de los Reyes) are the new generation of cops, and they're energetic, young, and hungry to make a difference. 

They end up clashing with old-school cops like Milton Lars (Wings) and the hotheaded Dix (Brauner). However, the old school and the new school eventually have to learn to work together to fight Coldfire dealers Mr. Sheldon (Randall) and Groska (Cutt), an evil Russian who wants to use Coldfire to do nothing less than take over America. To quote the tagline on the box for the film, "New Cops, A New Drug, and A New Way to Die." Will we all become hopelessly addicted to COLDFIRE? Find out below...

Coldfire is the directorial debut of Wings Hauser, although he also directed Living to Die the same year, followed by The Art of Dying (1991). Keeping in mind that Coldfire - the drug - is "a new way to die", Wings seemed to be very attracted to projects that involved the words "Die" or "Dying", but only for about a year or so from 1990-91. Anyway, despite the fact that this was made by PM, it's not really an action film per se, although it has a couple of moments. It's a police drama, but with some comedic elements thrown in for good measure.

The Jake and Nicky plotline uses 21 Jump Street as, well, a jumping-off point. The tension between the young generation and the new generation of police officers provides a lot of the drama in the squad room. The young-old divide between the idealistic cops and the older ones like Lars is the background for the fight against Coldfire. Both Easton and de los Reyes put in really good performances, which is fortunate as they pretty much carry the film. 

Despite the box art, Wings is not one of the main characters, which makes sense as he was probably busy directing. Although his role isn't very big here, this is Asher Brauner at his best. He should have been in the film longer, as his performance here reminded us why we like Asher so much.

PM really let Wings loose this time out, generously granting him the ability to make this 100-minute long extravaganza. While Coldfire loses focus at times, clearly Wings learned his lesson as far as pacing goes, as The Art of Dying is certainly a bit snappier. 

However, there are plenty of characters on display to fill the time, so it's kind of a double-edged sword. Robert Viharo as Getz plays one of the best WYC's we've seen in some time, and Nancy Locke is a lot of fun as Dr. Tate. Darcy DeMoss makes the most of her role as Maria, Nicky's girlfriend. Cult film fans will know her from Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986), among other notable movies (including the aforementioned Living to Die), but we here at Comeuppance have to point out that she was in Stickfighter (1994). Any Stickfighter connections will always be pointed out by us if they're discovered. 

However, as he usually does, the great Addison Randall steals the show as the effeminate baddie Mr. Sheldon. He does this high-pitched voice and a mincing affect which is extremely amusing. It also shows Randall's range, as it could not be more different from his turn as the evil racist in Deadly Breed (1989). It shows he has talent and range. He was almost unrecognizable here, although, to be fair, it would be hard to recognize almost anyone who gets tied to a fence while shirtless with a green garden hose. 

While many scenes go on too long and spin their wheels a bit, it's hard to complain when there are scenes of characters playing the arcade games Xenophobe and Rolling Thunder at a bowling alley. I'd love to believe that Wings chose the game Xenophobe on purpose as a sly and subtle reference to the fact that evil Russians are behind the Coldfire drug, but it was probably just there in the bowling alley that day.

Featuring a quality song - and used quite effectively in the film - "Walk On (Little Boy Lost)" by Lorraine Devon, Coldfire is a film that fans of PM and/or Wings Hauser will enjoy. Despite its length, other people may enjoy it too, just as long as you don't go in expecting a slam-bang shoot-em-up or beat-em-up. Keep in mind when you go into it that it's a video-store cop drama from 1990 with a long-ish running time for the material, and there's plenty to like about Coldfire.



Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

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

Broken Bars (1995)

Broken Bars (1995)- * *

Directed by: Tom Neuwirth

Starring: Benjamin Kobby, Joe Estevez, Donald Gibb, and Wings Hauser








At Trabuco Federal Prison in Los Angeles, bad stuff is goin' down. A corrupt warden named Pitt (Wings) forces the inmates to Punchfight for his own amusement. If they agree to do this, he rewards them with in-cell delivery of prostitutes, strippers, drugs, and, presumably, cigarettes. He's helped along in all of this by his C.O./henchman, Mr. Jake (Gibb). If anyone disobeys Pitt in any way - including refusing to Punchfight - he spikes their heroin with poison and tosses them away.

