Young Rebels (1989)

This is one I did on the podcast back in August, episode 105, with Jacob Gustafson of the Awful Awesome book series, and I've had it in my queue to review all that time. I guess there's no time like now to finally make it happen. In addition to us, this is a Superfecta Film, as Comeuppance, The Video Vacuum, and Bulletproof have all covered it before as well.

Young Rebels has neither youth nor rebellion, but rather is an Amir Shervan joint about a guy, played by Jon Greene (as Johnny Greene) who has a down-on-his luck brother that's into a mob boss for a lot of dough. To settle the debt, Greene agrees to fly a helicopter to pick up some guys in Mexico for the mob boss, but when that goes south, the mob boss, as mob bosses are wont to do, decides he wants his revenge, so he starts by killing Greene's brother. Turns out he messed with the wrong guy, so Greene gathers up some friends, including Tadashi Yamashita, to take the mob boss, and the mob boss's son, Robert Z'Dar, down. It's going to be a blood bath--or maybe just an extended shootout and extended strip scene bath, but a bath nonetheless.

This is pure Shervan. All of our late 80s action movie excess is run through Shervan's Iranian filter and reflected back at us. How long should a strip scene go before it crosses from sexy into uncomfortable? Shervan has no idea, American guys seem to spend hours in these places, so why not make it as long as possible? And does seeing a sweaty doughy man responding to the strippers make it more uncomfortable for the viewer? Why would it, don't American men go to these places with other guys all the time? What about the shootouts taking place in late 80s finished basements, known at the time as "dens,"--before we had to give everything cute names like "man caves"--how long should those be? I mean, Americans like action and they love their guns, the longer the better, right? And to that point, who cares how good the dialog is? Does it even need to make that much sense? It makes sense enough to me, that should be all that matters, right? While this doesn't have the all out classic level of ridiculousness that Samurai Cop does, for the kind of movie this is, it hits all the right spots.

We last saw now DTVC Hall of Famer Robert Z'Dar back in October when we did his induction post, which was also an Amir Shervan film, Killing American Style. Like that one, this was a bigger role for Z'Dar, which let him do more. The problem here was, part of that doing more was watching a woman do a strip tease with a long necklace of pearls that she drags through parts of her body that maybe she shouldn't have, and Z'Dar has to react to it like he's into it. There is no real face someone can make to show they're into it that doesn't look ridiculous, especially on camera, which means Z'Dar was already working uphill before he even agreed to do that scene, but he ends up making it more cringey for us the viewer. The question is, where do we go from here with Z'Dar? He does have some stuff on Tubi and YouTube, but the reality is, a lot of it is two or three notches below where we usually go with all the stuff that's available now. There are a couple though, like Red Line and Double Blast, which our friends at Comeuppance have already covered, that I think we need on here, so this definitely won't be the last we see of Mr. Z'Dar.

We're now at three Amir Shervan films on the site, and I slot this one between the other two, right after Samurai Cop and before Killing American Style. It's a fascinating filmography though, where he's an established director in Iran, then is forced to come to the US after the Iranian Revolution, and while the next generation of filmmakers there are, despite the restrictions put on their work by the government, a few years out from putting out some of the best stuff in the world at that time, Shervan is giving us what are objectively some of the most off the wall low-budget actioners ever. As we get into the later part of the 90s, in Iran we get Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry, Makhmalbaf's Gabbeh, Dariush Mehrjui's Leila--and Mehrjui was actually a contemporary of Shervan's before Shervan left Iran--and Majid Majidi's Oscar nominated Children of Heaven--and even before that, in 1992, one of my favorites, Nargess, directed by Rakhshan Bani-etemad, all while Shervan is giving us Samurai Cop and Young Rebels. It's really fascinating to consider these two tracks in parallel, that we have a set of directors who are the darlings of international cinema working in the country Shervan was forced to flee, while he's struggling to put together some schlock actioners that he thinks are what Americans at that time wanted. What we get isn't maybe something worthy of the Criterion Collection, but it's fun just the same, making it a short but sweet legacy in the DTV action world.

Our hero is played by Jon Greene, and when we look at his filmography on IMDb, it's a lot of "police officer," "police detective," or "police sergeant"--in fact, we've seen him before as "Officer Baylor" in Crack House. This was his one time to shine as the hero, the problem was, I think in Shervan trying to push the "young" element in the film, he ended up making him into the guy I used to see in the convenience store on a Friday when I was growing up who definitely looked like he was onto cooler and better things than me and my friends who were loading up on junk food before a night of video game playing. Was that guy really about do something cooler than that though? When I finally got to be his age, I learned that life generally wasn't that much cooler, that maybe finishing every level in Super Mario 3 without warping was better than getting wasted and having a hangover the next day, and now it's even worse, as guys that age post on social media what they're doing to try and make it look even better. At least that guy back then, or me 10 years later, didn't need to worry about making everything look better to keep up with the Joneses on Instagram, didn't need to worry about how our sneakers looked, if our T-shirts had designer logos on them, if the place we were at was more of a destination than what our friends were posting. No, that guy in his mullet, dirty high-tops, and faded jeans was living his best life before we coined horrible terms like that and needed to hashtag it on our social media posts about what we were doing. 

