The film starts out with diagrams of the human penis. Then it moves on to war pictures and film clips, explosions, bombs dropping, and random acts of violence. About 30 seconds into this, is a film clip of some teacup ride at some crappy amusement park, then EXPLOSION! Back to the war clips. After a while, it goes to a samurai (IZO) getting speared to death while being crucified. IZO then comes back to life (though years later in the movie) and starts killing everyone.

This is a totally fantastic movie! It's got a really deep plot (if you want that sort of thing), but it's easy to ignore, so if you just want random violence then sit back, ignore the dialog and focus on the 100+ murders that occur in this movie.

IZO has everything, including a part where IZO is sucked into a lake, and somehow appears at a wedding, so what does he do? He STABS the groom, then slaughters the bride! He then jumps through a wall, but travels through some kind of portal into a classroom. He awkwardly walks out, and is confronted by dozens of ****heads in the halls. Needless to say, they are promptly murdered.

Also, IZO kills some monks, vampires, businessmen, vampire businessmen (I'm not making this up) gangsters, goons, and random people in the middle of a highway (he somehow traveled through time, or to a parallel world or some damn thing.) Long story short, IZO rules. It owns your soul.


I have a feeling that most people are going to either really like or really dislike IZO. It is another of Miike's "stranger" offerings as it isn't a cut-and-dry narrative film. It leaves a lot open and allows the audience to create their own impression to exactly what or who Izo is. Some viewers will find this annoying - others may find it refreshing. I personally like a little more narrative in my films - but IZO is a very intriguing and beautifully shot film. I'll spare any of my own interpretation as to what the film is about - and keep it to the most basic of "facts"...

Izo is a vengeful spirit who skips from place-to-place and era-to-era killing pretty much everyone in his path. That's about it. There are several other side-plots and other goings-on...but that's about all you'll need to know going into the film.

Some very cool and stylish swordplay battles - reminiscent of a newer style of more traditional Japanese samurai films. Every battle that Izo encounters in his "travels" is interesting and stylish in its own way - and there's very little "down-time", as the action comes fast and frantic. The storyline and motivation of the film may be a little to vague to appeal to some viewers - but like other strange Miike entries such as GOZU and VISITOR Q - IZO is more of an "experience" than a "story". Worth a look for those that don't mind a more open-ended storyline...8/10


As much as it is about politics (anarchy, rebellion, the lies of nationhood and imperialism, etc.), Izo also contains the key to Miike's personal creative philosophy. Consider that Miike is probably one of the most prolific filmmaker's of all time. It has been said by other critics that he is more in love with the process of making movies, than having made movies. Many filmmakers I have worked with seem to prefer having made the movies--having that list of accomplishments to look back on, to show others, to impress people with. I think Miike strives for continual rebirth through his work, much like Izo strives for transformation through the act of nonstop destruction and homicide. Izo's transformation is one from apparent humanity to inhumanity--a fanged, drooling, screaming, red eyed demon. When Izo runs the treadmill of infinity in this film he is struggling to break free of the cycle of death and rebirth that ensnares humanity. Only Miike would boldly portray a man of incredible violence and ruthlessness as having what it takes to burst through all of that to a final confrontation with a powerful being that may be God itself. I prefer to think of Miike this way, a maniac railing against all things--nationhood, conformity, morality, ethics, religious authorities, military authorities, sexuality, family, the workplace, and , in this movie at long last, against God itself. For those of you who have seen this movie, I urge you to compare Izo with Ichi from Ichi the Killer, and Izo's ultimate rebirth with similar imagery from Gozu. I would suggest that the fate of the protagonist of Audition is also a form of rebirth. Izo is a stunning testament to the power of sheer determination, guts, and the willingness to battle all foes, be they God or less, which drives so singular and inspirational an artist as Takashi Miike.


OK, juts like others said, this movie is really hard to categorize or even to explain. But could this really be bad? When you first watch Izo, you really wander who's who and what is happening. Just relax and stay calm. It's kinda like going on a movie ride with Nietzsche and some LSD. Izo, to my sens, is a nihilist tale of a guy loosing is humanity has he goes against everything that makes humankind civilized. He slashes through religion, political powers and so on until nothing is left but himself. It's a philosophical essay drawn on a samurai flick background. If your looking for something like "Lone wolf and Cub" or "Samurai Reincarnation", you're in for a disappointment. Even though the movie contains some great fighting scenes, they seemed to me more like a symbols, a way for Izo to scream is rage and is rebellion against humanity. Has the movie goes, you even see Izo loosing is facial trait to become more and more inhuman...a monster of some kind. Monster because he is leaving all social convention behind and refusing to submit himself to any kind of structure. No powers are legitimate to him, but is own free, untamed will. Has I said earlier, try to see it like a Nietzsche statement about how fake and hypocrite our whole society his. About how we live in a lie that we take for a fundamental truth and how easily it would all crumble if we only free our will and mind. Chronologicly, the movie is also hard to get at first. My opinion about the period jumping back and forth is simply a statement about how society is always structured the same way. Based on lies and power, human power. And only our eternal submission to those powers confers them the power to rule our body and mind. Izo takes all that away, casting humanity (even his) away for pure free untamed willpower. So if you sit for the Izo ride, make sure you bring an open mind and not your grand mother. This is one movie you won't forget, even if you hate the hell out of it...


!Contains spoilers! For starters, I got to admit that I haven't seen a Takashi Miike film that I didn't like. But this one was really something really different, in the very way I personally experienced it.

The occasional clips of the WW2 and the rest, in between scenes of Miikeish violence, the "good" guys the "evil" Izo is killing from the beginning to the very end.

The scene where he appears in a Japanese school for example, the kids who surely have been taught as worshipers of the dictatorial few leaders, despising democracy. Of course the continuum of the scene really made me sure of what I felt like from the quite beginning of the film, involuntary slaughter but for a reason.

Despite the more obscene scenes, I really appreciated the way how Izo was not represented as an absolute evil person, nor good, it was left for the viewer to decide.

Maybe it's just me, but I really did enjoy the every single second of the film, just wondering how people find this one "boring" or "pointless". Of course it's very personal how one experiences a film, and the metaphoric part may be a product of my twisted mind, but I strongly recommend to watch, see, hear and find out how you experience this one, especially if you're into Miike's films. :) And the soundtrack itself is awesome, the Japanese guitarist/singer with a wailing voice and overemotional way of singing really made its job, yet repeating itself, which just really increased the power of his songs not to mention the way he really beats his guitar's strings.

This is no Ichi the Killer with just splatter and a little twisted plot, there's very much more than that. This one will be next on my DVD shopping list for no doubt.

Total ten points of ten, the best film of 2004 IMHO.


analyzing Miike's flicks is somewhat akin to analyzing David Lynch or Stan Brakhage(sic?). He himself seems to feel that something is right, rather then have it all worked out in his mind logically. This can result in junky, rough work, as Izo is at times, and also touch a pure cinematic form of pure feeling, that what was shown could not be done any other way. Izo is this also. Having said this I found Izo to be one of the most clearly defined of Miike's movies that i've seen (admittedly only six or seven). I felt rather clearly spoken to, both in image and dialog. I wont go into this because of the sheer amount of what is there, and I always believe in people seeing movies blind, not looking for any particular preconceived message. I'll just say this felt like the truest movie I've seen of Miike's, the purest in feeling and heart, and also, by far, the most relevant and poignant.


Seeing Izo at the Rotterdam Filmfestival was a memorable experience. Never have I seen so many people leave the movie beforehand. Every scene in which the main character encountered more people on his path to vengeance was good for at least 5 people to get up and leave. And I can imagine that this movie was not for all to enjoy but that was probably not the intention of the director anyway.

In his path to maybe liberate himself by finding his nemesis you see the evil completely consume Izo.

Great images. Together with the humor and the soundtrack by equally possessed folk singer/screamer Kazuki Tomokawa made it very worthwhile!

Still haven't been able to find the soundtrack though...


First off, Izo is a well shot film that seems a bit heavy on the peyote at times. The movie begins as the title character is crucified and executed. This is actually the end to the movie Hitokiri, which stared the late, great author Yukio Mishima.

A healthy dose of intensity is in every scene as Izo fights his way through space and time to fulfill a grudge he has against aristocratic leadership and its treatment of the world. Even religion falls into the category of aristocracy for him as he blames the lie of the existence of higher beings for some of the worlds shallowness, weakness, and delusional concepts.

There are random flashes of stock footage of World War II, and other times which are viewed as vast injustices. This is easily misinterpreted in such a way that Izo seems to be the embodiment of hate, and rage and therefore these events would invariably have a connection to him. These visions are the reiterated results from the unjust world and leadership he hates so much. All of these human fallacies provide further justification for his ultra violent actions.

Another nearly random occurrence is the music of Kazuki Tomakawa. I don't mean that one of his songs keys in during the action, but rather he bursts onto the movie set singing and strumming his guitar with nearly unparalleled intensity. It looks as though he's going to break his guitar, burst into tears, have a stroke, or all of the above at any second. If you don't like the sound that's one thing, but no one will ever accuse the guy of not putting feeling into his music. His presence is ignored in the movie until the end when he gives Izo an order to "punish them" as he points to the ultimate hierarchy which Izo has been hunting. Without looking too deep into this, the musician is a part of Izo much as the random woman he encounters is. While she is Izo's missing duty and regret, he is Izo's passion. The philosophy stated in the final dialog further confirms this. It has to do with painters and artists being madmen, and doctors their audience. The fever and raw feeling within Izo is demanding retribution.

Perhaps the most interesting ideas forwarded during the entire film occurred within the schoolhouse scene. The first thing that catches the viewer's attention is that Izo doesn't kill the children. This seems strange at first because he kills nearly everyone he comes in contact with. These obviously weren't normal children as they spoke a collective philosophy which mostly had to do with downplaying the limiting ideas and boundaries which human beings have placed on the world. It was an interesting scene which deserves a few repeat viewings.

I only have two complaints about this movie. One is that it is slightly lengthy in several scenes which could have been cut for immediacy and pacing. Even that can be argued against as those scenes have some artistic value. One scene, however, had no artistic value, or any other value for that matter. I refer, of course, to the Bob Sapp scene. Without being too judgmental, that guy is a worthless sack of s#!+ who has the acting skill of a jar of mayonnaise. Not only that, but his scene included an terribly cheesy bit of computer animation. If you haven't seen it, just fast forward that section.

This is a pretty stellar film otherwise, and it's worth several viewings.


The opening of scene of Izo depicts the title character Okada Izo crucified and calmly waiting for his captors to kill him. They soon comply and execute Izo by driving their spears through his body several times. The scene then quickly changes to a chaotic montage in which images of some of the 20th century's most brutal dictators are flashed across the screen, including Stalin, Hitler, Tojo Hideki, and Benito Mussolini. His spirit unable to rest, Izo rises and begins a path of destruction that leaves no one untouched. It matters not if one is old or young, male or female, Izo will kill anyone in his path. The source of his consternation seems to be a group of aristocrats, including Kitano Takeshi and Matsuda Ryuhei who plays the leader, who rule society from the shadows. Fighting the vengeful souls of samurai he killed in the past, a pistol wielding old man with a voice box, a prostitute, a huge black man in the robes of a Buddhist monk, Bob "The Beast" Sapp," makes his way closer to his goal, but as his bad karma accumulates Izo loses his remaining humanity and quickly morphs into a demon.

Yet, who or what is Izo? Supposedly in order for there to be perfection, all the imperfections of the world must be shed of like a second skin and dissipate into nothingness. However, Izo becomes the personification of this nothingness, a being created entirely of bad karma trapped in a Möbius strip in which time and space are both very fragile where he suffers the torment he brought to others.

Some film viewers seem to think that Izo is an overwrought mess with pedantic aspirations that fail miserably. Some think it achieves its goals while many just enjoy the film's high gore factor. I did not know what to think at first. I quickly grew bored at the beginning of the film when it seemed as if it was going to be nothing more than one blood bath after the other, although I did think some of Izo's enemies were quite creative. However, as the film progressed I became a bit more interested in some underlying themes of the film: man made constructions of love, nation, etc. To me one of the most interesting aspects of the film was the "bard," a middle-aged man with a guitar. As those who have read the Tale of Heike know the oral story of how the Heike, Taira fell to the Genji, Minamoto, clan was told by normally blind biwa playing monks in order to appease the souls of the Heike samurai so they would not return as vengeful spirits. While this "bard" might not be serving this same purpose, the songs he sings are quite chilling and the visuals, such as the girls marching while wearing gasmasks, are quite stunning. Is Izo a good film? That is hard to say, but I believe that it offers different conclusions for different viewers. If one is looking for a confusing bloodbath, you'll find it here. If one is looking for deeper philosophical questions in a miasma of blood and guts, you'll find it here as well, or at least it could aid you in finding these questions within your own being.


I liked this movie a lot. I found inside many reflexions from Warrior's Path described by Carlos Castaneda and his Shaman Don Juan. Breaking all connections with our day-to-day world, all relations, going to supposed goal with unbend intent ... almost all is present here as pure essence. Allpresent butchering and manslaughter will probably filter out those weak and yet undecided, but this is here important part of artistic representation. Killing of the "innocent" also clearly demonstrate that somewhere on the Path we have to stop using outside criteria for "good" and "bad" and use only our own, hopefully already developed at that point. The final point is also a first point of new cycle. Masterwork.


When I watch Kung Fu films I usually like to take off my thinking cap and drown myself in action and cheesy plots. Very rarely do I encounter a Kung Fu film where I find myself confused when the ending comes, and this is exactly where I found myself at the end of Ten Tigers of Kwangtung. This film has one of the greatest Shaw Brothers casts of all time. Ti Lung, Fu Sheng and the Venoms are the lead actors and are all in top form. In case you haven't see it is about a group of fighters teaming up to protect a Ching loyalist. The group of fighters will eventually come to be known as the Ten Tigers and safely guide this Ming rebel to the South to meet with his troops. There are a lot of plot twists and betrayls in between all of this. There are a lot of flashbacks in this film. It starts off in the present time with Ming loyalists trying to kill off the disciples of the Ten Tigers and flashes back to why they want to kill them. The flashbacks show in detail how the Tigers were formed and the film does it's best to develop each character. The knock on this film is that there are too many characters, flashbacks and plot twists. These are the reasons why this film is great IMO and maybe even the greatest. There aren't many Kung Fu films that you have to watch a few times to really understand and the fighting is top notch. If you haven't seen it be sure to watch it and if you have seen it watch again, more than once


This is one of those rare times when almost all of the great martial arts actors from the 70s are in the same flick. Great action sequences and a more than passable plot (by Kung Fu standards) make this one of the better kick flicks of all time.


To the guy that said bypass this movie, just stop watching kung fu movies all together. I mean you couldn't even get the plot right, no wonder you didn't like it.

The real story is that a rebel against the army is on the run, to make a long story short he is protected by the ten well-known fighters whom later becomes considered as the Kwangtung Ten Tigers. But after the head officer of the Ching Army is killed, years later his son and sworn brother plot to kill off the students of the famous Ten Tigers.

The martial arts in here are nothing short of excellent as always plus all the Venoms were in this one, all 6 of them. Kuo Chui, Lo Meng, Wei Pai, Lu Feng, Sun Chien, and my favorite of them all Chiang Sheng rest in peace.

Ten Tigers is a definite pick up for any one whom likes classic kung fu films, I own a whole lot of them so I know personally, but give this movie a peek, you can't go wrong. On a special note don't listen to these hard to please reviewers waiting on something to hate, they already have dislike on their mind before they even watch the film.........................For Shame.


Forget the previous comment by the inknowleagible reviewer, this film is a classic on many levels. Ti Lung,Alex Fusheng,Chiang Sheng,Lo Meng, Lu Feng, Sun Chien,Wang Li, Wei Pai,Dick Wei(!),Wang Lungwei,Chin Siuho (!),Tien Shenglung, Ku Feng. This is one hell of a stellar cast, 1979, hong Kong! You even got the five venom's in there for Christs sake!

The story is a basic one, with Wang Li hiding a government wanted man, for trying to bring down the Ching, Wang Li believes that he alone cannont protect and deliver this man to mainland China and so enlists the help of many kung fu masters to execute his plan. there is a sub plot also, that which is of revenge, a nice new thing for kung fu films! The fight scenes are bar none, with kicks aplenty and somersaults in every scene, highly recommended!


This film is supposed to tell the story of real-life 19th century pugilists but, not surprisingly, it doesn't have the slightest concern for historical accuracy. The hairdressing is terrible, to start with. Most actors don't have their hair combed back, let alone shaved pates, and there we have lots of Bruce Lee clones wandering around and even an Elvis Presley in Lung Tien-hsiang. Another disappointment is Beggar So played by Phillip Kwok, which stands far too superficial compared to more down to earth depictions of the character. On the other hand, what gets me really going is the bad guys, Wong Lik portraying a very successful archvillain while Chan Shu-kei appears in the underrated role of a small "death on two legs". As for martial arts credits; although this film has a brilliant choreographers' portfolio, the empty hand scenes are very very average, Sun Chien being even well below it. However, the day is saved by the display of many exotic weapons (concealed, flexible, etc.) including the genuine "femme fatale" Mermaid's Tail, which you won't see much in those films. Nevertheless, I want to emphasise that the cast is magnificent, bringing a distinguished selection of Shaw Brothers martial art actors together and making this film a perfect...8!


I had high hopes for what I believe to be the only movie about the 10 Tigers of Canton. I've heard the 10 Tigers of Canton mentioned in passing in kung fu films about Wong Fei-Hung. Fei-Hung was not one of the 10 Tigers, he was known as "the Tiger after 10". However Wong Fei-Hung's father Wong Kei-Ying was on of these 10 Tigers. Being a fan of Iron Monkey which featured Wong Kei-Ying as a main character I was looking to find similar movies featuring Wong Kei-Ying as a central character. I've also seen movies featuring another of the 10 Tigers, Beggar Su, as a minor character. I was quite intrigued to learn more about the 10 Tigers through this film, and to come to an understanding of the aura of mystique and legend that surrounds them.

As a tool for gaining insight into the back-story, lives, and importance of these 10 Tigers this Shaw Brothers movie fails miserably. Wong Kei-Ying is a very minor character in this film. Rarely seen on-screen, he and fellow Tiger Wong Chin Ho are simply referred to in passing as "The Wong Masters". Beggar Su has a more prominent role in the film, but he does not look, dress, nor act the part of a beggar. Instead we're treated to "Acrobat Su". While novel and fresh to use actor Philip Kowk's talent as an acrobat in Five Deadly Venoms, the portrayal of Beggar Su as an acrobat as opposed to a filthy rag-clad beggar left a sour taste in my mouth.

This film fails to provide background information on each of the 10 Tigers and hence doesn't deliver on explaining who each Tiger is and what made each one such a standout in the world of martial arts.

While the costumes, sets, and martial arts action are all phenomenal and top-notch for a 1979 kung fu movie, The lack of character development really hurts this film as it could have been so much more, missing out on making THE one-and-only classic masterpiece about the 10 Tigers of Canton.

I can only hope that someday soon a contemporary Hong Kong director will come out with a film that does justice to the 10 Tigers of Canton, because this Shaw Brothers movie fails miserably at doing such.


1st watched 8/17/2003 - 4 out of 10(Dir-Cheh Chang) Kung Fu fighting from start to finish in this Hong Kong film. So I guess if you enjoy this, then you may like the movie, but I personally couldn't follow who was fighting for who from one scene to the next. From what I could tell this movie was about a couple of rival tribes battle over bragging rights for something(I'm not sure what). There was a lot of interesting props used in the fighting sequences which made it interesting to watch at times with a few bloody surprises thrown in for free. But all-in-all as a movie, this was not that exciting. It was kind of like watching a Kung Fu match with different costumes and in a way and was more like watching a sporting event instead of a movie. With that said, bypass this one if you can.


Unbelievably bad. It's like, you should pardon the expression, a photo layout in Playgirl which no female ever seems to buy or see wink wink wink. The thin non plot just seems to consist of contrived opportunities to look at Michael Baldoz with his shirt off. What they saved on wardrobe for Mr. Baldoz they more than made up for with the body waxing (baldchest?) The boys are miners in this brilliantly lighted mine with twenty foot ceilings and gravel just waiting to be scooped up. They don't even break a sweat what with constant daubs from the body make-up sponge. Soft core porn for the guys who buy Playgirl. How do these movies get made?


I was initially attracted to "Reflex Action" for two reasons. The intriguing plot of an under the border Mexican tunnel being connected to an Arizoina gold mine, and the presence of veteran character actor Richard Lynch. The movie has a nice grabber of an opening beneath an Iraq munitions building, and the overall photography is quite stunning. Character development of the four main characters is acceptable, and the actual mine locations look great. The film disappoints because there is really no development of the drug dealers characters, and Richard Lynch has only a very minor part. The cartoon like violence is another negative, with villains firing automatic weapons that consistently miss our heroes at close range, while our heroes guns seem to have an endless supply of bullets. - MERK


I used to hang with Kevin Rapp, when he was making this film. Making this film on a shoestring, editing on a home rig, using money from his day job as a CSR to pay for film and actors. No studio machine, no investors.

Is it a classic? No. But it is very good for what it is. The direction shows style and promise and an attention to detail I respected then and respect now. The script is clean and the dialogue well-written (I would go out to lunch with Kevin and we'd discuss dialogue, seeing as I am a writer...I got paid in steaks and fries).

All in all, I would like to see more from my friend. He makes me realize that the film industry isn't completely glossed over and weighed down by the commercialization of the art form.

Side note: Dean Anzalone, the menacing presence in this film, was the collections manager in at the firm Kevin worked at. He has a nice menace to him. I'd pay up, if he ever called me.


Probably one of the finest action movies I've ever seen. Simultaneously the writing and directorial debut of the great Kevin Rapp, this is like a blockbuster action movie with a brain. Casting Micheal Baldoz as a veteran with a haunting past was a stroke of sheer genius. Perfectly offsetting Micheal Baldoz is Micheal Guerin, in what is probably the greatest role of his illustrious career. While the one brother is dark and brooding, the other is marked with a fiery temperament. However, both brothers share the same passion: Justice. Together they combine to save Alexandra, played by the beautiful and talented Monique Scott. A must-see for fans of action and drama alike!


The intense and at times melodramatic Reflex Action is a movie that cannot be ignored. Starting with a harrowing depiction of the death of an African American soldier (and friend to Quinn Taylor) in the first Gulf War and all the way until the last bullet is fired, Reflex Action is the action/drama that won't let you rest. Reflex Action is yet another feather in the hat of writer/producer/ director Kevin Rapp. With Reflex Action, he has truly proven now to his critics that he can do it all, and well. The sparing of brothers Quinn and Lee Taylor has to be put aside as they will have to find a way to work together to save an innocent girl, and their family's name. Bottom line: Kevin Rapp has done it yet again.


Red Chinese spy master Wo Fat is systematically eliminating American agents in the Far East, using a sensory deprivation tank hidden in an old freighter. As is often the case in this sort of show, Only One Man Can Stop Him  the head of the Hawaii state police, Steve McGarrett.

This is really more of a spy drama than a cop show. And unlike the resulting series, Jack Lord's McGarrett handles the bulk of the action here, shooting bad guys, infiltrating Wo Fat's hideout and even engaging in vigorous fisticuffs after more than eight hours of torture.

Lord, as was often the case, comes across a little stiff, but overall this is a solid TV-movie/pilot, with excellent production values and a good supporting cast including Nancy Kwan, Leslie Nielsen and the ubiquitous Andrew Duggan.


I would have to say that the pilot for "Hawaii Five-0" was really, really cool. I just saw it again tonight, though I remember seeing it a couple times when I was a kid--and even back then I was amazed at Steve McGarrett's awesomeness. The problem with it, though, is that again and again, you really need to suspend your sense of disbelief because so much of the story really is super-human and impossible to accept.

Unlike episodes of the TV show where Steve McGarrett was mostly passive and a man overseeing his minions, in this pilot he is THE plot. Many times in the episode he could have delegated but instead was almost like a James Bond-type character merged with the chief of a special state police unit! In one scene, he dresses up like a dock worker and swings a mighty sledgehammer, in another he's on the beach investigating a murder and in another he's fighting the greatest Communist agent on Earth! I actually liked this--even though reality be damned! So let's talk about the plot--and what made Steve super-duper awesome. The show begins with a CIA agent being tortured in a sensory deprivation tank by the evil Wo Fat. Wo Fat is one cool evil villain (with Khigh Dhiegh playing pretty much the same character he played in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, 1962). While this was a great villain, having him face off again and again with a state police chief is a bit odd! Through a long series of events, that's exactly what occurs late in the pilot--it's Steve versus Wo Fat--and Steve proving he is one amazing adversary. Steve not only sets the record for longest time in the tank without cracking, but even after this horrible ordeal he has the energy to kick butt! And, to make it even more amazing, he gets to romance sexy Nancy Kwan--though in one odd scene, he's on the beach with her at night necking...and he's wearing his usual black suit and necktie! So, he gets the hot girl, withstands torture and is able to defeat Chinese Communism all by himself!!

Now while the plot really is quite unlike the show (in which Steve is NOT the next James Bond, but he is still pretty cool in the show), the basic idea and structure is there. The main characters of Chin Ho, Kono, Danny and the Governor are all there--though Danny and the Governor are played by entirely different actors. Of course the biggest difference here is that these guys all are more like accessories in the pilot--it's almost like McGarrett can do EVERYTHING himself. The show was much more of a team effort. In other words, the show is usually more like a typical cop show and the pilot is an espionage thriller. And, as an espionage thriller, it's amazingly watchable and filled with suspense.


I can't believe so many people gave negative comments about this movie. And I have to say, I'm getting tired of people giving negative comments on a movie from a foreign country, about which they know nothing, after seeing a badly dubbed version.. This movie is great. It's amazing, though not surprising, how Citti can keep your attention up without ever leaving the casotto.. I'm actually surprised that people found it boring. I was planning to see the beginning of it, and go out, but I just could not stop until the end. You follow a few parallel stories from a fixed point of view, sort of similar to Scola's "La cena", but kind of lighter, even though I wouldn't call this a comedy. It is a bit surrealistic, but in a very realistic and convincing way. It features a lot of the best actors of the time, including Tognazzi, Melato, Proietti, Stoppa.

So what's wrong with you guys? Reading comments to Italian movies, I sometimes have the sensation that the few Americans interested in Italian movies are just looking for the sleazy details, and completely miss or misunderstand all the rest. There's a lot more to Italian movies than sleaze. If you willingly watch one, and don't get it, before firing up low votes and negative comments, please consider the possibility that, well, yes, maybe something was "lost in translation".. and it might not just be the lines, but also the tone, accents, gestures, dressing codes, cultural, social and historical background... For example, the attitude of the two girls, hanging around with two guys and hoping they will get food for free, might sound unlikely in a "Sex and the city" episode, but looks perfectly natural in the Rome of the seventies.

Most Italian directors put no effort in making their products available to foreigners, and even when they do, you still see a different movie if you're from here. Just don't blame it on the movie!


If French director Jaques Tati were born in Italy, had a much smaller budget and was somewhat of a pervert he probably would have directed films like "In the Beachouse", a wildly offbeat comedy with no plot! The entire movie more-or-less takes place in an ocean-side dressing house, a series of reoccurring site-gags and hilarious character studies. A real-time interaction between a large group of unusual people including 2 prostitutes and their reluctant and somewhat bizarre client, an all-girl swim team, a large black dog and a scene stealing white chihuahua, and a couple trying to get their knocked-up under age grand daughter laid so they can pin the blame on some poor schmuck and marry her off. The grand daughter, incidentally, is played by a nubile Jody Foster (!!!) who probably doesn't mention this film much in her résumé! With a mostly Italian cast including Ugo Tognazzi and featuring Catherine Deneuve in a dream sequence.


I guess this counts as a spoiler of sorts...

All I really have to say about this movie is that the whole dreadful thing takes place inside a small changing room on an Italian beach. While that may seem a novel concept, the effect is really painful to watch. Every time one of the characters would step outside of the beach house I would find myself desperately clinging to the futile hope that the camera would follow them. It's ironic that this "comedy" (featuring a very young Jodie Foster) did a better job of unintentionally instilling claustrophobia in its audience than Panic Room did intentionally. As far as a plot description goes, who cares? Even if the plots weren't as disjointed, underdeveloped and completely ill-conceived as they were (perhaps something was lost in translation??), the fact that they all took place in this one horribly cramped, confined, positively stifling setting, is enough to justify destroying every copy of this movie ever made, so as not to harm any innocent bystanders.


When it exploded onto screens in the mid 1980's, Oscar® nominated director

Dominique Deruddere's film CRAZY LOVE divided critics and audiences as few

films before or since.

Championed by Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, the film was picked

up for US distribution. Stars like Madonna and Sean Penn attended the LA

premiere. But the films shocking subject matter and startling imagery were too rich a combination for audiences at the time. The film vanished from sight,

becoming an instant cult classic - much written about but seldom seen and now reappraised as one of the most underrated films of the 1980's.

Taking his cue from stories by cult American author Charles Bukowski,

Deruddere's film tells the story of a man's life via three nights, spread over 20 years. We see his hero, Harry Voss, first as a romantic young boy of 12, then as an acne ridden teenager, lost in unrequited love, and finally as a drink sodden drop out, for whom no act is too dreadful to contemplate...with terrible and yet deeply moving consequences.

It's a film that, once seen, is never likely to be forgotten. A film with a unique, bitter sweet and poetic mood that manages to be funny and tragic at the same

time. A minor masterpiece.


This movie shows the life of Harry Voss, from being a child with a romantic vision of the world to becoming a frustrated alcoholic. Only the third part is based on the short story "The copulating mermaid of Venice, California" by Charles Bukowski. But its development is so intense that it required two other chapters in order to make it even more meaningful. It mixes nice and entertaining images with black, depressing scenes and the end might not be everybody's taste. As one of the songs of the movie puts it, love hurts but it can also kill. Although the film can be funny at times it is mainly sad and it will not leave any spectator indifferent.


LOVE IS A DOG FROM HELL (a.k.a CRAZY LOVE) (Dominique Deruddere - Belgium 1987).

Three Bukowskian tales set in a Belgian, mostly rural, setting. How about that? Despite good reviews upon its release, winning several awards and getting support by Hollywood heavyweights Sean Penn and Francis For Coppola, the film vanished into obscurity almost immediately after its release. Perhaps it was bad timing, because Barbet Schroeder's star-studded BARFLY was released almost simultaneously. Who knows? By any chance, this film is a beauty, clearly deserving wider attention.

The film has a three-act construction, all set around the live of Harry Voss, focusing on his difficult search for love and affection. The first act is set in 1955 and follows Harry when he's twelve years old. He is struck by his first notions of true love when he sees a dream-like film in cinema, only to be helped out of his dream by a more mature friend who claims the only reason people get married is to get laid. Remember, it's fifties' rural Flanders we're talking here. In the second act, in the early sixties, Harry is a shy 19-year old, his face horribly disfigured by a grotesque form of acne. When driving in the bus, he is stared at by all the children, while the adults look away. There's a high school dance, but Harry can't get a girl. In the third act we get a more literal adaptation of Bukowsky's THE COPULATING MERMAID OF VENICE, CA., when Harry is a down-on-his-luck alcoholic, devoid of any aspirations, spending most of his time in shady bars. When he meets an old acquaintance, they go on a joined drinking binch and rehash old memories while patrolling the foggy streets. In their drunken frenzy ("for old time's sake") they decide to steal a body from an ambulance they see on a deserted street and take it to an abandoned house. This makes - how morbid it may sound - for one of the most beautiful and touching scenes of the film. The ending is a beauty.

In the first act the film starts of a bit slowly with some awkward moments. I found the second and third acts the strongest, but all three segments show remarkable cinematic harmony. Beginning and ending the film with nicely contrasted mirror images of "the Princess" running across some dimly lit corridor and Raymond van het Groenewoud's haunting musical theme, it makes for a very neat composition indeed. Cars also feature prominently in all three segments. Most of the key scenes take place in or around cars. It all a very American feel to it, especially the second act. A homecoming dance, a prom, lampoons, American cars, it's small town USA transferred to Belgium. The lead performance by Josse de Pauw who plays the adult Harry in the second and third acts, is a joy to watch.

All the more recommended, because of Mondo Macabro's excellent DVD-release. A bit of an oddity in their usual catalogue of all kinds of exploitational sewers of world cinema (which I often like, don't get me wrong), their treatment of the film is excellent, with a luminous new transfer and jam-packed with extras. Two documentaries, the "making-off" with some great footage of Bukowski and his thoughts on the film, a filmed interview with director Deruddere, a text essay on Flemish cinema, and Mondo Macabro's usual trailer reel of the wilder side of world cinema to top it all off. With an almost surrealist setting and touching subjects like necrophilia, it's not a film most audiences will embrace easily, but any fan of Bukowski, Belgian cinema or good cinema in general should really give this one a try. It might be a far cry from Bukowsky's usual settings but liberal interpretations usually make for far more interesting films. This is worth seeing. Damn, the man even approved of it himself!

Camera Obscura --- 9/10


Next to Erik Van Looy, Dominique Deruddere may well be our, at least internationally, best known director. With his "Iedereen beroemd" or "Everybody Famous" as it is called in English, he was even nominated for an Oscar in the category 'Best Foreign Language Film'. Personally I haven't seen that movie yet, but I liked "Hombres complicados", the movie that he made before "Everybody Famous", a lot. Since then I've decided that I'll try to see all his other movies as well and this "Crazy Love" is the first step into the right direction.

The story of this movie has been divided into three time periods. The first period is situated in the 1950's, when Harry Vos is still a young kid. He's already very interested in everything that has got something to do with love and sexual relationships, but doesn't really know anything about it. An older friend learns him everything there is to know about how to approach a girl and what to do when his method doesn't work. But in all his naivety, Harry finds it very hard to understand that the romantic world which he knows from the movies, doesn't exist in real life. To him the real world is an awful place. In the second part of the movie, we are in the 1960's. Harry has grown up into an intelligent adolescent, but he has one mayor problem. He suffers from an incredibly extreme form of acne, which makes that all people stare at him, that the boys laugh at him, that the girls don't want him and that he is afraid to appear in public. That's also the reason why he still hasn't experienced physical love. Even though he still has one close friend who supports him as much as he can, Harry slowly becomes a bitter, introvert and pessimistic person. In the third part, situated in the 1970's we see him again. This time he is a drunk who is unable to express his feelings towards anybody. When he meets an old friend and they leave a bar, they do something incredible. As as joke, they steal a corpse out of a motor hearse that is parked in front of a hospital and take it home with them. When they open the body bag, they see that this dead body isn't an old man or woman, but a young and very beautiful girl. Harry is so overcome by her beauty that he does the worst thing he could do with the body...

In my opinion this movie was a bit of a slow starter and the first part (the 1950's) didn't always do it for me. Somehow I had the feeling that the story in that part could be developed better. But that 'problem' was easily overcome by the second and the third part. When you see in the second part how he suffers from his acne, you can only feel very sorry for him. And then he comes up with that excellent idea which allows him to dance with the girl of his dreams. That part was absolutely brilliant, funny and sad at the same time and I don't think that it will leave anybody untouched. The same about the third part, although this story is something completely different from the second. When I saw them steal that corpse, I had to laugh with it, but was disgusted by their behavior at the same time. And when you know that he has committed necrophilia, those feelings of disgust only increase. But than the director counters those feelings perfectly by letting him step into the sea, to disappear forever with the dead girl in his arms. Somehow that is a slap in your face and so touching at the same time. Really very strange.

If you are interested in 'foreign' cinema (I mean non-Hollywood movies, because for us Belgians this isn't foreign of course), than you should definitely give this one a try. This isn't the kind of movie that will offer you some big explosions or car chases, but the emotional roller-coaster that it puts you on, the intriguing story and the good acting, will definitely do the trick. Belgium may not be known for its many quality movies, but this one certainly can stand a comparison with other European movies. I give it a 7.5/10.


One of the few movies that has the power to bring a tear to my eye. We see the life of Harry, as a young boy, as an acne-scarred teen, and as a lost soul thirtysomething. As a child, he has a naive enthusiasm for romance. But his socially awkward self and repulsive appearance lead to a lifetime of rejections. Until the end when he finally finds somebody who accepts him. Repulsive and unacceptable as his last acts may be, they are not a violation so much as they are his desperately grasping for somebody, anybody, to love.

For me the movie is simultaneously depressing and uplifting. I will never forget the "invisible man" strategy he employs to get a girl to give him one dance. Or the painful scene of him as a young boy on the carnival ride with a girl, paralyzed with fear and unable to make any advances.

Anyway, SEE this movie. It was released on DVD last year, and should not be too hard to find. Order yourself a copy if you don't see it at your local stores.


Rather effective three part tribute to Charles Bukowsi ( even if the first part is based on the semi autobiographical tale by his author of choice, Joe Fante). The middle section is more predictable than the others and all fairly shocking. The movie mixes music and tempos as well as mood to give just the right bitter sweet flavour with more than a hint of romanticism and drunkenness to give this the authentic air. The attempted initiation of the young boy, the acute acne humiliations and the necrophilia are all hard to take but the film is dressed well enough and a smile lingers despite it all. It also has to be said that the director has managed to convey a real sense of Bukowski's writings/life and that is no small feat in itself.


Crazy Love is a little known eighties cult film that traces a boy's life through three key events. The film is Belgian produced; based around three stories by cult writer Charles Bukowski and brought to life by Belgian director Dominique Deruddere. Crazy Love does not have a particularly good reputation these days, although it apparently caused quite a stir upon its release and that isn't all that surprising considering the subject matter; although to be honest, nothing in this film particularly shocked or offended me. The central character is Harry Voss, who we first meet as a young kid who is learning about sex from his friend, with the aide of a few loose women. We then pick up a few years later and Henry is a schoolboy, befallen by an extreme case of acne that leads to him being rejected by the opposite sex and ridiculed by his peers. The third and final chapter sees the once bright young boy as a drunken waster who cuts a stark contrast to the boy we saw in both the first and second chapters of the film.

The three parts of the film are all incredibly different and the director succeeds in creating an atmosphere to carry this off. Crazy Love is a 'coming of age' film; a favourite subject among Hollywood 'cookie cutter' filmmakers, but this one is about as far from the mainstream as you can get. The first segment is the lightest of the three, but still packs a punch as we watch the subject discovering sex and eventually getting acquainted with his hand. The second segment focuses more on the idea of teenage alienation and sees the film take a darker turn as the sensitive young man is rejected by all the girls because of his deforming acne. This provides a nice opener to the third section, which is completely dark and dismal and probably what earned the film its reputation - the ending is not something that many will forget in a hurry! Overall, it's not really surprising that this film hasn't gone down as an all time 'classic, but it certainly has its place among cult fans and that isn't surprising either. Be sure to catch this film if you want something a bit different!


I'm not familiar with the works of Charles Bukowski, on which this film is based, but still, it's rather interesting, if strange. Harry Voss is a young fresh-faced boy, who is learning from an older friend about women. The first segment of this film is a bit like a "coming of age" story that's probably a bit racier than most of its type, but then it morphs into Harry as a teenager, with hideous acne and wanting to stay away from others because of his horrible complexion. He does manage to get a dance with the girl of his dreams though, by wrapping his face in toilet paper. By the third segment things have gone downhill considerably, as Harry is a drunk who has a reunion with an old friend (who has also fallen on hard times) and for "old time-sake" they steal a body from an ambulance and find that it's a beautiful young woman, and things degenerate from there. The ending is both beautiful and horrifying. A very strange film from Belgium, in Flemish with subtitles. Apparently Bukowski's work is based in the L.A. area and this has been translated to European locations but works quite well. Not exactly the type of fare I expect from Mondo Macabro but still not a bad film. 7 out of 10.


I'm Belgianand generally not too proud of the movies that are made here. Either they're vulgar comedies revolving on simply one lame gag or either they're uninspired, wannabe-Hollywood garbage flicks. There are some exceptions, luckily, like Poelvoorde's "C'est Arrivé pres de chez Vous" (our country's only real cult film) and Deruddere's "Crazy Love", of which I feel that it can easily compete with the greatest and most sophisticated international social-dramas ever made. For his long-feature debut, Deruddere based himself on the glamorous work of Charles Bukowski and thus "Crazy Love" tells the chronicles of a man during three essential stadiums of his life. As a child, Harry Voss (Geert Hunaerts) is naive but very curious about love and sexual relationships. A more aged friend teaches him everything there is to know about how to approach a girl and  in case those methods fail  how to temper feelings of lust through masturbation. In the second and most compelling 'chapter' of the movie, Harry (now played by the utterly talented Josse De Pauw) grew out a fairly intelligent adolescent, yet he still hasn't experienced physical love due to a severe (better make that EXTREMELY severe) case of acne. He's too embarrassed to leave his house since boys mock him and girls show no interest in him at all. Even though he still has one close and supportive friend, Harry slowly becomes a bitter, introvert and pessimistic person. At age 33, Harry Voss is an antipathetic drunk, unable to express emotions and developing perverted urges like harassment or  even worse  necrophilia. The astonishing climax is one that'll leave everybody speechless

Although surely sounding like one hell of a devastating and depressing film, "Crazy Love" actually isn't too 'heavy' to look at. Deruddere admirably succeeds in telling the demanding premise very wittily and almost comically. The pace is rather slow, but never boring and the character drawing of Harry Voss is truly fascinating. The inspirational work of Charles Bukowski's is processed with great respect. The matter would easily lean itself to make it a sleazy and exploitative film, yet Deruddere's style remains sophisticated and truthful at all times. Since the story spreads itself over three decades, the film required different atmospheres and scenery. Especially the 'hip' sixties is masterfully illustrated, with great contemporary music and a well-crafted high school prom. In short: "Crazy Love" is a near-perfect motion picture and every person slightly interested in cinema is destined to love it. My only regret was that it's so short! 90 minutes never passed by so fast.


People familiar with Charles Bukowski know that much of his work deals with the area he lives in, LA. Therefor it is surprising that the makers of this film managed go effectively translate his stories to an European setting and still maintaining a lot of his philosophy on life. The film consists on three stories about various days in the life of Harry Voss, who is in actuality Henry Chinaski (Bukowski's alter ego). The first two segments take elements from various Bukowski novels, poems, and stories and makes them blend together. The third segment is based on the short story "The Copulating Mermaid of Venice, CA". The film travels Voss from being an innocent and optimistic boy to an acne-scarred outcast teenage to finally a pathetic and perverted drunk.

While not a flawless film by any means, its probably the best adaptation of Bukowski, beating out both "Barfly" and the recent "Factotum". The screenplay makes Voss a sympathetic and human character, even when he engages in necrophilia at the end. Apparently Bukowski himself felt that they had improved upon his source material with the new ending to the final segment. Overall, this is probably the best film I've seen from Belgium (out of the roughly five I've seen). Recommended for fans of Bukowski or international cinema. (8/10)


I saw this movie when it came out in 1987, but it was released under the original title, "Love is a Dog From Hell." For years, I've searched for it under that name to no avail, until today. I saw it in a mid-sized theater in Washington, DC...and I was the ONLY...and I mean only...person in the audience! The owners lost money that day, but I wasn't complaining. This movie made such an impact upon me, and I cried big, salty tears. Any adolescent who has had acne and/or been socially awkward (hello, everyone?) can relate on some level to the protagonist's horror and pain and gut-wrenching loneliness. Not everyone would ultimately go to his extremes, perhaps, but nonetheless.... I recommend this movie for folks who like their movies without the happy, crappy endings tacked on...and which show life as it really can be in that roller-coaster period called being a "teenager." Great direction and acting, too.


This film deserves more props. It is absolutely charming, and in a very poetic way. The filming in itself is very smooth with each transition and has great purpose in every scene each of which converge, including the fine details. The shadows of the spreading rain drops during the masturbation scene is phenomenal. The build-up and execution of the dance scene is also about as romantic as I have seen.

I can see why this film did not get the props it deserves. It has some controversial material, though it is all executed with superb and poetic class. The diversity of the three sequences are also extraordinary. Very effective imagery, and a story that is told so well that you know where it is going at the end. There are no tricks, just a heartfelt love story with Bukowskian flair. And after watching a documentary on Hank, I can say that this captures the work of the true man inside, not the reputation that he developed as a womanizer during one stage of his life.


I've read all the other comments about this variety program which is a hodge-podge of material selected with no apparent theme in mind other than comedy, and if you like vintage comedy, that's good enough for some of us. When TV was in it's infancy, material like this was readily available on the Ed Sullivan show, the Jackie Gleason show, and many other classic programs, and for those of us who grew up watching TV in an era when they would only broadcast for about 12 hours per day because there was not enough material available to fill an entire 24-hour schedule, then you will be very happy to see this type of stuff once again. The heritage of all the episodes is pure vaudeville, and though I'm not that old, don't forget that vaudeville entertained people for many more years than our modern TV era. So, I think all the other comments come from people who don't appreciate the comedic history of this delightful montage. If you like antiques, watch it and enjoy!


First off, I am a fan of the full moon films from the early and mid 90's. So it was cool to see a mix of their franchises on the screen. Like most Full Moon Fanatics, I can't really say why they appeal to me, the budgets aren't high, but the acting is usually above normal straight to video fare and they entertain, I guess that's the bottom line..they entertain.

Now for this movie in particular. The effects were fine (except for the large Baby oopsy),Tim Thomerson always delivers, and both female leads (Tracy Scroggins, and Mellisa Behr), are attractive and do a fine job. Baby Oopsie-Daisy is a riot. I have to admit I really enjoyed the movie, a great way to spend and hour, and that leads me to my only complaint. It was only 64 minutes long. Add in the opening and closing credits along with the flashback sequences to the other movies (Dollman, Demonic Toys, and Bad Channels) to introduce the main characters back stories and you were well under an hour. Now I prefer a shorter movie to a long one. If you can't tell your story in 2hours or so you just aren't trying (in most cases). But this was a little too short, no development. Why did the dwarf security guard join the demonic toys so quickly, who was that girl they sacrificed where did she come from? Show me something rather then explain it with one line of dialog. Anyway felt more like an hour long TV episode rather then a movie.

Final decision : I really enjoyed the time spent watching it. There were some good, and some below average effects. Slightly underdeveloped story and characters, but in the end it entertained. It was funny, had some decent action, and was just plain fun.


A couple of laughs, mainly due to the evil baby doll and his vulgar one-liners and even Dollman himself (Thomerson) gets in on the laughs. It's Halloween night and the Dolls are trying to use the 1 ft. tall Ginger as a host for Satan to be reborn through. It's up to Brick Bardo, aka Dollman, to save her and kill the Demonic Toys.

A horrible mess of a script, crappy acting (excluding the always great Thomerson) and garbage miniature effects.

And at just over an hour in length where the best scene has an evil foul-mouthed Baby Doll tries to have sex with the foot tall Ginger while he makes Dollman watch, it just really makes you wonder what the point to this whole mess of nonsesne even was.


Brick Bardo (Tim Thomerson)teams up with Judith Grey (Tracy Scoggins, from Demonic Toys) to destroy the demonic toys who are trying to bring Satan back to life (Or such nonsense) also on-board is Ginger (Refered to as Dollchick played by Melissa Behr reprising her role from Bad Channels) now Brick Bardo must save his girl and destroy the toys and must not fail. Dollman Vs Demonic Toys is a guilty pleasure for many reasons, the idea is so preposterous and surreal that you end up watching in shock. Also the movie is so unbelievably short that it's impossible to be really too bored and as always Tim Thomerson is fun to watch, that being said there is too much stock footage from Dollman, Demonic Toys and Bad Channels but you never get too bored since there is always something silly going on. Also there just is something surreal about watching Tim Thomerson fight a giant baby doll while rescuing his beloved "dollchick".

* * out of 4-(Fair)


This movie rules. Satanic rituals, midgets, Tim THomerson, That hot chick, monsters that look really stupid and some AMAZING acting-what else do you need? Not much more that I can think of! Also a sequel to 3 other equally great movies by CHarles Band. GO get them.they are bad channels, dollman, and demonic toys. I can't say enough good things about this film. You really have to see for yourself this spectacle. I just hope that Charles Band never retires and I can look forward to more of this stuff for years. I know you all will post about how horrible this film is but I can't see what your talking about. I know it isn't a "great quaility horror film" but who cares? I have found that these films are for cheap thrills only so why bother to make it something more?


First of all, half of the movie is Dollman and Bad Channels. I mean, if we wanted to see those movies, we would've bought them. And what's with the 64 minute run time? What happened? Did they run out of film or something? And their are about 7 people in the whole film! Plus, some of the effects are crappy.

Like when a hobo riding a tricycle hits a box and falls off. Then he hits his head on the ground and about 8 gallons of blood comes out. He didn't even hit his head that hard! The point is, the movie is kind of good. So if you're a fan of Demonic Toys, Dollman, and Bad Channels, rent this movie!!!


With a name like full moon entertainment, you think they would make really good horror movies. Instead we get another comedy/horror hybrid that is not scary and is not funny. We already have a company that does this called Troma we do not need two. With a low budget you can still make effective horror movies like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" or the original "Halloween". Full Moon though would rather make a movie featuring characters from different movies coming together. Movies that were not very good to begin with. This one shows you scenes from "Dollman" and "Slimebowlarama" to set up its tale. Seems "Dollman" found a gal his size and so he heads to this town that has these stupid killer toys...think "The Puppet Master", but with stupid looking toys. What you get is a very bad movie that isn't funny or scary which is exactly what one would expect when combining characters from other movies that are also not funny or scary. My advice would be to skip seeing this one unless you see it on the Sci-Fi channel so you can see just how stupid it is. What is really strange is Tim Thomerson being in this...he seems to be an okay actor, why does he take roles like this?


o9 my god how bad is this movie the plot: a space cop that was reduced to a 30 cm guy with a normal woman cop try to destroy some demonic toys!!!the big problem isn't the plot(ok its really awful)but the film himself. The toys are not scary are not well controlled and doesn't appear too much at the beginning of the story. Instead of them we see the past movies from the dollman and a other 30cm girl. Run from this movie away. I've seen it because it was on tv at 2 am and i didn't feel sleepy (too much pepsi)Better wacht child's play if you wanna see some evil toy!!!


At 58 minutes this garbage was never going to have a chance with me, but I must admit I only rented it for a good laugh. And I got it. Get this, this movie is a sequel to not one but THREE different movies from Full Moon Entertainment(the Puppetmaster series look like the Star Wars Trilogy in comparison). The films are Dollman, Demonic Toys, and Bad Channels. That's not the worst of it, even the killer G.I. Joe isn't the worst thing about this flick(it's the funniest thing, though). This poor excuse for a horror flick actually rips off a movie called Killer Klowns From Outer Space, arguably the worst film since Plan 9 From Outer Space. Then again, the Quick and The Dead was pretty godawful.


On the surface Red Sun appears to be a fairly standard shoot-em-up with the attendant 'who's the real nasty?' sub-plot thrown in for a bit of mystery. But the careful observer will discover many more layers of this particular onion pitting cultures (and genders) against each other with a few surprising results and plenty of thought-provoking situations designed to keep this one on the shelf as a 'keeper'.

Bronson fans (like me) will note this is the second of his 'samurai connection'westerns...Magnificent Seven being the first...though the debate will probably never be resolved as to which was the better performance. True, some of the dialogue in this movie borders on juvenile, but overall I rate the movie very high.


I just got Red Sun and enjoyed it. It's kinda hard to explain it in writing, you have to watch it. It's worth the time. Charles Bronson fans will like his performance as Link, a thief who's forced to team up with Toshiro Mifune's character Kuroda-a Samurai who has 7 days to get back a sword stolen while traveling to the US capital in 1870(around that time); the sword was to be a gift to the prez.

Toshiro's performace was great, simply great. Fans will like this. It is very odd to hear him speak english...especially when he never really learned it in the first place! There's many great little bits in the movie like when Link is trying to escape from Kuroda...he just can't get away from him. They way Kuroda begins to really relax in the saloon cracks me up..he's usually stiff and mean looking..well, not that mean looking. I voted a 10 for this....


Toshiro Mifune showed why he was the personification of THE samurai Japanese culture/history wants us to see. He was excellent in this role. Charles Bronson's performance was as we expected from other characters he portrayed during this period along with some comedy which he really isn't known for(the fight scene with Mifune's character early on). Ursula Andress in her part goes beyond her glamorous looks to portray a woman who is truly out for her own best interests at everyone's expense. She has no problem shifting interests from Delon's character to Bronson's in order to get ahead. The model of the scheming/conniving female or vamp.


The things that had me on the edge of my seat during Brokeback Mountain was the amazing cinematography and the thrilling music. I just wanted to get as close as possible to the screen.

Those two things were not as impressive in Soleil Rouge, but they were good enough that Oscar nominee Henri Alekan's (Roman Holiday, Wings of Desire) cinematography and three-time Oscar winner Maurice Jarre's (A Passage to India, Doctor Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia) music make this film worth watching all by itself.

Directed by Terence Young (Dr. No, From Russia With Love), the film stars one of my favorites, Charles Bronson (Mr. Majestyk , Once Upon a Time in the West, Death Wish 1-5) and Japan's greatest actor, Toshirô Mifune. If that is not enough, it also starred Golden Globe winner Ursula Andress (Dr. No) and Alain Delon (Le Samouraï, The Leopard).

Now, how in the world do you get Mifune in the old west, dressed as a Samurai, no less. He is accompanying the Japanese Ambassador on a train that is robbed by Bronson and Delon. A sword destined to be given to the President is stolen and he must serve his mater and retrieve it. Bronson is double-crossed by Delon and left for dead. Mifune and Bronson join together in a strange journey to retrieve the sword and Bronson's loot.

Mifune is classic Samurai, and Bronson is the funniest I have seen him in the many films I have watched. he has that magic that made Mr. Majestic so fun to watch.

Along the way, they stop in a whorehouse and pick up Andress as a hostage. She is Delon's girlfriend. She gives us a good view of her hootage as she changes a shirt while waiting with Bronson. Spanish actress Mónica Randall also gave us a skintastic display when in bed with Mifune.

Lots of western action with shootouts between Bronson and the bay guys, and the whole gang against the Comanches. Mifune uses his sword to good effect as he adds the expected bright red to the screen.

Eastern philosophy meets Western crudity in a classic.


In the late 1800's, Arizona. Two desperadoes Link and Gauche with the help of some professional bandits and Mexican outlaws, rob a train which was carrying gold guarded by union soldiers, but also on board is the Japanese ambassador who is heading to Washington D.C. In the process Gauche takes their sacred gold sword, which is a gift from their Emperor to the U.S. president. Also Gauche back-stabs Link by attempting to kill him, so he keeps the cash for himself. Unknowingly to Gauche, Link survives. The ambassador's bodyguard Kuroda, plans to get that sword back and kill him straight away for honour, but Link needs him alive, so he can find out where he hid the stolen loot. The two unwillingly pair up with the same goal, but Kuroda has only got seven days to do so, or he and Link will die by his sword.

Terrance Young's multinational (Spain, Italy and France) production of "Red Sun" is a boldly unusual western in the shape of the odd couple (west meets east) set on the old-western frontier, which has a nicely balanced out comic vein and stupendous lead performances. You could call it an experiment and it's an interesting blend, even though the story seems familiar, it does keep to its strengths and never wanders off onto pointless sub-plots. What goes on is elaborately important to the story. A snappily eventful script comes through with the witty humour being drawn upon the pair's bumpy relationship, involving their differences and actions. Charles Bronson is at his charismatic best with a lively turn as the rascally equipped gunfighter Link and the legendary Toshiro Mifune authentically emits classy grace with ace determination and stubbornness as samurai bodyguard Kuroda. They excel together and make a real good pairing. This is what sells the film from the get-go. Alain Delon makes for an formidable villain figure, as the deviously suave Gauche and beautiful bombshell Ursula Andress (who offers a brief topless scene) is terrifically dynamic as Gauche's robust firebrand girlfriend Cristina. Anthnoy Dawson and the wonderful Capucine also show up in minor parts. Young's direction can stumble in some shapeless touches, but mainly he keeps a busy pace and engineers some excitingly biting passages of raw action; like the suspenseful dying half with a bit of splatter on show. Editing is smoothly tailored. Maurice Jarre's uncannily saucy music score is less than grand, but atmospheric enough to the period. Henri Alekan's spaciously scenic cinematography, is kind of lost on the small screen and in full frame. This is sad as the picturesque locations are important to the feel of certain scenes. An assiduously engrossing display of swords and guns, which is far from a masterpiece, but chiefly entertains and makes suitable use of a flavoured international cast.


East meets West as Mifune and Bronson hunt for a golden sword and a stolen treasure, respectively. Some quite good action scenes, particularly the climax in the cane field on fire -- some wonderful images. Andress has only 2 dimension to her character (as written, not her fault in particular), but at least one of them is her breasts. Has a bitter edge and somewhat ambiguous ending: Bronson ditches Andress but gives back the sword, saying: "I don't have much else to do."

If you're a fan of westerns of the continental variety, watch it.

Excellent music by Maurice Jarre -- anyone know where I can find a copy?


This Franco-Italian "Eastern Western" has intrigued me since I read about it on a magazine, in view of its then-upcoming showing on Italian TV, when I was about 7 years old  but it literally seemed to vanish from the face of the earth in the interim! Given that fact and Leonard Maltin's unpromising ** rating, I had suspected that it was going to be a big disappointment when I eventually catch up with it  but, happily, it turned out not to be the case. It is actually a very enjoyable large-scale action film which, while perhaps lacking the touch of greatness, deserves to be re-evaluated more positively.

The four international leads  Charles Bronson, Toshiro Mifune, Alain Delon, Ursula Andress  are top-notch and the supporting cast also includes Capucine, Anthony Dawson and Luc (here billed as Luke) Merenda. The chemistry between betrayed outlaw Bronson and samurai warrior Mifune is especially successful and provides the film with some nice humorous touches (as well as a couple of good lines); their casting is all the more interesting for its pairing one of THE SEVEN SAMURAI (1954) with a member of THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960), that film's equally popular Americanization! Delon has a smaller part than I was expecting but he does well as Bronson's double-crossing partner-in-crime who, apart from the pre-requisite European sophistication, has a vicious streak about him. Andress adds the required eye-candy as his sluttish girlfriend and, along with Monica Randall (playing Mifune's inexperienced one night stand at Capucine's rundown brothel), provides the film with some unexpected  if very welcome  dashes of nudity.

Besides, there's a fine if subdued score from Maurice Jarre; as befits the film's title, too, renowned cinematographer Henri Alekan often bathes the scenery in a warm golden hue and the use of remote locations throughout is inspired. Still, the film could probably do with a few trims here and there, as some scenes tend to go on too long  such as the afore-mentioned mid-section revolving around Bronson and Mifune, and the climactic Indian attack. The full-frame presentation is not too bad considering: I can only complain of excessive headroom on occasion and a general washed-out look to the print on the U.K. disc I watched.


This is possibly one of Charles Bronson's best cinematic performances with the exception of a few of his other films. Albeit the story is a little corny and there seems to be a lot of action going on all the time (which is O.K. with me) this movie really spoke volumes to me. Learning that this film is based on an incident that supposedly happened around 1870, that blew me away alone. A gunslinger, a samurai and a woman who only cares for herself (Ursula Andress) make up for the meat of the cast. A lot of action sequences in this movie and it is a little funny in some spots, Bronson (unusually) provides a lot of the laughs in the film. This movie is incorporating all different types of stuff and it just seems a little to-good-to-be-true type movie, but I really really really liked it! It's not to often that you get to see a gunfighter and a samurai fight on the same side in a "traditional" spaghetti western. Terence Young did a great job on this film. 8 out of 10 stars any day of the week.


"Red Sun" is a very enjoyable film. I can't really think of any other films where a gunslinger and a samurai team up to fight the bad guys. Westerns have often imitated the great samurai films, such as "The Seven Samurai" and "Yojimbo," so it is especially satisfying to see Toshiro Mifune, the greatest of all samurai actors, in a western.

The plot concerns the teaming up of Charles Bronson and Mifune in their quest to catch up with the film's slimy villain, Alain Delon. I guess teaming up is the right word even though Mifune has actually sworn to kill Bronson if he doesn't work with him. So most of the movie is Bronson trying to escape Mifune's character. Of course, the 2 men eventually bond, and find out they are much more alike than they initially thought, and end up fighting alongside each other in the film's wonderful climax.

Charles Bronson shows a good sense of humor in this film, an element lacking from most of his other films. Toshiro Mifune, who is simply one of the world's greatest actors, is not required to do much, but I enjoyed seeing him teamed up with Bronson. Watching 2 of the world's great superstars in the same film is all the reason anyone should ever need to see this satisfying samurai western.


Any film which features an unusual plot and a nude scene from Ursula Andress can't be all bad, but in most other departments Soleil Rouge (known in English-speaking countries as "Red Sun") is a disappointment. The director Terence Young may have made three successful Bond movies, but the rest of his career was littered with mediocre-or-worse films like The Christmas Tree, The Klansman, Inchon and The Jigsaw Man. This is another example of Young under-achieving as a film-maker.

 In 1870, a locomtive makes its way through the Wild West. Aboard is a small band of Japanese travellers, heading for Washington with a valuable sword which they are to present to the President as a gift from the Emperor of Japan. An outlaw, Link (Charles Bronson) and his gang storm the train and steal various valuables, including the afore-mentioned blade. However, one of Link's accomplices, Gauche (Alain Delon) steals the loot for himself, almost killing Link in the process. A samurai warrior, Kuroda (Toshiro Mifune) sets out to retrieve the sword. Link joins him, hoping that he can catch up with his double crossing partner and exact his revenge...

 The film is a real mongrel of a movie. Backed by French, Italian and Spanish financers; directed by a Brit; and starring American, Japanese and Swiss leading actors, it is hardly surprising that it seems to draw its inspiration from a muddled patchwork of influences. For a while, the unusual plot threatens to develop into something really interesting. The fusion of western conventions and samurai movie conventions is initially intriguing too. However, pretty quickly the whole thing slips into overly familiar cliches and it is barely helped by somewhat tedious pacing and supporting actors with such heavy accents that it is hard to tell what they are saying much of the time. Red Sun could have been - perhaps should have been - a good movie, but what it emerges as is, unfortunately, rather a waste of a good idea.


This army comedy, a favorite milieu with star comedians, is one of the better Three Stooges shorts I've watched. Its plot  starting in WWI and then moving on to the present (1935, in this case)  anticipates one of Laurel & Hardy's best feature-films, BLOCKHEADS (1938). The boys are layabouts during the war (they even manage to sleep through combat!) who fall foul of their sergeant; years later, we find them as tramps willing to do any work. They're eventually directed to an office building which, unbeknownst to them, is the city's army recruiting post: there they meet again their old sergeant, who's naturally keen to get even with them! During the film's surreal climax, where they're assigned to cannon-fire practice, The Stooges contrive to sink a visiting Admiral's ship and demolish a number of buildings in the vicinity  for which they're soon facing the firing squadonly the weapon turns out to be the cannon itself and the executor of the sentence is none other than their vindictive sergeant!


Half-Shot Shooters is an interesting variation from the normal Stooges short film. This short features a lot more violence than usual, and it also uses a lot of stock footage spliced into the movie to add realism and special effects. The movie begins with stock footage from some old war movie. It literally has hundreds of soldier running into battle and artillery shells blowing up around them and killing some. It then cuts to the Stooges, laying together in a ditch, sleeping through the battle. Their routine as they try to get some sleep while a battle rages around them is definitely more along the lines of black comedy than what is usual for the Stooges.

Later, their Sergeant beats them up and Curly clearly has a swollen eye which becomes a bruised black eye in the next scene. I found that to be a little strange, since the Stooges normally suffer dozens of injuries in a short (similar to Pro Wrestlers) and yet I had never seen any of them sporting visible bruises to illustrate that they are being bullied. A little while later, the Stooges are dirty and ragged, and standing at a window begging for food at a restaurant. The Stooges' pantomime seeking a handout of leftovers is more sad than funny.

Further into the film, stock footage is again spliced in to show the victims of the artillery shelling by the Stooges. The idea that the Stooges were blowing up civilian homes, bridges, and a U.S. battleship seemed a bit heavy-handed to me. The finale where the Stooges are executed also seemed like this short was dark comedy. Since in those days there was a lot more censorship, you really have to read between the lines into the context of that era.

Overall, maybe this short reflects some anti-war sentiments? I am not sure what the message was, but it was definitely a variation from the standard Stooges comedy. I like it because it is different, and it shows a different interpretation of their comedy by the director and/or the writer of this short.


This Stooges short is a very good one and I love the performance by Stanley Blystone.The Stooges are very funny Half-Shot Shooters.The explosions are excellent especially for the time period.If you like the Stooges then I think you'll love this!


Actually, when deciding which short is the worst, you have to choose between HALF-SHOT SHOOTERS and THREE PESTS IN A MESS. It's not fair to see the stooges get killed by a cannon at the end of the film. Not one bit of this short is funny. Don't waste your time.

Grade: F--


Andrew dice clay was ripped off big time for this show.people bashed him for his comedy,but let me tell you he is very underrated as an actor...his comedic moments are top-notch.Hollywood shows dice no respect,and he should get his due.id like to see him in more mainstream movies...as the lead man.if your offended by his stand-up comedy.,don't buy his dvds....i own everything dice has ever did regarding movies and comedy Cd's.i will root for him to make a comeback...because i for one love and appreciate his talent.the lack of respect the #1 comedian in history(record sales).gets is baffling.lastly id like to say diceman your unbelievable in my book.


Lee Majors as Colonel Austin has always been one of my favorite actors / characters!!! If you're a big fan like me, you'll be sure to enjoy this special. Ever since the Original Series went off the air, The three TV specials that aired, this being one of the three, really don't sum up the awe and power that the character of Steve Austin has. However, it was good to see Colonel Austin and his team back in Action, great action sequences and a captivating story-line, reminded me of the great 80s shows like Knight Rider, The A-Team, and countless others.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5


Was I glad to see some more of Steve and Jaime. I just loved the 1970's series. However I missed two things in all three reunion movies. First of all, I missed the 1970's look (furniture, clothes, cars, etc.) since I believe the 1970's was the ONLY decade that had style and taste (I hated the 1980's). But most importantly, where were the Six Million Dollar Man and the Bionic Woman theme music? It was a mistake not to include the themes. In fact, almost all remakes/reunion movies used the theme of the original shows. Just look at Mission Impossible, The Saint, The Wild Wild West, The Avengers, SWAT, etc. They all used the themes of the shows those movies were based upon. It wouldn't be James Bond without the James Bond theme. Yet sadly in none of the SMDM-BW reunion movies the theme from either show was present.


Fans of both "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman", can rest assure this dream has come true. I've enjoyed both series, and having them back together would be a dream come true. I first heard about on "Entertainment Tonight" ahead of times. I was really jacked up to wait. When I saw the preview, I was ecstatic! With the updated scenes for the movie was fascinating and just watching it made it more fun. It was funny when Jamie(Lindsay Wagner) threw Steve(Lee Majors) out the window. But the excitement factor was better when Steve landed on the car giving Jamie a chance to escape, while Steve flipped the car, and the car took off after being flipped. Really peculiar! Now his son is a bionic, only he has a lethal laser in his right eye! Talk about out of sight. This reunion movie is out of sight, reliving the old show is great. Action, scifi shows do indeed make better reunion progresses than sitcoms ever will. Maybe... Now I'm going to get some metal pipes and NANANANANANANANANA!!!!!!!!!!!! BIONIC-SIZE THEM! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Rating 5 stars!


This film should never have been made. That being said, I did think it was funny - only because of the poor acting, bad plot, and that fact that it was a Six Million Dollar Man remake.

The basic plot is that Steve Austin (Mr. Six Million himself)is asked to return to service by old boss Oscar Goldman. Austin refuses, even after they trot the Six Million Dollar Woman back onto the scene. She was supposed to marry Austin as one time, but got amnesia and only now remembers what they once meant to each other (gag). Anyway, it turns out Austin had a son he never knew about. The son gets hurt in an accident (of course - apparently everyone connected with Austin gets in a life-threatening accident) and Astin agrees to go back to work for Goldman if he will save his son by giving him some bionics.

This film should never have been made. That being said, I did think it was funny - only because of the poor acting, bad plot, and that fact that it was a Six Million Dollar Man remake.

This TV movie was made extremely cheaply. It shows in almost every shot. They still wear bad clothing and Jamie (Six Mil. Dollar Woman) has a really bad hairdo going on. The acting is incredibly bad all around. The only one who hasn't appeared to age 20 years is old man Goldman, who was old to start with.

Unless you REALLY like the Six Million Dollar Man, or just enjoy laughing at TV's attempts to rehash old shows over and over again, avoid this one. If you're in the mood for a laugh - this has 'em, but you probably won't last the whole movie.


"THE ANDY DICK SHOW," in my opinion, is an absolute ABC classic! I haven't seen every episode, but I still enjoyed it. It's hard to say which episode was my favorite. However, I think it was always funny when a mishap occurred. I always laughed at that. Despite the fact that it was a short-lived series, it was nice that all of the main characters had stayed with the show throughout its entire run. It seems that no one stays with a show throughout its entire run. Everyone always gave a good performance, the production design was spectacular, the costumes were well-designed, and the writing was always very strong. In conclusion, I hope someone brings it back on the air for fans of the show to see.


I hadn't realized how truly warped and twisted the mind of Andy Dick was until he had his own series (for at least a while).

His skits along with his support team actors would have me actually snickering out loud as they went wa-a-ay over the edge in doing something completely ridiculous.

I was genuinely impressed by the absurdism displayed. Some of the stuff fell a little flat. But mostly the skits spoofed this and that in grand, no-holds-barred style. Andy Dick could skewer some social cutesyness or some aspect of the current pop culture with devastating results. He certainly could expose some social stupidness for the true stupidness it really was.

The Andy Dick show was definitely NOT dripping and oozing with Care Bears sweetiness.

Yep. I was left quite impressed with much of his series.

Silliness with a message.


- The basic premise of Cannonball has been done several times - a diverse group of drivers compete in a cross-country race where anything goes. Sound familiar? Hal Nedham ripped the guts out of Cannonball for his Cannonball Run made five years later. The difference, though, is that while Cannonball is often funny with some great action, Cannonball Run is often too over-the-top and unwatchable. It's too bad that Bartel's movie isn't as well known as Nedham's. While it will never be confused with Citizen Kane, Cannonball is a thrill-a-minute, cheese-filled good time.

- Bartel's direction is one of the highlights of the movie. You would think that a 90+ minute movie of watching cars race might get boring. It's not. Bartel keeps things moving and there's never a dull moment. Bartel does a great job of mixing race action, comedy, fight scenes, and a little drama to create a well-balanced, enjoyable movie.

- As far as acting goes, David Carradine naturally stands out. He's a car driving, butt kicking machine. Carradine is able to add a little authenticity to the movie by doing a lot of his own driving. There are a couple of spinouts where you can actually see that it's Carradine sitting behind the wheel.

- My biggest complaint with Cannonball involves the spectacular pile-up at the end of the movie. It gets off to a good start with cars plowing into each other followed by explosion after explosion. The problem is that it goes on for so long that it started to have a morbid feel to it. It bothered me that, as a viewer, I could only assume that there were people supposedly driving those cars that were bursting into flames and I didn't see any survivors. I can only assume that everyone was burned to a crisp. Sure it's a little picky, but it bothered me.


Of all the movies about cross country road races (Cannonball 1 and 2, Gumball Rally, et all) I always thought this was easily the best, even though you tend to hear about it the least. David Carradine is great as the star driver, trying to reclaim some past glory and get another shot at a racing career. And Dick Miller as his corrupt brother? Magnificent! Other New World Pictures stars abound!

Lots of great cars, and car action as well, especially the final chase between Carradine and the film's villain, driving a wicked Dodge Charger. Sure there's some bad acting and some bad direction, but as far as being a 70's car/B-flick, it ranks high. One interesting note - the very last image shown in New World's "Death Race 2000" was of an incompleted elevated highway road section, just like the kind Carradine jumps his car across during the big chase. You gotta buy an old used video if you wanna see this one, which would be great on a widescreen DVD. I actually saw this in the theater and would love to see in widescreen again!


Here's yet another reason to accentuate the 1970's was the absolute greatest decade for cult-trash cinema output (as if we weren't convinced enough already): Carsploitation movies! There are only a handful of them, they all look alike and most film-loving audiences will probably detest them, but  damn, are they ever entertaining! "Cannonball!"  although I must say I prefer the much cheesier video title "Carquake"  is brought to us by the same team that made the brilliant and unequaled "Death Race 2000" one year earlier, and it many ways it feels as if writer/director Paul Bartel injected all the silly comedy that he couldn't put in "Death Race" into this film instead. This film is more of a straightforward comedy whereas "Death Race" was a black comedy (apparently not everybody finds the idea of wiping pedestrians off the road for points funny). The concept of this film is much simpler: bunch of eccentric people participate in an illegally organized cross-country race from California to New York City. Ex-convict Coy Buckman is obviously the most talented racer, so his competitors will have to revert to ingenious cheating if they want to stand a chance. The main storyline as described here is obviously very simplistic, but one could also claim there are numerous little sub plot story lines that are all terrific and imaginative. The lead character Coy Buckman is already quite intriguing. He dragged his sexy female parole officer along in the race and has a mechanic who idolizes him so much that he literally wants to be Cannonball! Every contestant in the race is worth mentioning, like the obnoxious German in his canary-yellow sport car and the psychopathic Redman and his country-singing and guitar-playing co-pilot. Outside the race there's quite a lot going on as well, like Coy's sleazy brother Bennie trying to sabotage the most important rivals because he bet a huge some of money on the winner. Although the comical ambiance definitely overrules, "Cannonball!" nevertheless remains a bona fide action/spectacle movie with copious crashes, macho showdowns, explosions and violent painful deaths. The climax, which features a mass accident with cars piling up seemingly forever, exactly demonstrates the blending of humor and action. The cast is full of pleasingly familiar faces, especially if you know a thing or two about B-movies. Apart from the brothers Carradine (David and Robert), there's Mary Woronov, Dick Miller, Carl Gottlieb and director Paul Bartel himself (in a hilarious role). Buckle up for some sheer cult-excitement!


Following hot on the scorching asphalt skid-marks of the impish "The Gumball Rally," Paul Bartel's characteristically deadpan, quirky, slyly subversive cross country road race car picture presents a blithely apocalyptic vision that's akin to the anarchic world views shown in the equally madcap "Freebie and the Bean," the truly twisted "The Mad Bomber," and the totally gaga "The Candy Snatchers": All those noisy, tire-yelping, rubber-shredding, metal-bending automobile mishaps featured herein play a crucial role in Bartel's merrily askew and jaundiced presentation of a world in constant uproar, where any sense of balance, tranquility and equilibrium gets messily disrupted on a frequent nerve-frying basis (a savage gas station fisticuffs scuffle and the wildly chaotic mondo destructo Jersey Turnpike massive car pile-up sequence in particular really hammer this point home).

Among the race's contestants are David Carradine as stolid, tight-lipped, nerves-of-pure-brass ex-con champ Coy "Cannonball" Buckman, future "Hill Street Blues" regular Veronica Hammel as Buckman's loyal, fretful, karate-chopping police lady gal pal, Archie Hahn as Buckman's trustworthy, but feeble-minded mechanic Zippo, a gloriously crazed Bill McKinney as Buckman's chortling, maniacal, pistol-packing nutso rival Cade Redman (note the disconcertingly similar first and last names, a chilling blurring of the fine line between good and evil), Robert Carradine and the beauteous Belinda Balaski as a sweet, starry-eyed California surfer couple, a hilariously goofy Gerrit Graham as a pathetic no-talent aspiring country-and-western singer/songwriter, Mary Woronov in customary venomous b**chy and aggressive sexually ambiguous full-throttle nasty mode, Stanley Clay as a jive-talking hipster soul bro, and a repellently arrogant James Keach as a stuck-up, condescending German driver who meets a fiery untimely end. Among the folks watching the race from the sidelines are Dick Miller as Buckman's shady gambler brother, Bartel as a singing, piano-playing, Cole Porter-loving Mob capo, Martin Scorsese and Sylvestor Stallone as gangster flunkies, Joe Dante and Allen Arkush as geeky car buffs, Robert Altman film regular David Arkin as a timid grocery store counterman, Jonathan Kaplan as a gas station attendant, the eternally vacuous Louisa Moritz in one of her standard bubble-brained blonde bimbo parts, Patrick Wright as the rich guy who sponsors the race, and even legendary B-movie pioneer Roger Corman as an uptight district attorney (!).

The strangely dark, fatalistic tone, rampant amorality, intensely ugly dialogue ("What the god**mn hell are you trying to to do, you f**got moron!?"), assorted foul play tactics the race's participants gleefully engage in, the useless, ineffective cops, opportunistic a**hole media, Tak Fujimoto's madly darting, hyperactive, vertigo-inducing cinematography, the crooked, string-pulling, game-rigging dirty double deals perpetuated by the mob-backed race officials, the general unpleasantness of the mostly mean and despicable characters (even Carradine's morally ambivalent "hero" isn't very likable or appealing), the loose, ramshackle narrative structure, a creepy opening credits nightmare sequence, and especially the murderously ferocious pandemonium on the open freeways cars getting trashed and blowing up real good smash 'em up vehicular carnage create a sense of deliriously out-of-control non-stop bedlam that's as profoundly discomfiting as it is utterly exhilarating. The disgustingly safe and sanitized "Cannonball Run" junkers ain't got nothing on this delightfully diabolical and severely bent gearhead treat.


'Cannonball' tells the story of a motley crew of determined racers as they battle against each other in a cross country road race with no rules.

It doesn't really need a plot. This film is about one thing and one thing only: cars, and the wondrous ways in which they can be wrecked. A year after Death Race 2000, Bartel and Carradine team up again here, probably just cashing in on the cult status of their pedestrian chewing masterpiece. Carradine plays a sort of anti-Frankenstein; Cannonball might be the title role, but he isn't as cool and devious as he was in DR2000. The supporting cast are all fine, keeping their tongue firmly in cheek and never letting the campy attitude of the film slip. But the cast in general plays second fiddle to the cars and explosions.

Brains aren't required, but that only adds to the fun. It's particularly hilarious when the German driver gets blown up, and five minutes later someone is reading a newspaper with his death as the headline. The fact that the cars in this film tend to explode after colliding with something moving at two miles an hour tells you what kind of mindset you need to watch this. But if you don't laugh at the truly monumental, explosive pile up that takes place near the end of the film you need some help. Plus, watch out for the Stallone - Scorsese cameo that lasts literally seconds.

If you enjoyed similar road racing classics like Death Race and Grand Theft Auto you should love this. Everything that is enjoyable about B movies is here, and I will never get bored of films like this.


One of Paul Bartel's more dreadful efforts -- definitely nowhere close to being in the same league with either "Eating Raoul" or "Death Race 2000." Granted it's typical of '70s "realistic"-appearing movies/TV shows, but the acting is by & large mediocre & the violence gratuitous. In addition, there is a lot of filler that is frankly inane & complements the plot line about as well as Ripple does Chateaubriand. About the best one can say for it is that David Carradine's & Veronica Hamel's performances are fairly good, & the explosion/crash FX are first-rate. Any of the iterations of "Cannonball Run" is superior to this, & that's based just on film merits & not starring casts. This travesty makes even "BJ & the Bear" look good. :(