Wanting to get to the bottom of the goings-on in Trabuco, Jack Dillon (Estevez) of the F.A.C.T. special ops division (don't ask what it stands for, as it was never said...or if it was, we missed it) sends in his best man: Nick Slater (Kobby). The taciturn Slater then proceeds to either fight or make friends with a series of stereotypes...er...I mean, inmates, until the eventual final showdown with Pitt. Won't anyone reform our criminal justice system?

Broken Bars is nothing if not a parade of men with questionable hair punching the snot out of each other. If that's what you're after (and why wouldn't you be?) then this is the movie for you. An alarming amount of the prison population in 'Bars is ponytailed and shirtless. Or some combination thereof. There are more ponytails per capita in this movie than in an episode of My Little Pony.

All that being said, Broken Bars follows the prison-Punchfighter template pretty much to the letter with no surprises in store. Bloodfist III (1992), Death Warrant (1990) and In Hell (2003) are classic examples. Van Damme is usually involved in some way.

Wings, as he usually does, brings a lot of charisma and command to his performance, and he tries mightily to save an otherwise bog-standard outing, as our friends from the UK might say. With his military uniform and close-cropped blonde hair, he really made us see how much he looks like Guile from Street Fighter. Surely not coincidentally, that's yet another Van Damme connection. 

Fan favorite Donald Gibb also stands out as a cast member who is trying. But, as Death Warrant had a clear-cut evil baddie like The Sandman, and Broken Bars has no such character, it starts to flounder a bit without that focus.

The production company Gun For Hire was behind both this and Enter The Blood Ring (1995), and we noticed some similarities between the two films. Both starred Benjamin Kobby and both featured a ringleader character of some sort who sits in a chair and watches people punchfight. 

In this case it's Wings Hauser, in the other film it's Robert Z'Dar. Evidently, the people at GFH thought this was an incredibly winning formula, but as it turned out, Broken Bars and Enter The Blood Ring are two of the rarest Punchfighters of the 90's. 'Bars barely eked out a VHS release here in America on the York Entertainment label. 1995 was a banner year for Gun For Hire, though.

It's all very much like an episode of Renegade - a ponytailed hero rides into our lives on his motorcycle while blues guitar wails on the soundtrack. There's also the Prerequisite Torture of the hero, among other clichés we all know and love. We do credit the filmmakers for adding some gratuitous female nudity, because without that, we'd be looking at an all-male cast for 95 minutes, and they must have figured that wouldn't go over well with what is probably an all-male viewership.

Broken Bars certainly won't win any points for originality (except maybe for the title, which we're still trying to figure out), but as a semi-lost video store artifact, it has some value. The only problem is that it struggles to hold our full interest for the entire running time. Those two factors pendulumed back and forth for us, as it surely will for you too.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Original Gangstas (1996)

Original Gangstas (1996)- * * *

Directed by: Larry Cohen

Starring: Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, Pam Grier, Richard Roundtree, Ron O'Neal, Oscar Brown Jr., Shyheim Franklin, Paul Winfield, Isabel Sanford, Charles Napier, Wings Hauser, and Robert Forster

The town of Gary, Indiana is in dire straits. The old mill shut down, businesses and industries left, the Jackson family vacated, and the good people that remain are under the thumb of the rampant crime that proliferated in the wake of the economy collapsing. And this isn't even a post-apocalyptic thriller. When local grocery store owner Marvin Bookman (Brown Jr.) is assaulted and shot by local punks, his son John (The Hammer), a former football player, flies in from L.A. to try and help. After seeing just how bad the situation has gotten in Gary, he reunites with his old friends Jake Trevor (Jim Brown), Laurie Thompson (Grier), Slick (Roundtree) and Bubba (O’Neal). The thing is, back in the old days they were in sort of a “mark 1” version of a gang, the Rebels. They would get involved in essentially harmless no-goodery. Now gang violence involves drive-by shootings and near-constant brutality. Hence, the ORIGINAL GANGSTAS re-form to save the day. What with the new Rebels, as well as rival gang the Diablos, causing mayhem all around, the OG’s certainly have their hands full…but will they triumph over the young punks? Find out today…

If we’re fans of any two things, it’s these two things: young punks getting their comeuppance from the older generation, and Fred Williamson. Regular readers of this site will note that both have been prevailing themes for us for years. To our delight, a movie finally came along that ties both of them together: Original Gangstas. Sure, it may have its flaws, but it also combines two other genre mainstays we all love and enjoy: the ‘cleaning up the town’ movie and the ‘assembling a team’ movie. Add to all that an outstanding B-movie cast, and you have an entertaining romp.

The cast truly is one of a kind, and the concept pre-dates The Expendables (2010) by a good 14 years. We didn’t even mention Isabel Sanford, Weezy herself, as Marvin Bookman’s wife, and she gives a spirited performance. Also on board is Paul Winfield as Reverend Dorsey, a man caught in all the crossfire. All of what’s going on around him might seem awfully familiar, as Winfield was in Gordon’s War (1973), as Gordon himself. Could this be where Gordon ended up? Fan favorites Charles Napier, Wings Hauser, and Robert Forster - enough to support their own movie right there - are also on board, but in glorified (or not so glorified) cameos.

All of these familiar names are appreciated, and add to the fun and the texture of the overall movie, but, as often happens, when there’s TOO many people, roles have to be necessarily small and characters get lost in the shuffle. Even the great Roundtree and O’Neal are essentially second fiddle. We noted the young Shyheim Franklin (credited as solely “Shyheim” in the opening credits, but with the full name for the end credits) as Dink. He stood out, of all people, amongst the pack.

There are a few things you can always count on with a Fred Williamson flick - his cool, his charisma, he’ll be chomping a cigar, and there will be a live performance in a club or bar. In this case, he got the Chi-Lites, which was a good get. Like a lot of other modern-day Freds like Down N’ Dirty and On The Edge when the older actors are on the screen, classic soul music plays. When the young punks are on (and they actually get called punks by their elders), rap plays. So, to counter the Chi-Lites, in a party scene we can see Bushwick Bill and Scarface, though they don’t perform. That symmetry could only come from the mind of the great director Larry Cohen. Even we don’t know if that last sentence was sarcastic or not, but Fred is credited as co-director of OG’s.

Other things we learned: Jim Brown looks badass in a British Knights jacket, there is an actual place called East Chicago, Indiana (where some of the movie was shot), and if you don’t like Fred Williamson, you probably have mental problems. While OG’s would never come near the movie theater today, it certainly did back then, which must have been nice for everyone involved. I (Brett) even remember seeing commercials for it on TV when I was 15 or 16. It could certainly be said that this movie set the stage for the DTV Freds that came in its wake, as stylistically it is very similar.

Though OG’s predates the show South Park (only by one year, however), there are dramatic and tear-filled readings of the line “they killed Kenny!” - other mentions of people killing Kenny are said throughout the film. We know it’s just a coincidence (or IS it?) but it did kind of help to keep the movie in the goofy zone. There are people out there that are disappointed that OG’s wasn’t some sort of serious treatise on the issue of gang violence. We think the filmmakers should have gone more in the other direction: how awesome would it have been to have seen Weezy mowing down gang members with a machine gun? Or even doing Martial Arts…dare we suggest we missed an opportunity to see Weezy-Fu? Well, we should be happy with what we have.

For true OLD school Blaxploitation - though all involved probably hate that term - in the mid-90’s, pretty much the only place to turn is Original Gangstas. It provides enough entertainment to sustain its running time (the cast alone could propel pretty much anything), and DTV/action die-hards should enjoy it, or at least appreciate it. 

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

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

The Siege Of Firebase Gloria (1989)

The Siege Of Firebase Gloria (1989)- * * *1\2

Directed by: Brian Trenchard-Smith

Starring: Wings Hauser, R. Lee Ermey, Gary Hershberger and Margi Gerard













In the thick of the Vietnam war, Sgt. Hafner (Ermey) is told to defend Firebase Gloria against the Viet Cong at all costs. His top man, Di Nardo (Wings) is there to back him up. But due to the dangerous and precarious situation, and the many obstacles the men face, Di Nardo begins to crack. The jaded Di Nardo’s faith in humanity seems somewhat restored by his growing love for a young Vietnamese child he rescued, who he nicknamed Peewee, but the enemy is on the move, and even idealistic medics like Flanagan (Gerard) will have to challenge their own assumptions about the world. The men and women at the Firebase are simply Americans forced to deal with extraordinary circumstances. Can they do it?

Brian Trenchard-Smith does it again! This amazing director, who gave us sparkling gems such as The Man From Hong Kong (1975) and Stunt Rock (1980), among so many others, here turns in a top-notch Vietnam tale. The 80’s was seemingly in the midst of a Vietnam movie boom - films such as Platoon (1986), Full Metal Jacket (1987), Hamburger Hill (1987) and Casualties of War (1989) appeared in the mid-to-late 80’s, giving filmmakers, particularly writers and directors of a particular age, an outlet to finally look back and process what happened after the passage of a certain amount of time. 

Apparently it was all kind of a collective nostalgia of sorts, as all these movies appeared at the same time, and all of the above-mentioned movies went to the movie theater. So naturally it wasn’t long before the DTV crowd came to reap the benefits, and more modest, lower-budget ventures began to appear, perhaps best indicated by director Cirio Santiago, who spent a decent chunk of his career making jungle slogs typified by the likes of Firehawk (1993) and Eye of the Eagle III (1989). Thankfully, ‘Siege is closer to those theater-ready efforts than the latter DTV ones.

With Trenchard-Smith at the helm, and with Wings front and center, backed beautifully by Ermey, Nicholson, Strzalkowski, and the rest of the cast, it can’t fail to be a thoughtful, well-made, entertaining movie that is patriotic, but not obnoxiously so. It simply shows the soldiers in Vietnam as real, human men, put in an impossible situation, against insane odds, and attempting to survive and return home to their families. 

Add to that some firefights and war violence, and what more can you ask of the movie? It shows clearly the hardships the U.S. faced, and with the presence of Ermey, adds that much more authenticity (It’s funny how people live up to their name - R. Lee Ermey is very close to “Army” - did his parents decide his future once he was born?). Trenchard-Smith and the gang were clearly going for realism, not Hollywood bravado, and this is, in part, why The Siege of Firebase Gloria, while released in the golden year for video stores, 1989, has withstood the test of time so well.

The cast of the movie, especially Wings, were probably happy to be involved with a significant, substantive piece like this, as opposed to a lot of the crud they’re probably normally offered. Thus, Wings shines in his role. In a career of great roles, this one stands out as among his best. 

But he’s almost upstaged by someone we just heard of from this movie - an actor named Gary Hershberger, who plays Moran. Hershberger is great in the role, proving you don’t have to be a Hollywood big shot -  if you’re good, you’re good and you stand out. We always tout working actors like this - there are so many out there that are good quality actors, but are never talked about in the tabloids or sit and talk to Jay Leno. God bless Hershberger, M.C. Gainey, Jerry Wasserman, Marco Rodriguez, Barry Flatman, Wynn Irwin, and their ilk. They, in large part, are what keep movies and TV shows of the good quality we’ve come to expect and take for granted.

