L.A. Bounty (1989)

L.A. Bounty (1989)-* * *1\2

Directed by: Worth Keeter

Starring: Sybil Danning, Blackie Dammett, and Wings Hauser















Here we have a fun little film which is easy to like, in which Sybil Danning has not only the starring role, but also is credited with story and co-producer.

When mayoral candidate Mike Rhodes (Robert Hanley) is kidnapped by drug runner Cavanaugh (Hauser) and his team of goons, this raises the ire of one of the toughest dudes around...ex-cop and now bounty hunter Ruger (Danning)! It seems the psychopathic Cavanaugh murdered her partner when she was on the beat. Cavanaugh slipped away and she has been on his trail. Now it's time to get revenge. But Cavanaugh wants to get to her first or she'll blow the whole mayoral kidnap plan, especially since Ruger has teamed up with Rhodes' wife Kelly (Lenore Kasdorf).  So now it's an all-out war between Cavanaugh and his goons and Ruger. Is she woman enough to take on all the evildoers? And what is the final twist in the tale?


In this movie, Danning and Wings are great opposites. Wings Hauser hams it up to the max (in a good way) and chews the scenery to pieces as the flamboyant artist Cavanaugh. It's truly "Wings gone wild" as he laughs, screams, skips (!) and spouts philosophy while wearing his clip-on earring. His lair is a supposed import/export business called "Gothic Imports". In the climax we see it has to be one of the largest warehouses ever.


Danning is quiet and curt as the no-nonsense bounty tracker. She says very little and when other characters say things to her, all we see is a silent, closed-mouth reaction shot. It's all in the name of fun. Just check out her many great entrances in the film. She usually appears silhouetted in a doorway surrounded by smoke as a mighty guitar riff blares on the soundtrack. She probably had a blast as the beer-swilling, leather jacket-wearing, trailer-dwelling, shotgun-toting "macho" hero. She basically blows giant holes in all the goons with a massive gun. She is funny and engaging as Ruger.

The movie really delivers the goods to the fans and moves along at a brisk pace. There is a standout scene which is an homage to Westerns, watch out for it.  Directed by familiar name (at least to this site) Worth Keeter, don't hesitate to check out L.A. Bounty if you can.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Scorpio One (1998)

Scorpio One (1998)-* *

Directed by: Worth Keeter

Starring: Jeff Speakman, Robert Carradine, George Murdock, Lance Legault, and Brent Huff




"At the edge of space, patriotism and terrorism are about to cross the line!"







Ugh. Another space slog. Have you ever noticed most movies set on a space station are kind of boring? Well, even though it was written by Steve Latshaw of Counter Measures (1999) fame, and directed by Worth Keeter of Unmasking the Idol (1988) fame, this one succumbs to the same fate as their space-sloggy brethren...they're bloody boring. 

The plot involves a U.N. Space Station (they do nothing on earth but now they do nothing in space!) and a computer disk with the secret to cold fusion. People are dying on the spacecraft "Scorpio One" so CIA agent Stone (The Speakster) goes into space to investigate. He must battle the evil Till (Huff) and save the world. Meanwhile, on earth, the corrupt senator Treadwell (Legault) is up to his old Gary Condit-like tricks, and CIA director Wilfrid (Murdock) is an old salt with a bowtie who is on to him. Will Wilfrid save the day? Will Stone save space...and earth? Who really cares?

You might not know it from watching the movie, but Robert Carradine is here too! He's criminally underused. The filmmakers could have gotten any novice actor to play the role of Carter. But his character is not fleshed out at all. It's really a shame to treat Carradine that way.

Like with Emmanuelle, Leprechaun, Pinhead and Jason, when a franchise starts to run out of steam, they launch them into space. Well, here we have Jeff Speakman in space. While Jeffrey does do some of his trademark moves (here you could call it "space Kenpo"), it's not enough to satisfy the action fan. There is a short scene where he's in Iraq taking on the baddies, but it should have been bigger and a bit longer. Like with Dudikoff and Midnight Ride (1990), viewers want to see their hero beat up the bad guys with aplomb. Here it's a bunch of people wandering around a space station with a lot of talking.


See, there's the problem. In place of the characters relating on a human level, they mainly spout scientific space-mumbo jumbo. It's set in the present day, not the future, but the U.N. has a space station and people have laser guns (that are very Q-Zar-esque)?

The special effects are pretty funny and there are some very obvious models to represent space stations and rocket ships. It's very 50's in that way. The sets look like they have been used on many Fred Olen Ray/Jim Wynorski productions of this type, and that's quite possible with Latshaw involved. For all the movie's flaws, it's still superior to Falling Fire (1997).

The lovable Wilfrid makes the movie much, much better and his presence improves the film immensely. The movie needed more Wilfrid! He should get his own spin-off film.

Perhaps Speakman wanted to get out of the beat-em-up roles he's known for. He should stay there.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett