Forced Vengeance

“Fast, Hard, and Dangerous...Hong Kong is like a slap in the face that feels good.”

Long before Chuck Norris became a once funny, then not funny, then funny again and finally not funny internet MEME he was a joke. But before he was a joke he kicked all sorts of ass. Norris had a pretty decent run with movies like MISSING IN ACTION, INVASION U.S.A., TOP DOG, SIDEKICKS (ok maybe not those last 2). Before those, however, was Forced Vengeance. An oft forgotten gem of Chucks early career and I would argue one of his best films. Regardless of his character having one of the pussiest names ever.

Won't say that to his face though

Chuck plays Josh Randall, family friend and “crisis management” negotiator (read: face puncher and roundhouse kick delivery system) for a small Casino owner in Hong Kong. The film opens with an excuse for a fight, Josh is sent to L.A. To punch a dude in the face till he pays him the money owed. In return for their hospitaliano, Josh winds up hospitalizing the rest of the man's crew as well. I'm fairly certain he cripples a man with a kick to the balls. Once home in the good old U.S...er, China, Josh winds up in the middle of a hostile takeover attempt from another casino. His boss and his boss' son, Sam and Dave (no not THAT Sam and Dave) are brutally murdered after they reject the offer and it's up to old red stache to deal with the situation.

That's really about as deep as the story goes. Forced Vengeance is basically a 106 min excuse to show Chuck do what Chuck does best, no not acting! Norris delivers a myriad of punches and kicks throughout the movie's 12 or 13 fight scenes. The action never lets up either, normally in a movie like this it suffers from the mid movie lulls, but Forced Vengeance delivers face punch after beautiful face punch until the end. And when I say to the end, I mean even over the credits which goes back and edits together all the best devastating punches and so brutal they should be illegal kicks and puts them in slo mo!

he wears the FUCK out of those shades

One of my favorite aspects of the movie is that Josh is not a superman. He gets hurt several times, gets caught unaware and even comes dangerously close to being put out. This gritty realism makes the fight scenes all the more brutal when Chuck wraps a rope around a man's neck and tosses him off the second floor of a ship only to have his head cave in on the side of the boat leaving a horrifying, yet cathartic red smear on the side. Josh also fails a lot in the movie. He fails to protect his friend Lee, a lovable sassy black man and his wife who is brutally raped and Lee is forced to lie there with a broken back and watch. Another fight scene that immediately comes to mind is an amazing ¾ speed fight that takes place in front of a giant red neon sign. The sign is behind them as they fight and the roundhouse kick ballet that goes on for the way too brief scene is shown in silhouette and it's just gorgeous.

The movie is not without it's humorous moments too. Chuck is just like any actioner, he quips one liners then punches you in the face, but I think my favorite unintentionally funny moment of the film is when he goes to visit a stripper who once worked for the baddie and in the background there's playing an Asian instrumental version of SUPERFREAK by Rick James. It's pure hilarity, I quite literally fell out of my chair the first time I heard it and that's not an easy feat. It's the perfect accentuation to an already completely ludicrous scene. Chuck brings the stripper/hooker up to her room. It's as clear as the waters of lake minnetonka that he's not interested in sex and she's getting herself read to BANG HIM!

Bras optional (thank goodness)

So if you like older Chuck Norris films and really, who doesn't?! You'd be doing yourself a disservice not to watch Forced Vengeance. With a climax you have to see to believe you better run out and find this one. Or if you want come on over my place and we'll watch and laugh together! This is a great movie for friends and booze!

5 fists of brutal fury out of 5

Drink up! We've got movies to watch
Moe

The IMDB Bottom 100

1.	1.4	Dream Well (2009)	2,704
*2.	1.5	Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2 (2004)	13,062
3.	1.5	Daniel the Wizard (2004)	8,236
*4.	1.5	Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966)	20,880
*5.	1.5	Monster a-Go Go (1965)	3,242
6.	1.5	Night Train to Mundo Fine (1966)	3,528
7.	1.5	Ben & Arthur (2002)	4,657
8.	1.6	The Skydivers (1963)	2,106
*9.	1.6	The Starfighters (1964)	1,839
*10.	1.6	Zombie Nation (2004)	4,266
11.	1.6	Pledge This! (2006)	8,309
12.	1.6	Ram Gopal Varma's Indian Flames (2007)	2,485
13.	1.6	Zaat (1971)	2,290
14.	1.7	Too Beautiful (2005)	2,042
15.	1.7	The Little Fox 2 (2008)	3,397
16.	1.7	From Justin to Kelly (2003)	18,072
*17.	1.7	The Final Sacrifice (1990)	2,271
18.	1.7	The Hillz (2004)	3,901
*19.	1.7	Disaster Movie (2008)	39,672
*20.	1.7	The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961)	2,914
21.	1.7	Yes Sir (2007)	3,061
*22.	1.7	Hobgoblins (1988)	4,883
*23.	1.7	Zodiac Killer (2005)	2,237
*24.	1.7	Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders (1996)	2,356
*25.	1.8	Fat Slags (2004)	1,919
*26.	1.8	The Pod People (1983)	2,446
27.	1.8	A Story About Love (1995)	1,746
*28.	1.8	Track of the Moon Beast (1976)	1,723
29.	1.8	Turks in Space (2006)	6,323
*30.	1.8	Who's Your Caddy? (2007)	11,788
31.	1.8	The Apocalypse (2007)	2,119
32.	1.8	Crossover (2006)	7,563
*33.	1.8	The Wild World of Batwoman (1966)	2,599
*34.	1.8	The Creeping Terror (1964)	2,020
*35.	1.8	The Hottie & the Nottie (2008) (I hate admitting this one)	23,941
36.	1.8	Space Mutiny (1988)	3,926
*37.	1.9	Girl in Gold Boots (1968)	2,024
*38.	1.9	Die Hard Dracula (1998)	2,300
39.	1.9	Keloglan vs. the Black Prince (2006)	4,098
40.	1.9	Danes Without a Clue (1997)	1,816
41.	1.9	The Tony Blair Witch Project (2000)	3,169
*42.	1.9	Prince of Space (1959)	1,612
43.	1.9	The Maize: The Movie (2004)	1,935
*44.	1.9	The Blade Master (1984)	1,941
*45.	1.9	Going Overboard (1989)	6,166
*46.	2.0	The Barbaric Beast of Boggy Creek, Part II (1985)	1,682
*47.	2.0	Glitter (2001) (again...not proud)	14,357
*48.	2.0	The Pumaman (1980)	2,198
*49.	2.0	Soultaker (1990)	1,932
*50.	2.0	House of the Dead (2003)	23,018
51.	2.0	Surf School (2006)	3,553
*52.	2.0	Son of the Mask (2005)	18,229
53.	2.1	Tangents (1994)	1,828
*54.	2.1	Santa Claus (1959)	2,165
*55.	2.1	Eegah (1962)	3,014
56.	2.1	Anne B. Real (2003)	3,033
57.	2.1	Popstar (2005)	1,678
*58.	2.1	Santa with Muscles (1996)	6,408
*59.	2.1	Leonard Part 6 (1987)	5,011
*60.	2.1	The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964)	2,564
61.	2.1	Beginning of the Great Revival (2011)	3,609
*62.	2.2	Chairman of the Board (1998)	3,328
*63.	2.2	Car 54, Where Are You? (1994)	2,864
*64.	2.2	Snowboard Academy (1996)	1,769
65.	2.2	Miss Castaway and the Island Girls (2004)	1,609
66.	2.2	Epic Movie (2007)	54,565
67.	2.2	Feel the Noise (2007)	2,448
*68.	2.2	Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace (1996)	5,280
*69.	2.2	Baby Geniuses (1999)	10,009
*70.	2.2	Troll 2 (1990) ( I only just watched this recently, Owned it for years)	13,271
71.	2.2	Time You Change (2010)	2,915
72.	2.3	Anus Magillicutty (2003)	3,388
*73.	2.3	Laserblast (1978)	2,518
*74.	2.3	3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998)	5,593
75.	2.3	Alone in the Dark (2005)	27,765
*76.	2.3	Cool as Ice (1991)	4,992
*77.	2.3	Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)	5,721
*78.	2.3	Body in the Web (1960)	2,031
*79.	2.3	Mitchell (1975)	2,661
80.	2.3	In the Mix (2005)	5,538
81.	2.3	Nine Lives (2002)	2,031
82.	2.3	Demon Island (2002)	2,296
83.	2.3	Simon Sez (1999)	3,565
*84.	2.4	Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 (2000)	42,541
85.	2.4	Phat Girlz (2006)	6,529
*86.	2.4	Ed (1996)	4,062
*87.	2.4	Gigli (2003)	30,598
88.	2.4	The Underground Comedy Movie (1999) (featuring Vince from the Sham WOW infomercials)	1,820
*89.	2.4	American Ninja V (1993)	1,862
90.	2.4	The Smokers (2000)	2,073
*91.	2.4	It's Pat (1994)	6,278
92.	2.5	Addiction (2004)	2,255
93.	2.5	Meet the Spartans (2008)	54,348
*94.	2.5	Kazaam (1996)	13,803
*95.	2.5	Daddy Day Camp (2007)	7,692
*96.	2.5	Another Nine & a Half Weeks (1997)	2,280
*97.	2.5	Bolero (1984)	3,025
*98.	2.5	Alien from L.A. (1988)	1,961
99.	2.5	Madea's Big Happy Family (2011)	2,151
100.	2.6	The Class of Chaos 3,5 (2006)	3,342

I've seen 55. How about you?

Malone

By the time 1987 rolled around Burt Reynolds was already a huge star and his star was starting it's first slight decline. With that in mind let me go right in to my favorite fucking part about Malone. Burt Reynolds does not GIVE A FUCK! He delivers each line with such disdain for the material that you'd think they were raping him in between scenes and feeding him shit sandwiches from the Kraft services table. Hell, they might have been. Each syllable it read with such pure hate that Reynolds accidentally sounds like a badass in this. I mean this is the guy who played Stroker Ace, he already had three SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT films under his belt. It makes sense he wouldn't care, fuck I DON'T CARE!

Does not care

Malone is the story of a hitman who loses his edge and decides to run from his past. His car, looks like a leftover from the BANDIT films, breaks down in some shitbox hick town. Apparently this is the single greatest event to ever happen in this town because every single fucking person in the town wants to meet Malone. The writers must have thought the name “Malone” was the greatest name since Jesus Fucking Christ because they force poor Burt to say it no less then 400 times(might be a slight exaggeration). Malone says his name so many times in this film that it's actually forcing me to write Malone's name over and over! I CAN'T STOP

MALONE!

Does not care!

MALONE!

Does not care!!

MALONE!

DOES NOT CARE!!!

MALONE!

DOES NOT FUCKING CARE!!!!

MALONE!

DOOOOEEESSS NNOOOTTT CCCAAAAAARREEEEE!!!!!!!

GOD HELP ME!

GAAAHHH! Now THIS guy cares!

So as you probably guessed already by this point, because despite it being an awesome movie it is a very paint-by-numbers action film, the people Malone work for send some more hitmen to go find him.   A pair of wise guys who Malone dispatches with relative ease and a Woman who Malone “takes out.” That is to say, she falls in love with him. All the while the Daughter of the garage owner is falling in love with Malone, she looks 16, Malone, 47. That's not everything though, in the meantime there's a rich super patriot (read: Xenophobe) who's buying up all the land in the town. The uber rich Delaney (Cliff Robertson) wants to turn this little town into ground zero for the patriot revolution. Malone, reluctant at first, finally takes up arms and, in what could be called the closest thing to emotion, takes out the ENTIRE compound! I would never dream of giving away all of the secrets of the ending, but my guess is you've got it all figured out already.

Malone is a blast to watch, Burt's “acting” alone warrants this...

4 Deadpan Malones out of 5

Darkman

MY box art at my TUMBLR

The problem with Darkman is this, it's not quite dark/gory/violent enough to appeal to the horror genre kids, but is too bleak and depressing to be appealing to comic book super hero fans. I state this is a problem, but not necessarily a bad thing. The combination of bleak, violent, dark, and depressing works perfectly to create a surprisingly fun Sam Raimi film. It defies genre definition by being original, but suffers accessibility in this.

Handsome

Darkman is the story of Dr Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson, doing his finest 'Merican accent) a scientist working on an artificial skin for burn victims. Can we say “foreshadowing”?  Through no fault of his own winds up getting his lab(read: ass) BLOWED UP. When he wakes weeks later in the hospital he finds himself minus a large portion of his skin and any pain receptors. So now with his adrenaline fueled super strength and inability to feel pain he does what any other sane man would do. He sets up shop in an abandoned factory and continues his research/ plans his revenge. This is, of course, after he find the coolest hat and jacket combination in recorded history.

Classy

Turns out a baddie named Durant (played by the villainicious Larry Drake) is helping out the boss of Peyton's girlfriend to pay off key members of the building committee. I guess this is a bad thing because Peyton gets himself killed because of it. I really don't remember why they went after him and not his lady, Julie (Frances Mcdormand). I mean, it's HER fucking paper!

Jump to after the splosion and now Peyton (ne, Darkman) starts creating masks of the baddie's gang and using them against themselves in some truly inspired pranks. Durant kills off more of his own gang  due to Darkman's shenanigans than Darkman ever does. Eventually he even takes the guise of Durant himself to get him arrested so he can play dress up and steal more money from him. This leads to the inevitable scene of Durant and “Durant” yelling “kill him” “NO, kill HIM!” until Darkman's face melts off. That's the joy of having a 99 minute kill time, you melt in public, how embarrassing!



Julie discovers Peyton's deformities just in time  to be kidnapped by her boss. Julie is the nosiest bitch ever, she just HAS to find that “missing” memo again. Finish things out with one of the most action packed third acts I've ever seen, a fun (yet predictable) twist and a great rivet gun fight. Darkman is one for the ages. If you can get through the occasionally dull second act you won't be disappointed in the closer.

4 ½ “That would be...just fine”s out of 5

I Come In Peace (aka Dark Angel)

Drunk on VHS Box Art Gallery 

Dolph Lundgren is HUGE! You tend to forget how big this guy is until he's standing next to an average height guy like Brian Benben. Dolph next to Stallone is not a normal comparison Because Stallone is a midget! Benben on the other hand is 5' 8”, completely average and of average build. Dolph is a foot taller than him and twice as wide! He's like a living, breathing skyscraper! I wonder if he has a problem with fainting because the air is so thin up there. Oh course not, he's Dolph Fucking* Lundgren! (*citation needed, middle name may not actually be “Fucking”)

As it turns out, his middle name...is Dolph

I Come in Peace, for some reason called Dark Angel (a terrible name) everywhere except North America, is cops vs aliens. Lundgren is the standard “cop on the edge”, we find out he has recently disappeared for 8 days. They make a big deal out of it because according to the chief “a week would have been OK”. On a stakeout he notices a pair of poor schlubs robbing a local liquor store. While he's kicking the shit out of them the agent he was surveilling gets shot up by a ruthless gang of investment bankers called “The White Boys”. They get theirs soon enough when the bad alien (played by the always AWESOME Mathias Hues, in one of his very limited  roles on the big screen) takes them all out with a razor sharp and utterly deadly compact disc, a new technology back then! Jack Caine (Lundgren) gets back in time to discover everyone dead from mysterious causes and all the heroin is gone.

The name is dumb, but that box rules

The cantankerous police chief demands Jack take time off. The chief does this approximately 4 times during the movie, but Jack never seems to make it. I suppose it would have been a much duller film if he had. They could have called it “I Come To The Beach”. Thankfully for the viewing audience the alien keeps coming back to cause destruction and it's up to Caine and Smith (Benben) to save the day!
We learn from a good alien that the bad alien (to be called BA from now on) is injecting people with massive amounts of heroin to create endorphins.  If the universe were a trailer park, endorphins would be the Meth. The collection method for these endorphins is so brutal it makes me squirm in my seat a little.

Stabby Stabby

I love pretty much everything about this flick. Dolph plays Jack with a mellow cool and Benben is a perfect counterpoint to him with his wound too tight FBI agent, Smith. Hues destroys as the BA, he says one line in the film and yet maintains such a high level of threat and menace you know you'd shit yourself if you encountered him in real life. The dialog can be a little groan heavy at times, but I can't hold that against it. That's just how movies were then, 10 minutes of action to one groan worthy line was the golden ratio. I Come In Peace is a great flick to gather a bunch of friends together, drink a lot of hooch and laugh for an hour and a half at. You'll be quoting the climactic one liner for the rest of your life. “I come in peace” “and you go in pieces, asshole” delivered like a boss!

5 Brutal Head Stabbings out of 5    

Fireback

Check out my VHS box art collection at http://drunkonvhs.tumblr.com/

Allow me to pose a question to you. Do you enjoy movies that are pure insanity? Do you like storylines so flimsy and paper thin that a stiff wind could knock it over? How about GIGANTIC “Swiss Army” guns? What about horrible overdubbing? Then Brother have I got a movie for you!

Here's a bit o' the plot for ya: Fireback is the story of Jack (Richard Harrison), ambushed during the war he's brought home near death. Upon recovery he discovers his wife has been kidnapped and from there it's a punch-guys-in-the-face fest till Jack gets his motherfuckin answers! One clue after another lead Jack in an increasingly bizarre wild goose chase. Once the baddie Duffy Collins, in what is inarguably the single worst villain name in history, finds out that Jack is after him he kills Jack's wife and then the shit REALLY hits the fan. For some reason I think Duffy thinks that Jack will relent because his wife is dead. NOPE! Jack continues right on with his brutality Circus taking out hired thugs, goons, hitmen, a man with a golden claw and eventually A NINJA!!!

Though not this ADORABLE

Finally taking out Duffy you'd think that would be the perfect place to end right? Duffy gets his comeuppance and jack lives happily ever after? No that would make too much sense, The Filmmaker decides to tack on a post plot paragraph of exposition explaining that Jack later went on the lamb and was eventually captured by the police and DIED IN JAIL DUE TO A HEART DEFECT!!! WHAT?! The movie was all fists and guns till that last bit of reading and they end it on such a downer, so not only does Duffy die (as he should) and Jack's wife dies, but JACK dies as well. You can't make this shit up! Oh wait, THEY DID!

Fireback is a movie and a half, watching the trailer you'd think it was just another mindless war-in-the-jungle film, but that's really just the first 20 minutes or so. It's also the only time we see the gun from the front cover. It makes a very brief appearance, but does get used! Blows shit up real good too (read that in a southern accent). It's a shame really because it's featured so prominently on the box and I was really looking forward to seeing it destroy an entire Army. I can tell you, however, that one of it's finest selling points is a scope with 5X ZOOM! OH YEAH?! AWESOME! My Red Rider BB gun had one too.

The rest of the story takes place back home, which in this case I'm assuming is south east Asia. It's a pretty wacky plot with some really silly acting and/or overdubbing. There's a great character whose name eludes me at the moment (he's the one black guy in the film) and every time he's walking anywhere he's scatting and jiving to himself like an old minstrel show. I'd say it was racist, but I think you have to have some self awareness to truly be racists. I think the producers just thought that's how “the blacks”(I assume that's how they'd say it) talk over here in the US of A. There's a stripper who manages to take clothes off and still be as dressed as she was when she started. And did I mention the man with the golden claw?

The plot is insane. The acting is insane. The dubbing is over-the-top insane. Fireback is a must see

5 X Zoom out of 5

Switchblade Sisters

Switchblade Sisters

The Dagger Debs are pretty vicious, callous and downright mean, and those are their GOOD qualities! Their leader Lace, played by the adorable Robbie Lee, lacks the ability to open her mouth and subsequently hisses and snarls every single word out of her mouth. Try talking without moving your jaw; I assure you you’ll end up sounding like Edward G Robinson before long. The Debs have an easy life, they rob, and they pilfer and loot poor unsuspecting truancy officers and hang with their boyfriends in the Daggers.

Adorable, but deadly

In a fortuitous case of wrong place/wrong time the Debs start a brawl at a hot dog joint and the “innocent” Maggie finds herself in the clink with the rest of the Debs. She quickly befriends Lace and before too long she’s in the Debs and being raped by Lace’s douchebag boyfriend Mungo…or something like that, he’s dead soon anyway so who cares. In a plot out of Shakespeare a twisted game of cloak and dagger (pun intended) ends with half the Daggers being gunned down in what was an attempt on Maggie’s life. Lace gets knocked around, Dom (Mungo) gets shot and killed, despite all this, Hook (named for his horribly bent John Thomas), otherwise known as Bob on that 70’s show survives to cower another day.

You get NOTHING donut!

Maggie pounces on this opportunity while Lace is incapacitated and the Gang secedes from the Daggers and changes its name to The Jezebels. They enlist the help of the militant “black panther” type gang to help take out the rival gang that gunned down the Daggers. Turns out Maggie had a case of the Jungle Fever, which apparently is all it takes to get a gang of white hating chicks to help a bunch of ignorant white chicks. This is the least believable part of the film, yup you heard that right, THIS is the least believable part of the film! 

This is what inspires the wrath of the Jezebels! THIS!

I’d feel bad if I ruined the incredible climax of the film for you, but rest assured it involves backstabbing and what can arguably be the greatest “advice” ever given to a cop “keep your ass off our turf, or WE’LL BLOW IT OFF! Ya dig?”

Switchblade Sisters (aka The Jezebels) is rife with amazingly brutal and violent dialog spewing forth from attractive women’s mouths. It pulls no punches in its harshness and leaves an amazing taste in your mouth which will leave you yearning for more amazing Jack Hill writing. The Script is one of the most quotable I’ve ever seen

“Like my dad used to say, God rest his ass...”

“Everybody knows your crank can hook a tuna.”

“Get your hands off me, you fat pig dyke!’

And the classic…

“If you go, it’s gonna turn out baaaad”

Art from exploitation

If you’re at all familiar with Jack Hill’s work, and if you’re not then you’re no friend of mine, then you will love every minute of Switchblade Sisters. It’s a joy from the second it starts to the moment it ends with a surprising lack of drag that this genre is notorious for. Check it out today and if you’ve already seen it…WATCH IT AGAIN!

5 out of 5!