Released by Fries home video, whose track record of what they were able to put on video store shelves was hit-or-miss at best, scored a definite hit by acquiring this one for U.S. video release. The Siege of Firebase Gloria is indeed glorious. A winner.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty 

Geteven (1993)

Geteven (1993)- * * *1\2

AKA: Road To Revenge



Directed by: John De Hart and James Paradise

Starring: John De Hart, Wings Hauser, Pamela Jean Bryant, and William Smith

AKA: Road To Revenge



“Do the Shimmy Slide.” – John De Hart






Guh? Buh? Wuh? It’s hard to put into actual words the magic and majesty of “Geteven”. Interestingly,  it’s all one word, in quotes. We would be left speechless, but we’re here to provide a review, so we will, to the best of our ability. Movies like this are rare gems, diamonds in the rough of life that defy reviews. 

But we’ll give it the old college try. “Geteven” has that silly, wacky, absurd, amateurish feel where nothing is coherent. And thank goodness for that! It’s all too rare, especially in today’s world of boring, polished product. Movies like “Geteven” are why nostalgia for the video store era is at an all-time high. It produced moments in time like this that will never be duplicated or equaled.

Of course, the enjoyment is all because of one man, the great John De Hart. Out of seemingly nowhere, he wrote, directed in starred in this movie, a great showcase for his talents. If “Geteven” or, as it’s also known, Road To Revenge, is to be believed, not only can he do all those things, but he is also a master joke teller, reciter of Shakespeare, and, in the showstopper of the film, a singer and dancer. He also spends plenty of screen time making sweet, sweet love to Pamela Bryant, who presumably was on board with this and knew what she was getting into. Is there anything he can’t do?

De Hart is like a more stiff and wooden Chris Mitchum. That’s a compliment. The facial expressions he makes while singing his signature tune, “The Shimmy Slide”, are priceless, and look like he’s forced to Shimmy Slide at gunpoint by assailants that have kidnapped his family and forced him to perform for their own amusement. He doesn’t really project when he speaks, but he sure does when he sings. The icing on the cake is his awesome wardrobe, with a new, stunning shirt in every scene. The guy is so cool, he even gets married in early-90’s casualwear.

While “Geteven” could be reasonably compared to Miami Connection (1987), Deadly Prey (1987), Samurai Cop (1989), Warrior of Justice (1995), and Night of the Kickfighters (1988), in truth, it’s very much like the productions of early PM. The presences of Wings Hauser and William Smith would reinforce this. As would the fact that De Hart dons a black tanktop as his “Revenge Outfit”, just like Lawrence Hilton Jacobs did before him. Even though the production is wonderfully, unashamedly threadbare, Wings seems to give his all, and Smith does what Smith does. In the movie, things just randomly happen, with weird cuts and no explanations. And there’s line dancing. It all just adds to the fun.

Featuring yet another De Hart musical composition, “I’ll Be With You”, “Geteven” is just more proof that the video store era produced inimitable works of bizarre creative art that should be treasured because they won’t ever be repeated. Like a shooting star that blazes across the sky briefly but beautifully, the works of Matt Hannon, Jay Roberts Jr., Andy Bauman and, of course, John De Hart, should be admired, as we are lucky to get a chance to see them.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Dead Man Walking (1988)

Dead Man Walking (1988)-* *

Directed by: Gregory Dark

Starring: Wings Hauser, Brion James, Pamela Ludwig, Sy Richardson, and Jeffrey Combs













In the far distant future of 1997, the world is a post-apocalyptic wasteland (yes, another one). Many survivors have a deadly plague and their quarantined area is known as “The Plague Zone”. When super-evil baddie Decker (James) and his minions, including Snake (Richardson) kidnap the daughter of a wealthy businessman, his chauffeur, Chaz (Combs) goes into the plague zone to try and rescue her. But he brings along a mercenary, Luger (Hauser) to help him. The devil-may-care Luger and the skittish, nerdy Chaz are the original odd couple - but will they use their combined mixture of brains and street-smarts to outwit the baddies, rescue the girl and defeat Decker once and for all?

Anyone who reads this site regularly knows we try to always find movies that are set in “the future” but are now the past. Dead Man Walking certainly qualifies, but sadly this movie is nothing more than a programmer, a Sunday-afternoon time-waster that adds nothing new to the already-tired “Post-Apocalyptic” movie so prevalent in the 80’s. We all know the Italians mastered the genre; it was fairly presumptuous for Gregory Dark to assume he could outdo them. This is a director known for his porn movies, “erotic thrillers”, music videos and wrestling stuff. And Street Asylum (1990). It seems his heart was not in this project. There is only so much actors can do with mediocre material, and talented men like James, Wings, Richardson and Combs are fighting an uphill battle here.

Mix Neon City (1991), Maniac Warriors (1988), and Omega Cop (1990) with the news reports inspired by Robocop (1987) and the “wacky”, “futuristic” set design in the vein of Shredder Orpheus (1990) (especially prevalent in the “Cafe Death” scene) and that should give you some idea of where we are here. Brion James stands out as an especially psychopathic bad guy, whose “evil clown” appearance makes him even scarier. Wings has shorter hair than usual, and plays a game we can only describe as “Chainsaw Chicken” while listening to jazz music. Apparently this is what goes on in the future. But the closest companion of all to this movie might be Nightmare at Noon (1988), which also featured Wings and Brion James, and it shares other similarities as well. But Nightmare at Noon is better.

Sadly, Dead Man Walking seems like it’s missing something. It’s hard to say what it is, perhaps some kind of verve or energy. As stated earlier, it’s an overdone idea, and something would be necessary to make it stand out from the pack. The real problem is that there’s not nearly enough action. This can barely qualify as an action movie. As it stands, this movie is okay, standard fare, but you’d think the cast would elevate the dull material and unfortunately that does not happen.

Clearly Tim Robbins is either a thief or just ignorant as evidenced by his 1995 movie of the same name. Perhaps the only good that the 1988 Dead Man Walking has done in the world is confuse video store patrons looking for the Susan Sarandon vehicle, only to accidentally rent this one instead. We’d love to see the look on their faces.

Also check out a review by Wings Superfan, DTVC! 

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

No Safe Haven (1987)

No Safe Haven (1987)-* *1\2

Directed by: Ronnie Rondell Jr.

Starring: Wings Hauser, Robert Tessier, Tom Campitelli, and Branscombe Richmond











Clete Harris (Hauser) is a CIA agent who is undercover in Honduras, using a remote Peace Corps station for his base. When he finds out his beloved brother Buddy (Campitelli), a star football player, was murdered in a drug deal gone wrong, Clete comes back to America to find the culprit. This evildoer even killed his own mother. It turns out it’s psychotic gangster Manuel (Richmond) and his gang of goons. Clete then makes it his mission to track them all down and get revenge. To help him in this mission, he recruits Popeye (Tessier), a survivalist type. They both end up in Bolivia and the final battle ensues.

No Safe Haven starts humorously enough, with Branscombe Richmond screaming while shooting his guns, and a Roger Corman-style “fast motion” car chase follows. Once Wings appears on screen, we remember why we’re watching this. He brings his classic charisma in spades.  Richmond makes a great baddie, and his over-the-top yelling and drug-running, loan-sharking evilness make you want to see more of his work. He makes a great villain to play opposite the lovable Wings.

Robert Tessier almost steals the movie as the down-and-dirty Popeye. True to his name, he even proudly sports a corncob pipe! Thankfully he also has his no-shirt-and-jean-jacket combo as well to round out his wardrobe. It was nice to see him in a kindlier performance. He can easily play a heavy, as evidenced in Future Zone (1990).

This movie is the only directorial effort to date from Ronnie Rondell, a man well-known in the stunt world. His inexperience shows in some of the pacing - it slows way down before the climax, which is a common pitfall, but the movie becomes an El Presidente flick seemingly out of the blue right at the last minute. While that might seem a bit mundane, the reason, presumably, why it happens in the first place is that Clete and Popeye’s revenge mission is so uncontrollable and grandiose, they want to get revenge on cocaine itself! And seeing as how we may have just built this solid, but small B-film up to heights it doesn’t really reach, we should mention how clunky some of the acting by the non-leads is. Just check out the Harris mother.

One of the more interesting things about No Safe Haven is the box art. It seems to be a specially posed picture in a studio by Wings. It wasn’t taken right from the movie, it is its own photography.  And the theme song of the film, played during the end credits is “dream girls”, by none other than Isaac Hayes! That was a surprise. Too bad he wasn’t in the movie as an actor.

In all, No Safe (as all the cool people call it) is enjoyable because of the main presence of Wings Hauser, and to a lesser extent Robert Tessier and Branscombe Richmond. Without these guys, it would have been a different and more trying experience. Thank goodness for them.

Also check out our Wings buddy DTVC's review!

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

The Killer's Edge (1991)

The Killer's Edge (1991)-* * *

Directed by: Joseph Merhi

Starring: Wings Hauser, Karen Black, Gino Dentie, Joe Palese, and Robert Z'Dar












Detective Jack Saxon (Wings) is a cop who shoots first...and doesn’t bother to ask any questions later. Some people in his department don’t approve of his methods, but he gets results. That’s why Barrett (Black) hand-picks him to break up a counterfeiting ring and bring the culprits to justice. His partner Burt (Palese) is a good guy, but unlike Jack, is afraid to fire his gun. This odd couple of sorts must get to the truth about the gangster Miller Richardson (Z’Dar). As it turns out, Jack and Miller were in Vietnam together and have a deep history. But they ended up on opposite sides of the law. Try to imagine a Luc Deveraux-Andrew Scott (Universal Soldier series)- sort of relationship, but instead of later being turned into SuperSoldiers, they fight it out man-to-man in the streets of L.A. Through it all, Jack must keep his relationship with fiance Dorothy (Elaine Pelino) afloat. Can he do it?

The Killer’s Edge is what would happen if Joseph Merhi directed To Live and Die in L.A. (1985). It’s cops vs. counterfeiters, PM style. And while Merhi would improve to a higher level later in his career with awesome classics like Zero Tolerance (1994), Last Man Standing (1996), and The Sweeper (1996), The Killer’s Edge is like laying the groundwork for those later masterpieces. It’s not quite up to those titles because his talents were still improving. Looking back from today’s standpoint, you can see his evolution.

This could be a sequel to the same year’s  The Art of Dying - Wings plays a cop named Jack who seems to have some mild issues with women. He plays by his own rules, and they even have the same catchphrase: “Owwww!” Since we don’t know for sure, we’ll just pretend both movies are chapters in the ongoing tale of Jack Saxon. It’s great to see Wings interact with Robert Z’Dar. Truly it’s the clash of the titans, and it’s enjoyable to watch their interplay. We get to see Wings struggle on ice skates, but we get Z’Dar with a rocket launcher. So it’s pretty much a wash.

Miller’s sidekick, Tony (Dentie) - who looks exactly like Tony Curtis (probably a coincidence with the name) - has a really interesting history that’s worth looking up. He was a disco artist that released “Direct Disco”, the first (and possibly only) disco album recorded “direct to disc”, meaning the musicians all play live and the final product is released that way. And speaking of incidental characters, the guy that works at the airstrip has a hat that says “helicopters inc.” - does said helicopter explode? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out...

While The Killer’s Edge wasn’t shot all that long ago, there are plenty of cool, nostalgic things in the movie that don’t exist anymore: people smoking in government buildings without a second thought, they have pagers that they must respond to by using the nearest pay phone, there’s a reference to how the U.S. dollar is “strong”, and there’s even a Fotomat in a parking lot. Remember those little huts where people used to get their film developed?  Truly those around in 1991 didn’t know the fool’s paradise we were living in. Especially when we had Jack Saxon to protect us all.

The Killer’s Edge is a solid, quality DTV film that signaled the further quality to come from PM.

Also check our buddy DTVC's review!

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett