Vengeance Cops (1971)

Vengeance Cops (1971)- * *1\2

Directed by: Ivan Hall

Starring: Dawid Van Der Walt, Helga Van Wyk, Chris Du Toit, Roland Robinson, and Peter Tobin











When a nefarious gang of bank robbers led by arch-criminal Boy Jacobi (van der Walt) steps over the line and begins killing the police officers that are trying to stop them, Col. Aucamp (Tobin) unleashes his best men to stop the criminal gang – Captain Nick Jansen (du Toit) and Constable Johnny Peters (Robinson). A game of who can outsmart the other then ensues, but the police may have an advantage in Rene Visser (van Wyk), Jacobi’s girlfriend. Based on some events that happened to her in the past, she begins working with the so-called Flying Squad, AKA the VENGEANCE COPS. Will the good guys get revenge for their fallen brothers? Will they be able to stop Jacobi’s gang before they embark on a diamond heist so they can flee the country? Which side is Rene Visser really on? All those questions and more will be revealed…

Vengeance Cops is a fairly standard cops-and-robbers drama. The filmmakers probably threw all the resources they had available into the production, which were surely limited for South Africa in 1971. The overall tone fits in well with some of the older movies we’ve talked about previously, such as The Opium Connection (1966), or Slaughter Day (1973). The action is somewhat mild – there’s a bunch of car chases (which a movie alternately called Flying Squad couldn’t really avoid having), one of which is at an abandoned drive-in theater. There’s also a car flip, a couple of tame shootouts and some beat-ups. Maybe the idea was to eventually have this be on TV, which would explain the 78-minute running time.

It’s all very “normal” and nothing particularly wacky (or particularly interesting) happens that would make it stand out. For that reason, despite its brief length, it gets dull at times. For example, both the cops and the robbers refer to something called a pantechnicon, which sounds very futuristic and we thought it may be some sort of unique deadly weapon. Upon closer inspection, a pantechnicon is, according to the dictionary, “a large van for transporting furniture”. What a letdown.

It was different that our heroes are uniformed officers the whole time, rather than the normal plainclothes, and the fact that it is South African gives it a unique feel. The Bank Job (2008) even seems influenced by some of the robbery aspects of the plot. The ace up the movie’s sleeve, however, is the music – both the score by Andre Viljoen, which is extremely enjoyable and highly appropriate for the cop dramas of the 70’s – and the incredibly catchy main titles/closing credits song by a group called Sgt. Stephen Pepler’s Squadron. Information on the group is scarce, but Mr. Pepler, if there is such a person, seems to have made himself an official member of the Flying Squad, if for no other reason than his love of the Beatles. His song was released as a single in South Africa in 1971 and it seems almost like children’s music. You won’t be able to get it out of your head for days…or maybe ever!

It appears Vengeance Cops didn’t have that much penetration into the marketplace. There was no VHS release in the U.S. or in many other territories. Consequently, the movie remains rare, but for whatever reason, as of this writing, it’s now available on Amazon Prime. Director Ivan Hall later went on to make Kill Or Be Killed (1976) and Kill And Kill Again (1981), which became much more well-known, at least in America. Maybe some of the reason that Vengeance Cops remained so under the radar is the fact that – as eagle-eyed readers will have spotted by now – they misspelled the all-important word “vengeance” on the poster. If you read or type that word as much as we do, it stands out as a glaring error.

In the end, nothing particularly stands out that would make Vengeance Cops a must-watch, but it’s certainly not bad and there’s a ton of worse stuff out there. Viewers with a particular interest in the roots of action movies in the 70’s in South Africa are probably the target demographic here. 

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty

Air Rage (2001)

Air Rage (2001)-*1\2

Directed by: Fred Olen Ray

Starring: Ice-T, Cyril O'Reilly, Kim Oja, Alex Cord, Jack McGee, Steve Hytner, Gil Gerard, and Glynn Turman




"Altitude gets Attitude."






During a court martial, Col. John Sykes (O’Reilly), and his cohorts as well, are dishonorably discharged. The Chief Judge Adjutant, General Harlan Prescott (Cord), throws out their initial plea agreement, probably so he could bellow at them and then give them the maximum punishment. Later on, Prescott boards a plane with his assistant that looks exactly like Eugene Levy. Sykes and his disgraced army men board the same plane and take it hostage. Now with complete chaos on board, only one man can come in and save the day: Matt Marshall (Ice-T). But because he gets wounded in a firefight, he isn’t as active in day-saving as he should be. That’s when spunky flight attendant Kelly Young (Oja) gets into the act. One minute she’s serving drinks to obnoxious passengers like Morton (Hytner), the next minute she’s killing baddies and flying the plane. Will everyone on board make a safe landing…or will they be overcome with their AIR RAGE?

First came Executive Decision (1996). Then came Strategic Command (1997). Now comes Air Rage, an overlong, unnecessary addition to the plane-hostage movie canon. Over its 100-minute running time, you won’t see anything you haven’t seen before. Another plane is taken hostage, another strike force is brought in to save the day, another terrorist wants yet another CD-ROM filled with information, and it all seems very, very familiar. The only actual air rage is felt by the viewer as he takes in this repetitive muck. 

After we were watching the movie for a while, we noticed Ice-T was nowhere in sight, so we went on Ice-T watch. Despite appearing very prominently on the box art, Ice doesn’t show up until exactly 40 minutes in. And even after that, he’s not a forceful hero because he’s injured and in pain for a good amount of time. If there’s a main hero here, it’s Kelly the Stewardess. We were happy to see Oja not be put in an ineffectual stewardess role and instead get in on the action. But she’s not on the box art. Could it be sexism? Maybe because he was fresh off of fellow plane flick Stealth Fighter (1999), where he was the baddie, perhaps Ice-T was sick of planes and he doesn’t care as much this time around. And is it just us, or is it racist that Ice-T of all people leads a Black Ops team where the code name is Blackbird?

Pretty much the only bright spot in this air disaster of a movie is the presence of Alex Cord as the General. His presence is great and his voice is fantastic. He should have narrated the movie. That might have fixed things. As seems to be standard for Fred Olen Ray, while the movie itself is substandard, he gets a lot of great character actors to shoulder the weight of the project. This seems to mitigate the cruddiness of the proceedings somewhat. Jack McGee, Glynn Turman, and Gil Gerard are all welcome faces and they do their best. Even Steve Hytner, immediately recognizable as Banya from TV’s Seinfeld, is here and he plays an unlikeable jerk very well. But it’s just not enough to overcome the lack of originality here and the boredom that ensues from it.

Pro tip: If you want to watch something like this, but want to see a movie that’s actually good and very entertaining, watch Passenger 57 instead.

Comeuppance Review by: Brett and Ty