Edge Of Honor (1991)

Edge Of Honor (1991)- * * *1\2

Directed by: Michael Spence

Starring: Corey Feldman, Meredith Salenger, Christoper Neame, and Don Swayze











A group of teenaged Boy Scouts exploring the Washington State wilderness come upon an abandoned shack. The boys, led by Butler (Feldman) discover some heavy-duty weaponry in the shack, namely rocket launchers and bazookas stolen from the U.S. government. Now that the scouts know about the weapons, they come under attack by a team of gun totin’ rednecks led by the emotionless Ritchie (Swayze). 

But as the movie itself notes at one point, the boys are the small fish, the rednecks are the middle fish, and the big fish is the Shakespeare-quoting Blade (Neame). Now surrounded by baddies on all sides, the scouts end up teaming up with a local girl who shares their cause, Alex (Salenger), and they all use whatever booby trap-making knowledge they have to outwit and defend themselves against the onslaught of people that want their heads. Will they get their merit badge in REVENGE? Find out today!

When most people think of Corey Feldman, they don’t often think of Edge of Honor. They probably just assume that he’s off somewhere, doing a Michael Jackson-like dance. That’s a shame and an oversight, because this movie is among his best work. 

Viewers that get a chance to see Edge of Honor will likely be pleasantly surprised at how engaging and watchable the movie is. We’re not really sure why someone would be surprised, except for the fact that video stores were filled with wilderness slogs at the time like Endangered (1994), and patrons had no reason to believe, at first, that this was any different. But it has a lot of fun, interesting touches that make it worthwhile. And the glasses-wearing Corey gets to do his best Jack Nicholson/Christian Slater/William Devane-like drawl. So you can’t say he does the same thing in every movie. He wouldn’t be this good again until A Dangerous Place (1995).

That’s not to say all wilderness movies are slogs, there are definite winners such as this one and Hunter’s Blood (1986), and though Edge of Honor seems to be leaning towards the younger end of the R-rated demographic, its well-written, serious-intentioned, and competently-directed overall feel isn’t insulting to audiences of any age. 

Bringing Don Swayze on board as the amoral backwoods murderer is always a good move, and this movie is among Don’s best that we’ve seen, up there with Driving Force (1989), where he plays a similar character. Heck, he plays this character most of the time. It must be something in the bone structure of his face that make casting directors angling for a countrified killer to go, “Oh, get Don Swayze!”

Besides Corey and Don, who are the faces we’re most familiar with, the rest of the cast is very good as well, and we were also familiar with Christopher Neame from his appearances as similar baddies to this one in Diplomatic Immunity (1991) and Irresistible Force (1993) - as well as appearances in Street Knight (1993) and Hellbound (1994). So he pops up more than we realized. But all told, Edge of Honor is like a DTV counterpart to Red Dawn (1984) - and a pleasant romp in the woods at that. The Academy VHS is worth picking up if you can find it.

Comeuppance Review by: Ty and Brett

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

Tiger Joe (1982)

Tiger Joe (1982)- * * *

Directed by: Antonio Margheriti

Starring: David Warbeck, Luciano Pigozzi, Annie Belle, and Rade Abadeza









“Tiger” Joe (Warbeck) is a pilot in Southeast Asia. He’s a devil-may-care daredevil (who’s also a handsome devil with a devilish smile). At the small airport he works out of, Midnight (King) and Lenny (Pigozzi) are his co-workers and friends. Whether because of personal convictions or because of money, Joe uses his plane to deliver weapons to rebels fighting an oppressive regime in Cambodia. When he’s shot down in the jungle and his enemies capture him, it seems Tiger Joe has gone on his last flight. But he teams up with a “ferocious female freedom fighter” (to quote the title of an unrelated movie) named Kia (Belle) and her native companion named Datu (Abadeza). 

The three of them face many trials, tribulations and travails in the jungle as they fight the baddies and try to find freedom. Meanwhile, Joe’s buddies Lenny and Midnight engage on a trek of their own to try and find the missing Tiger Joe. Will they find him? Will Tiger Joe make it out of his cage? Find out today!

Here we have a jungle actioner with all the typical trappings such as multiple shots of waterfalls, machine guns mowing down Asian baddies with those conical hats, and maybe an exploding hut or two.

 But because it was directed by Antonio Margheriti, it has a certain touch that saves it from being bland. In addition, there’s some funny dialogue, such as the very first exchange of the movie when the advice is shouted, “You need to eat more carrots!” There’s even some classic political incorrectness of the day, such as how the Black Guy is named “Midnight” and other racial references in that vein. There’s also plenty of funny NON-dialogue, such as the noises the baddies make when they get shot: their flailing “AAaaahhhh!” will put a smile on your face, even after the 1000th time. Really, it will - it gets funnier every time you hear it.

The solid Italian B-movie cast of King, Pigozzi, Belle and Warbeck help things out. Warbeck especially puts in a witty and charming performance. While shirtless for 90 percent of the movie, you root for him anyway.  Plus he looks like a young Jack Nicholson. Warbeck should have had much more mainstream American success than he did. 

But Italian exploitation fans will always love him and that’s all that matters. On the negative side of Tiger Joe, there’s no one big villain to fight against and that’s always a problem. Who is good and who is bad isn’t always made clear. It’s a bit on the long side as well for such a threadbare plot - it should have been 5 to 10 minutes shorter. And since this movie was made hot on the heels of Margheriti’s The Last Hunter (1980) - which is a superior movie (check out the DVD from Dark Sky) - try not to compare the two too harshly. Margheriti was seriously blowing up the jungle at this time, besides Tiger Joe and The Last Hunter, he also did Tornado (1983) and Codename: Wildgeese (1984), among others in this timeframe. God bless Margheriti. He’s a great man.

On the technical side, the VHS was released by the great Lightning label back in the 80’s. This release is relatively easy to find today. The DVD, released as part of the Mercs box set, is in Widescreen, or something like Widescreen, so it’s probably preferable to see it that way. Thankfully, there are no technical glitches on this part of the Mercs set.  Whichever way you see it, despite its flaws, don’t be afraid to say hello to Tiger Joe.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty