Action Movies

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Features:

"Dirty Harry" Film Series (1971-1988)
"DOA: Dead or Alive" (2006)
"Dolph Lundgren Movies" (1985-present)
"Escape From" Film Series (1981-1996)
"James Bond" Film Series (1962-present)
"Jason Bourne" Film Series (2002-2007)
"Rambo" Film Series (1982-2008)
"Warriors of the Wasteland" (1982)

Quick Reviews:

"99 and 44/100% Dead" (1974)
"Cold Sweat" (1970)
"Desert Kickboxer" (1992)
"Direct Action" (2004)
"Fatherland" (1994 TV Movie)
"The Final Executioner" (1983)
"Fleshburn" (1984)
"I Spy" (2002)
"Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang" (2005)
"A Low Down Dirty Shame" (1994)
"The Mosaic Project" (1994)
"The No Mercy Man" (1973) [aka "Trained to Kill U.S.A."]
"Relentless II: Dead On" (1992)
Silver Streak (1976) [COMING BACK SOON!]
"Snakes on a Plane" (2006)
"The Stranger" (1995)
"This is Not a Test" (1962)
"Unstoppable" (2004)
"Wanted: Dead or Alive" (1986)
"Wilder" (2000)

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99 and 44/100% Dead (1974)-  Simple editing would have made this movie much more watchable.  The action scenes are well-executed with awesome stuntwork.  The story idea is cool and the characters are interesting.  It's not so much the direction that balls up this movie, but the content.  This movie looks like it was put together by someone on drugs.  A lot of stuff doesn't make sense ONLY for the fact that it isn't well-connected.  There's nothing "over our heads".  Far from it.  At the time of this film's release it was a huge flop, even on the lesser drive-in circuit.  Nowadays, a lot more people would like it because it's done EXACTLY like a Quentin Tarantino film.  Timing is everything.

    The British title for this film, "Call Harry Crown", is a much better fit.  The American title is a spoof on Ivory Soap's slogan, "99 and 44/100% Pure", which not a lot of people understood.  Basically, John Frankenheimer took a potentially great movie and crapped it up with everything stupid.  Even he, in later years, agreed he goofed on this one.  There are some highlights besides the action scenes.  Chuck Connors plays an interesting villain, Claw Zuckerman, who has a fake left arm that fits various weapons.  This is something quite different from his days playing TVs "The Rifleman", and one that I think people can appreciate.  Ann Turkel as Buffy, Harry Crown's love interest and school teacher, also has a good part.  Kathrine Baumann as Baby, the prostitute, is a very easy standout.  She's awesome!  She didn't need dialogue to command attention.  For film buffs, Lori Williams of "Faster, Pussycat!  Kill!  Kill!" has a cameo as one of the prostitutes (brunette in this movie).

    This movie is okay for its parts.  It isn't the worst movie I've seen, but certainly not the best.

Cast:

Richard Harris as Harry Crown
Edmond O'Brien as Uncle Frank Kelly
Bradford Dillman as Big Eddie
Chuck Connors as Marvin "Claw" Zuckerman
Ann Turkel as Buffy
David Hall as Tony, the Kid
Kathrine Baumann as Baby
Constance Ford as Dolly
Lori Williams as Prostitute [uncredited]
Director- John Frankenheimer
Writer- Robert Dillon

Alternative Titles:

• Call Harry Crown [UK]

Fun Facts:

• Richard Harris married co-star Ann Turkel after this movie wrapped.
• This was the last film for Edmond O'Brien.
• Ann Turkel was a last minute replacement for Jacqueline Bisset.
• This movie was filmed in Seattle, Washington.
• The title, "99 and 44/100% Dead", is a spoof on the slogan for Ivory Soap, "99 and 44/100% Pure".
• John Frankenheimer is actually a pretty respected director that has done some stellar work in films.  It surprised a lot of people when he turned out this movie, as most people expected better.

CHECK OUT THE PBDEN CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE FOR THIS AND OTHER GREAT VIDEOS!

Cold Sweat (1970)-  I don't usually like Charles Bronson movies.  This one is good.  It's not boring.  Pretty good acting, action, and filming throughout.  It was set and filmed in France.  It was also filmed in Belgium and Italy.  All three of those countries are pretty close together.  Bronson, himself, is in pretty good physical shape here and he's even a likable personality.  Charles Bronson plays Joe Martin, formerly Joe Moran, a reformed military ex-convict.  Members of his old gang track him down in order to use his fishing boat.

    This is supposed to be a PG movie, yet they show one scene with bare breasts, and Bronson says the F-word in another scene.  I'm not quite sure how this didn't make PG-13.

    This movie has some pretty cool cast members.  I thought they all did a good job.  It was interesting to see Sabine Sun in this movie as the nurse.  She has short, blonde hair here.  Sun actually looks prettier in the movie, "War Goddess" (1973), where she has a much bigger part.  Nathalie Varallo is HOT!  She plays the part of Violet, Joe Martin's secretary.

    "Cold Sweat" is worth watching.  Even has a great car chase scene during the film's climax.

Cast:

Charles Bronson as Joe Martin
Liv Ullman as Fabienne Martin
Yannick Delulle as Michele Martin [credited as Yannick de Lulle]
James Mason as Captain Ross
Jean Topart as Katanga
Luigi Pistilli as Fausto Gelardi
Michel Constantin as Vermont
Jill Ireland as Moira
Nathalie Varallo as Violet
Paul Bonifas as Doctor
Sabine Sun as Nurse

Alternate Titles:

• De la part des copains [France; actual title]
• From the Boys [International; English title]

Fun Facts:

• Jill Ireland was the real-life wife of Charles Bronson from 1968 until her death in 1990 of breast cancer.
• This is the only acting credit for Yannick Delulle.
• This is the only acting credit for Nathalie Varallo.
  

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Desert Kickboxer (1992)-  This is a cool little action movie, but it misses a lot of great opportunities.  There were such interesting characters, but little character development.  There were so many places for great dialogue, but dialogue was limited to short little one-liners.  The action is pretty good, though, and it moves quickly.  If there's one thing you can say for this movie, it isn't boring.

    John Haymes Newton, best known at this point for being TV's first "Superboy" (replaced by Gerard Christopher), plays a good hero.  He's a cool-looking guy, too.  He should've become a lot better known than he has been.  This movie should have at least put him on the map on the B-movie circuit.  Newton's just one of those cool actor guys that slipped through the cracks.

    Paul Smith, as chief villain Santos, is totally fake in this part.  I've seen him in many movies like "Popeye" and "Maverick" and he's great in those, but this one seems to have caught him at an "off" moment.  Everything he says in this movie, and his actions, is so hokey.  I know he could have done better than this.

    I really enjoyed the leading lady, Judie Aronson, and she became even prettier in the years since this film.  The characters I found most interesting, however, are Anthony Valenti (played by Sam DeFrancisco), and "Reverend" Ezekial Carson (played by Barry Lynch).  Anthony is the mildly retarded brother of Claudia, the film's leading lady.  What's interesting about Anthony is that he's not the typical "retard" of filmdom.  He's not a nasty stereotype, nor is he stupid.  As a matter of fact, Anthony seems pretty smart in his own way; he has an extensive knowledge of the West and Native American culture.  He's even somewhat heroic.  The only thing I didn't like about his character is that he gets killed.  I don't think the film needed that tragedy for the story.

    Ezekial Carson is simply one of the many alleged bounty hunters hired to find Claudia and Anthony.  He's really just a seedy biker that fancies himself a Reverend.  His screen time is rather short in the movie, as Hawk promptly kills him, but the character is so bizarre and interesting that he stands out among the mostly straight roster.

    What happens in this movie?  Joe Highhawk, usually called Hawk, is a disenchanted policeman and ex-kickboxer.  After accidentally killing a man in the ring, Hawk leaves the sport and his "big city" police job to return to his childhood home in the desert.  For the last year or so, Hawk has been working as a border deputy in seemingly endless pursuit of the mysterious druglord Santos.  Meanwhile, Santos' beautiful lady secretary, Claudia Valenti, learns the dirty secrets of her employer and runs away with 20 million dollars.  Claudia, with brother Anthony in tow, flees deep into the desert...Hawk's territory.  Hawk, initially believing that the Valentis are notorious thieves, catches them with great ease but soon learns the truth and fights for them against the deadly forces of Santos and his hired killers.  Everything that Hawk knows soon becomes violently unraveled, and he must dig deep into himself and his ancestral roots to help him win the fight of his life.

Cast:

John Haymes Newton as Joe Highhawk aka "Hawk"
Judie Aronson as Claudia Valenti
Sam DeFrancisco as Anthony Valenti
Paul L. Smith as Santos
Michael M. Foley as Bruno, Santos' enforcer
Barry Lynch as "Reverend" Ezekial Carson

Alternate Titles:

• Desert Hawk

Fun Facts:

• This independent film is pretty much the "baby" of Isaac Florentine.  It was the first feature film he directed, and it was the bouncing board for what has since become a pretty respectable career as a movie director.  Florentine is an Israel-born martial artist and filmmaker, and has directed loads of films and television shows.
• "Desert Kickboxer" was shot in 16 days with an ultra-low budget.  Needless to say, filming was pretty hectic.  However, the HBO network was very impressed with the quality of Florentine's direction and the overall story, and bought the film.
• This film is the second and apparently last film credit for Sam DeFrancisco.  He was a pretty good actor in this film with a pretty good role, so I'm surprised he didn't do more.
• I do believe the name of this film was always meant to be "Desert Hawk".  That title is even shown in the closing credits.  However, I think HBO changed the name of this movie to play off the popularity of the earlier "Kickboxer" film series, started by Jean-Claude Van Damme.  To be truthful, I think I even like the name of "Desert Kickboxer" better.
  

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Direct Action (2004)-  Just another cool Dolph Lundgren movie.  This isn't cutting edge stuff, just a fun little action movie that shows Dolph doing what he does best: kicking a**.  Dolph plays a good cop named Frank Gannon that fights a bunch of corrupt cops.  Polly Shannon as Billie Ross, Frank's rookie cop sidekick, was a very good thing for this movie.  Ms. Shannon gives the best acting performance in this movie.  I enjoyed this movie.  It's not a thinker, it's not high-tech, just a straight-on action movie with good fighting.

Cast:

Dolph Lundgren as Frank Gannon
Polly Shannon as Billie Ross
Conrad Dunn as Captain Stone
Daniel Kash as LoPresti the D.A.
Natacha La Ferriere as Adrianna
Elias Zarou as Old Cafe Owner

Alternate Titles:

• Black Scorpion [Japan; English title]
  

Fun Facts:

• Dolph Lundgren performed all his own stunts in this movie.
• Early in the film, Dolph's character beats up a nameless thug in a cafe.  This thug, standing on a table, is wearing a Punisher T-shirt (white skull on black).  This was a tip-of-the-hat of sorts to Dolph, who played the Punisher hero in the original "The Punisher" film (1989).
• Polly Shannon's character, named Billie Ross in the movie, is spelled Billy Ross on the back of the DVD release.
• Ross does not reveal her first name to be Billie until the final moments of the movie.
  

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Fatherland (1994 TV Movie)-  This is a really well-done independent film.  The only thing I don't like about it are the deaths of our hero characters.  I think the deaths of Rutger Hauer's and Miranda Richardson's characters were unnecessary touches of tragedy to what could have been an "Oh, yeah!" enjoyable action thriller.  I like the premise.  This movie supposes that Hitler won WWII, and presents to us a very different 1964.  A lot has happened in the 20 years since Germany's victory; some good, some bad.  NOBODY knows the hideous truth behind Hitler's "Jewish Resettlement" program, although rumors have been floating around for years.  Hauer's character, a German policeman, and Richardson's character, an American reporter, come across concrete evidence of the Nazi Party's wrongdoings.  It's enough to end Hitler's reign.  Moreover, this evidence could destroy all chances of an official end to the Cold War between America and Germany.  Anyone who has ever known anything about the Holocaust has been murdered.  Hauer and Richardson, after uncovering the sickening truth, find themselves in a desperate race against time to get the incriminating evidence to U.S. President Joseph Kennedy, Sr. before he meets with Adolf Hitler.  They DO accomplish their mission, but not without paying the ultimate sacrifice.  What's really nifty is that we learn the narrator of our story at the start and finish of the film is actually the adult version of Pili, Hauer's young son.  Despite the deaths of our protagonists, this still is an optomistic story.  The acting is top-notch, and the writing and filming is great.  Worth seeing.

Cast:

Rutger Hauer as SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Xavier March
Miranda Richardson as Charlie Maguire
John Woodvine as Franz Luther
Jean Marsh as Anna Von Hagen

Fun Facts:

• This TV movie, made for the HBO network, is based on a popular 1992 novel of the same name by Robert Harris.  The film has many, many major differences from the novel.
• In the "Fatherland" novel, the characters of March and Maguire do not die and, in fact, are lovers.  They are also younger in the novel.
• Mike Nichols bought the movie rights for "Fatherland" for $1 million, hoping to make it a major theatrical release.  When none of the major Hollywood studios expressed interest, "Fatherland" was reduced to a TV movie.
• Some people love this movie, some people hate it.  Typically, those that had first read the book before seeing the movie were not happy with the adaptation.  Most people that saw the film first, or only saw the film, liked it.
  

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The Final Executioner (1983)- William Mang & Woody Strode.  Also starring Harrison Muller and Marina Costa.  Italian-made post-apocalyptic action flick.  The spoiled, wealthy people of the world hunt the poor, potentially disease-ridden people for sport.  That is, until William Mang and Woody Strode stand up to them.

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Fleshburn (1984)-  I like Sonny Landham, but does he play ANYTHING besides bad guys?  Even his good guy character in "Predator" (1987) was a tad crazy.  How about a hero, sometime?  Seriously, though, Landham gives a good performance as the maniac, Calvin Duggai.

    This is a great movie.  I can't see anything wrong with it at all.  For being a low-budget movie in 1984, it was pretty well done on all counts.  A Native-American mental patient escapes, only to kidnap the four psychiatrists that sent him there.  The maniac abandons the shrinks in the desert where they must learn to survive while battling Calvin's death traps.  The good guys win.  Only one of the psychiatrists gets killed.  And the ending is pretty cool with an outcome you might not have expected.  It's still a happy ending, though.  Worth watching.  Great cast and an interesting story.

Cast:

Sonny Landham as Calvin Duggai
Steve Kanaly as Dr. Sam MacKenzie
Karen Carlson as Dr. Shirley Pinter
Robert Chimento as Dr. Jay Pinter
Macon McCalman as Dr. Earl Dana

Director- George Gage
Writers- George & Beth Gage, Brian Garfield.

Alternate Titles:

• Fear in a Handful of Dust

Fun Facts:

• This film is based on a novel by Brian Garfield, "Fear in a Handful of Dust".  Garfield is also the author of "Death Wish", which inspired the movies of the same name.

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I Spy (2002)-  I really enjoyed this movie.  I don't understand why it wasn't a hit.  I do know that it wasn't promoted as well as it should have been, and that might have been the reason for this film's rather lackluster box office performance.  This was a major feature film, adapted from a legendary TV series, and should have been given more press.  The cast is awesome, the story is great.  It's a perfect blend of action and comedy.  If you compare this to the film version of "Get Smart" (2008), which WAS a huge hit, you'll be amazed how it matches up.  Both movies are spy thrillers done in a comedy vein.  Both movies center around an underdog spy who is trying to establish himself as a really competent agent (Owen Wilson in "I Spy", Steve Carrell in "Get Smart").  Our heroes in both movies have a spy rival (Gary Cole in "I Spy", Dwayne Johnson in "Get Smart").  Both our heroes have irritating partners (Eddie Murphy in "I Spy", Anne Hathaway in "Get Smart").  Both movies feature an unattainable spy woman for our hero (Famke Janssen in "I Spy", Anne Hathaway in "Get Smart").  Heck, in both movies, the base of operations for the good spies gets trashed by the bad guys due to the actions of a rogue spy (Famke Janssen in "I Spy", Dwayne Johnson in "Get Smart").  If you like the "Get Smart" film, you will like this movie, and vice versa.

    In this movie, spy Alex Scott (Owen Wilson) has to work with obnoxious boxer Kelly Robinson (Eddie Murphy) in order to recover a highly advanced, invisible plane.  Both stars turn in great performances.  Murphy really dazzles in this one.  WORTH WATCHING!

Cast:

Eddie Murphy as Kelly Robinson
Owen Wilson as Alex Scott
Famke Janssen as Rachel
Gary Cole as Carlos
Malcolm McDowell as Gundars

Fun Facts:

• The character names of the black guy and white guy in this adaptation of "I Spy" is switched from the classic TV series.  In this movie, the BLACK guy is Kelly Robinson, and the WHITE guy is Alexander Scott.  In the TV series, white guy Kelly Robinson (Robert Culp) was the athlete (most notably, tennis) while black guy Alexander Scott (Bill Cosby) was the non-athlete.  In both cases, however, the white guy was the more experienced of the two spies.
• The original idea for this film called on Kelly Robinson being a basketball player.  However, due to Eddie Murphy's rather short height for basketball, the occupation was changed to boxer.
• The palace for gunrunner Gundars is actually the Hungarian Royal Palace (also known as Buda Castle).
• BNS stands for Bureau of National Security.

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Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang (2005)- Robert Downey, Jr. & Val Kilmer.  Also starring Michelle Monaghan.

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A Low Down Dirty Shame (1994)-  I LOVE THIS MOVIE!  It's as funny as it is action-packed.  I do think it's Keenan Ivory Wayans' best film.  This is probably Jada Pinkett's best performance.  She's done a lot of great work, but no other character in her repertoire is as entertaining to watch as Peaches Jordan.  Corwin Hawkins, in his first and only role, is excellent as Peaches' gay roommate Wayman.  He played a pretty significant character and really added to the comedy.  Wayman isn't just a "tossed in" character.

    I also enjoyed Charles S. Dutton as Sonny Rothmiller.  Like Wayans and Pinkett, this is also a standout role for Dutton.  Andrew Divoff plays another terrible villain (per usual), but does a great job.  And who wouldn't like Salli Richardson as Shame's old flame, Angela?  She is sexy, even if she is just a tramp.

    The movie performed well enough at the box office.  I would like to see a sequel.  There is enough to go off of in this movie to feed another story about Shame.  Plus, it's simply one of the best action-comedies ever made.  It would be fun to see Shame and Peaches again.

Cast:
Keenan Ivory Wayans as Andre Shame
Jada Pinkett as Peaches Jordan
Charles S. Dutton as Sonny Rothmiller
Andrew Divoff as Ernesto Mendoza
Salli Richardson as Angela
Corwin Hawkins as Wayman
Andrew Shaifer as Bernard
Gary Carlos Cervantes as Luis
Gregory Sierra as Captain Nunez
Devin DeVasquez as Mendoza's Girl
Kim Wayans as Diane

Fun Facts:

• This movie was made on a budget of $10 million and at least tripled its budget in theaters.
• Corwin Hawkins, the man who played gay Wayman, was a rising star in stand-up comedy before this film.  His entertaining female impersonations were discovered by Keenan Ivory Wayans, who recruited him for this movie.  Hawkins was just getting his acting career started when he died of pneumonia, shortly before this film was released.  "A Low Down Dirty Shame" is dedicated in his memory.  Hawkins was just 29 years old.
• Shame's first name is Andre, but it's never told to us straight out.
  

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The Mosaic Project (1994)- Jonathan Tabler & Ben Marley.  Also starring Colleen Coffey, Joe Estevez, and Robert Z'dar.  Special appearance by Julie Strain.  This is a very low budget movie, but very well-made.  The makers didn't try to bite off more than they could chew so the story never gets too outlandish.  Everything that happens is pretty much within the extreme realm of possibility and the acting, most notably of the two male leads and Coffey, is witty and humorous.

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The No Mercy Man (1973)-  This is actually a good movie!  How come more people don't know about this?  It's the kind of storyline that popped up a lot towards the end of Vietnam and especially after Vietnam.  A disturbed Vietnam veteran, who is especially prolific at killing, comes home to forget the war, only to find that his town is overrun by a bad element.  Great writing, great action, and great acting.  All of the actors are pretty good.  Rockne Tarkington, who plays the main bad guy, Prophet, gives an especially good performance.  He's not a cardboard cutout bad guy.  Prophet has a bit of pathos.  I think if circumstances had been different, Prophet could have been a good guy, but he just made bad choices.  Movie bad guy standby Sid Haig plays the other top bad guy, Pill Box, who leads a biker gang that Prophet's gang teams up with for a bank heist.

    Heidi Vaughn is pretty cute as Olie's little blonde sister.  She worked quite a bit from 1965 to 1980 and although she never had a really major role, she does boast a bit of a following for film and TV buffs.  Darlene Feasel plays Dora Adams, Olie's girlfriend, and she's REALLY a crowd-pleaser.  A truly knockout brunette.  It's a shame Ms. Feasel didn't do much more in acting, because she looks really nice and has acting ability to back it up.

    Steve Sandor, who plays our hero Olie Hand, is a really cool-looking, and acting, guy.  He's 6' 4" so he's definitely respectable.  He's slightly rugged, but not ugly, and well-groomed.  Mr. Sandor has one of the greatest looks for an action dude I've ever seen.  For most of the movie, his character of Olie Hand is pretty despondent and doesn't want anything to do with fighting.  At the very end of the movie, though, when his hand is forced and his family is threatened, he kills almost all of the movie's bad guys in under two minutes.  It's absolutely awesome!  There's a long fight scene between him and Prophet, and only because Prophet has chains.  Ultimately, though, Prophet is killed.  The title certainly delivers what's promised, although they make us wait for it.  It's worth the wait, though, and the rest of the movie backs it up.

    Speaking of titles, this movie has quite a history.  It was made and released in 1973 under the title "The No Mercy Man".  In 1975 it was retitled, "Trained to Kill" and released mostly in drive-in movie theaters as a 2nd run feature.  In the mid-1980s, it came out on VHS as "Trained to Kill U.S.A." during the early video craze.  Today on DVD, it's still primarily known as "Trained to Kill U.S.A.".  Personally, I think it's a dumb title.  The best title is "The No Mercy Man".  Especially since that is the name of the movie's theme song.

    This is worth watching if you're an action fan!

Cast:

Steve Sandor as Olie Hand [credited as Stephen Sandor]
Rockne Tarkington as Prophet, the tall black leader
Richard X. Slattery as Mark Hand, Olie's father
Heidi Vaughn as Mary Hand, Olie's sister
Peg Stewart as Mrs. Hand, Olie's mother
Darlene Feasel as Dora Adams, Olie's girlfriend
Michael Prichard as Bruce Bennett, one of Olie's Army buddies
Russell Morrell as Sheriff Harris [credited as Russ Morrell]
Carol Locatell as Sally Hendricks, Prophet's white girlfriend [credited as Carol Lawson]
Tom Scott as Parrish, the other black man of the gang
Sid Haig as Pill Box, biker leader
Richard Collier as Joshua White, the old man with the RV
Pattica Sorrenti as Girl in Bank

Writers- Daniel Vance and Mike Nolin
Director- Daniel Vance

CONTACT ME if you can help with cast information above.

Alternate Titles For This Film:

Fire in the Wind [UK, video title]
Trained to Kill [US]
Trained to Kill U.S.A. [US, VHS and DVD title]
The Vietnam Soldier [Europe, English title, video title]

If You Like This Film, Then Watch...

• "First Blood" (1982)- Stars: Sylvester Stallone.  The first Rambo movie.  Rambo returns to America from Vietnam, a disturbed veteran who makes enemies with the oppressive local police department.  Story has the same feel as "The No Mercy Man".

CHECK OUT THE PBDEN CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE FOR THESE AND OTHER GREAT VIDEOS!

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Relentless II: Dead On (1992)- Leo Rossi & Ray Sharkey.  Also starring Miles O'Keefe & Meg Foster.

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Snakes on a Plane (2006)-  A surprisingly intelligent story and great acting.  It's different from most "gimmick" movies.  This is actually a legitimate action film.

    If you really, really hate snakes, you won't want to see "Snakes on a Plane".  There's no way of getting around the snakes.  Essentially, the snakes are the "bad guys" of this picture.  If you don't mind snakes so much, this movie is really cool.

    There are some gratuitous, overly violent scenes with the snakes that were simply "plunked in" to bring this movie from PG-13 to R.  It's painfully obvious they were tossed in and have little importance to the story.  I'm far more impressed with this movie's story and the action.

    Samuel L. Jackson spits out one of the greatest movie one-liners: "I've had it with these motherf***ing snakes on this motherf***ing plane!"  Worth watching for action fans!

Cast:

Samuel L. Jackson as Neville Flynn
Julianna Margulies as Claire Miller
Nathan Phillips as Sean Jones
Rachel Blanchard as Mercedes
Kenan Thompson as Troy
David Koechner as Rick
Flex Alexander as Three G's
Lin Shaye as Grace
Bruce James as Ken
Sunny Mabrey as Tiffany
Elsa Pataky as Maria
Emily Holmes as Ashley
Terry Chen as Chen Leong

Alternative Titles:

• Anaconda 3 [US; fake working title]
• Flight 121 [US; working title]
• Pacific Air 121 [US; working title]
• Pacific Air Flight 121 [US; working title]
• Snake Flight [Japan; English title]
• SoaP [US; promotional abbreviation]

Fun Facts:

• 450 snakes were used in this movie.
• The film had originally wrapped filming in September, 2005.  In March of 2006, New Line Cinema was pressured into filming more scenes to take this from a PG-13 movie to an R movie, mostly by fan interest on the Internet.  It was a 5-day reshoot.  Among these scenes is the one where Jackson yells out his "motherf***ing snakes" line.
• In this movie, 31 people are killed.  Also killed are 29 snakes, one dog, and one cat.
• Despite what some critics and press say, this movie was NOT a flop in theaters.  It was made on a budget of 33 million dollars, and grossed 62 million in theaters alone.  That's not including subsequent DVD sales and rentals.  It actually did pretty well, but it didn't gross the extremely high numbers New Line Cinema was expecting.  Robert K. Shaye, the founder of New Line Cinema, even referred to this movie as a "dud" and was disappointed that it didn't meet higher expectations.
• This movie was hyped huge on the Internet, so everyone expected it to be an extremely huge hit in theaters.  That didn't happen, although the movie did alright.
  

If You Like This Film, Then Watch...

• "Anaconda" (1997)- Stars: Jennifer Lopez, Jon Voight.  This is a cool adventure movie where good guys and bad guys alike battle giant anaconda snakes in the Amazon jungle.
• "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid" (2004)- Stars: Johnny Messner.  Sequel to "Anaconda".
  
• "Die Hard" (1988)- Stars: Bruce Willis.  Actually, you can watch any film in the "Die Hard" series for the same effect.  This was really the first movie of its kind, featuring unique, scary terrorism in an unlikely place and spawning all kinds of imitators.
• "Under Siege" (1992)- Stars: Steven Seagal.  This movie, and its 1995 sequel, are also excellent viewing for mobile terrorism stories.  The original takes place on a sub and the second, on a train.

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The Stranger (1995)- Kathy Long & Eric Pierpont.  Also starring Andrew Divoff & Robin Lynn Heath.  Kathy Long makes quite an action heroine.  What she doesn't have for good dialogue here she more than makes up for with raw attitude and incredible physical stamina.  This is worth watching!

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This is Not a Test (1962)-  This movie serves as an excellent example of Cold War era/nuclear warfare paranoia.  I think it could be shown in schools as it expresses the thoughts, concerns, and feelings of regular people during such a turbulent time period.  Best of all, this film is still relevant today.  We're not too far from waiting for the bomb to drop right now.

    It's a simple "end of the world" tale that leaves a powerful impression.  A deputy sheriff creates a road block, stopping several groups of people.  When it's learned what the road block is about, everyone deals with it in their own way.  The psychotic deputy proves to be quite a control freak.

     The ending is quite cool.  Does anyone live after this catastrophe?  We're not told.  Perhaps those who locked themselves inside the semi trailer survived.  Maybe the young couple who hid inside the mountain cave made it.  Maybe they all burned to a crisp.  We DO know that the evil deputy is among the first to fry, as he's locked out of the trailer, as well as the escaped killer.

    This is a good enough movie, but I don't know if I'd want to see it too many times.  It's kind of depressing.  Plus, I don't care for black and white.  I'll watch black and white if I have to, but I prefer color.  And I DON'T like it that the deputy kills the dog.  I've got some pretty strong reservations against animal abuse.  This movie is quite good for its realism, but as a truly enjoyable Hollywood action flick it falls short.  It's a low-budget movie so it does what it can do, and it does it quite well.  Still, I'd like to see something exploitive like awesome fight scenes, cars flipping over, etc.  Good to watch, and significant, but more fun movies have been made.

Cast:

Seamon Glass as Deputy Sheriff Dan Colter
Thayer Roberts as Jacob Elliot Saunders
Aubrey Martin as Juney
Mary Morlas as Cheryl Hudson
Michael Green as Joe Baragi [credited as Mike Green]
Alan Austin as Al Weston
Carol Kent as Karen Barnes
Norman Winston as Sam Barnes
Ron Starr as Clint Delany
Don Spruance as Peter, boyfriend of Juney

Director- Fredric Gadette
Writers- Peter Abenheim, Betty Laskey (credited Betty Lasky), Fredric Gadette

Fun Facts:

Don Spruance's character of Peter had very little to do with the movie, except as a possible mate for Juney when they hide out in the mountains.
We never do find out what Clint has in his suitcase.  Maybe we don't want to know.
Much of this movie's cast was relatively unknown at the time.

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Unstoppable (2004)- Wesley Snipes  & Jacqueline Obradors.

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Wanted: Dead or Alive (1986)-  This movie's awesome!  It's Rutger Hauer vs. Gene Simmons.  How cool is that?!  Rutger Hauer is Nick Randall, a Los Angeles bounty hunter and ex-CIA operative.  Gene Simmons is Malak Al Rahim, one of the most ruthless Arab terrorists of all time.  Rahim has a score to settle with Randall from the old days, and things get all kinds of personal.

    Hauer is as cool of a tough guy hero as Simmons is a villain.  I've been impressed with Simmons acting work.  It's a shame that he didn't do more in acting.  I really love Mel Harris as an actress.  Her character Terry, Nick's girlfriend, gets killed along with William Russ as Detective Sergeant Danny Quintz.  That's the one part of the movie that bothers me.  I don't think they needed to kill Terry and Danny.  It didn't serve the story that well.  Robert Guillaume also gives a great performance as Nick's ally, Philmore Walker.

    The ending of this movie is one of my all-time favorite movie endings.  Randall catches Rahim and brings him out with a grenade stuffed in his mouth.  There was an extra bonus if Rahim was brought in alive.  Once Randall thinks it over, and remembers his two dead friends, he says, "F*** the bonus." and pulls the pin.  Randall quickly walks away as Rahim screams.  The grenade explodes, and Rahim's body falls.

Cast:

Rutger Hauer as Nick Randall
Gene Simmons as Malak Al Rahim
Mel Harris as Terry
William Russ as Detective Sergeant Danny Quintz
Robert Guillaume as Philmore Walker
Jerry Hardin as John Lipton

Fun Facts:

• A lot of people don't know this, but this film is supposed to be a modern-day remake of the 1958 Western TV series, "Wanted: Dead or Alive".  It's never mentioned, but Nick Randall is supposed to be the descendant of bounty hunter Josh Randall, played by Steve McQueen.
• Years later in an interview, Gene Simmons admitted the reason he largely left acting is because he didn't like the public seeing him as a villain.  He relates the story of how he once went to a theater to see "Wanted: Dead or Alive", and the audience was yelling, "Kill the bastard!".  From then on, he knew he didn't want to be typecast as a movie villain.
• Gene Simmons, who plays an Arab terrorist in this film, is actually Jewish.
• It was surprising to many, myself included, that Gene Simmons did not contribute to the film's soundtrack.  Simmons is, of course, the leader of the super-popular rock group KISS.

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Wilder (2000)- Pam Grier & Rutger Hauer.  I've always liked Pam Grier in shows, especially from the 1980s onward.  She is the lead character of the show, police detective Della Wilder.  Rutger Hauer, always dependable, plays her initial murder suspect and eventual partner Dr. Sam Charney.  Although this is an action movie, it has more of a mystery story to it than action.  It's an interesting, figure-it-out sort of film.  It turns out to be a massive plot by big business to sell birth control pills to women that end up rotting their bodies from the inside out.  So it's Pam and Rutger vs. corporate killers.

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