Finally, as I mentioned above, parts of this film take place in the finished basement, or den, of the house where they were filming. When I was in high school, a friend of ours had one of those finished basements complete with a bar and a bathroom, and he used to host big sleepovers with five or six of us on a weekend. We could sneak out the backdoor to smoke weed, or go to get late night food, often the friends with cars letting them roll in neutral to avoid waking up his parents before they started the engine. Nowadays, that den would be called a "man cave," the dad wouldn't let his son use it for sleepovers, and Ring cameras would patrol the backdoor so no one could sneak out. Were we "young rebels," or just kids in a small town in Maine who were looking for something to do? And to go back to the previous paragraph, we couldn't wait until we were old enough to have our own places where we could smoke our weed and come and go when we felt like it. The problem, as I'm sure you know, is your own place comes with bills, which means you need a job too. Now we don't even need to sneak out to get weed, I can take a bus to New Jersey and get gummies legally--and if I snuck out at 1am here in Philly, I don't know what kind of unsavory characters I'd run into, but I can order my Taco Bell through Doordash so I don't need to sneak out to get it. Here's to you 90s den and all that came with you, you were one of the good ones.

And with that, let's wrap this up. Here in the States you can stream this free on Tubi. That's your best bet. It's not quite Samurai Cop, but it will anchor your Saturday movie night well enough. As the guys at Comeuppance said, they don't make 'em like this anymore, and I agree with them that that's not a great thing.

For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2394099

And if you haven't yet, check out my new novel, Holtman Arms, at Amazon in paperback or Kindle!

Killing American Style (1988)

It's October, and you know what time that is at the DTVC, right? Actually you may not, because I usually don't have my shit together, but this year I do. It's time for Hall of Fame inductions, and we start with the one and only Robert Z'Dar, so I figured this would be a good one for his induction post. In addition to us, RobotGEEK's Cult Cinema has covered this, plus our other three usual suspects, Comeuppance, The Video Vacuum, and Bulletproof Action, so I finally join those three in finally making this happen too.

Killing American Style is an Amir Shervan joint starring Robert Z'Dar as the leader of a gang who, after a robbery where people are killed, is arrested, but then en route to prison, his brother springs him and his pals. Problem is, said brother is injured in the execution, and they need to get him help quick. They find a nice house with a nice family inside and take them hostage, hoping to get a doctor to nurse the brother to good health, and also pick up the money from the robbery gone bad. The fly in the ointment though, Harold Diamond is the man of the house. Z'Dar an co won't know what hit them.

From a Shervan film standpoint, this one is good, but as opposed to Samurai Cop or Young Rebels, which are suitable for a mixed bad movie night audience, this is more for your hardcore crew. One, there's a rape scene. Two, we have some extended nudity. And three, overall it's a bit darker. Beyond that though, this is the fun Shervan you came for, between Z'Dar as the main baddie taking his baddie to another level, to Diamond as the family man who just happened to know martial arts and wear unzipped coats with no shirt underneath, it delivers the goods. The other issue is, because it's a home invasion movie, and clocks in at 101 minutes, it does spin its wheels a bit in the middle--another reason it's probably not a good bad movie night pick, but I think once you've done Samurai Cop and Young Rebels, this is your next Shervan go to.

Now for the man of the hour, Mr. Z'Dar. When I did a Z'Dar podcast episode with the guys from Comeuppance (episode called "A Z'Dar is Born" in their podcast archives), I had a realization that he probably belonged in the Hall of Fame, so from there it was a matter of what movie to choose. Sure, a Maniac Cop would be a good choice, but I thought because is face is all scarred that that might not be as fitting. His Shervan films on the other hand, though maybe not as iconic as the Maniac Cop films, were really the ones that let Z'Dar stretch his acting chops, and I think he really enjoyed making them for that reason. In that vein, this is a more fitting way to celebrate him. With that shot above, I don't know what's happening with his rib cage, but overall, I think he played an excellent baddie here, which, despite the fact that the film dragged in spots, helped get us through some of that dragging.

This is now three Harold Diamond films here at the DTVC, but I discovered in his IMDb bio that he was a fight consultant in Kickboxer: Vengeance, so I added that tag in for him as well. The problem for him here is, despite how cool he could be, the home invasion construct forces him to look weak for large portions of the film. That's an area where the Die Hard paradigm improved action films, because if his family were being held hostage, and he had to get them out of a building, he could just take guys out one-by-one. The other thing is, because Diamond has such a scant filmography, it's hard to see one of his outings waste him like the home invasion paradigm ultimately does with its heroes. Looking at his IMDb bio, he doesn't have much else for us to do, especially since some of his films are hard to find--including Gypsy by this director. It's a shame he didn't do more, because between this and his Sidaris films, he makes a fun action star.

This is our second Amir Shervan film we've covered on the site, but we also did a podcast episode on Young Rebels with Jacob Gustafson of the Awful Awesome book series as a guest, and we got into Shervan as a director in general there. In school I studied Iranian film, but what I studied was the post-Revolution New Wave stuff, and Shervan was before that. One thing Jacob and I talked about was the idea that maybe all the stuff we see as silliness, was Shervan trying to mimic what he saw as popular trends in American movies. In that sense, are we're getting something like Ross Hagen dressed like a cowboy in Action USA telling Hoke Howell "when in Rome...", or maybe a distorted mirror reflecting what Shervan thinks we value back at us, but we don't recognize it as such. The only thing missing was the Garfield phone, but seen through that lens, it gives the films a different vibe, which to me makes them more fun--and you need all the fun you can get when a movie has a rape scene in it.

Finally, earlier I mentioned the fact that this film has a rape scene in it. It reminded me of when I read about Sidehackers in the MST3K Episode Guide and how they committed themselves to that movie without watching it, and realized there was a rape and murder scene that they had to cut out. It's just not fun, and while I get that Shervan or the Sidehackers director weren't making movies so we could make fun of them, it does serve as a reminder that the movies we watch and celebrate on this site and others like it aren't always for everyone, and when we're introducing our movies to friends and family who aren't otherwise inclined, we have to make sure there isn't anything in there that might be uncomfortable. Animals being killed, women being raped, nudity, over the top torture of the hero, all things we need to screen in advance. That's why Bridge of Dragons is one that always works, but Showdown in Little Tokyo maybe not so much. With Samurai Cop, is the bacon grease too much, or not graphic enough to be an issue? You gotta know your audience, but if you pull it off right, you can have a great bad movie night that people bring up years later.

And with that, let's wrap this up. As of right now, Cinema Epoch has this on DVD, and available to stream on Tubi here in the States. I think if you're a Z'Dar fan, and you haven't seen this, it's definitely worth a go; and great to finally get him into the DTVC Hall of Fame with this post, as he's truly one of the DTV legends. In terms of a classic "that kind of movie," the way Samurai Cop is, this is a bit too brutal to be that, plus it drags in spots. That's okay, the way Jim Morrison told the Doors "we've already done Ed Sullivan" after a producer told them they'd never be able to go on again when Morrison sang the line "couldn't get much higher," we can say "we already have Samurai Cop, we don't need Killing American Style to be another."

For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293324

And if you haven't yet, check out my new novel, A Girl and a Gun, at Amazon in paperback or Kindle!

Samurai Cop (1989)

I felt I needed to make up for what I saw as the Robert Z'Dar debacle last week by featuring a film where his face was out in center. I realize at this point that perhaps I am the only one with an issue with a film using Robert Z'Dar and hacking up his face. I want everyone to know that that will not keep me from reviewing the other two Maniac Cops at the DTVC, considering those are probably the films he is best known for... even if that's hard for me to admit.

Samurai Cop is about a gang called The Kitana that are trying to take over LA. The LAPD won't have that, so they call in a Samurai Cop, who is really just guy who looks like a reject from a Nelson video with a thick mane of hair and a penchant for sleeping with or discussing sexual relations with every woman he sees. The Kitana are ready for this Samurai Cop with a samurai of their own, the bulbous-headed Robert Z'Dar. Now it's war, and only one man will be left standing.



This could've been awesome. This could've been one of the greatest. There was one thing that held it back: a scene where scream queen Melissa Moore is tortured by having hot bacon grease poured on her torso. Why? I mean, you had this one nailed. The lines were ridiculous, Robert Z'Dar's face was in full effect, the hero's hair was at times replaced by a wig that made him look ridiculous-- and then you had to blow it with the bacon grease scene.

But that's okay, though. Again, that's my own personal issue, and other than that, the rest of this film is one of the most amazing things ever done in cinema. One of my favorite lines was from their police chief, who said "I feel like someone shoved a club up my ass... and it hurts!" Who says that? Why would you say that? And the hero was so amazing. The hair, the lines. Oh, and the Speedo, did I forget to mention that? Yep, he rocks a Speedo while wooing a broad on the beach. So maybe it's not a ten, but it's a nine in my book.



One cool addition to the DVD is the Robert Z'Dar interview. He actually seems kind of affable. His face has also swelled quite a bit since this film was made. You almost wouldn't recognize him. Joe Bob Briggs, in his intro to the film, referred to Z'Dar as "The Face", but because "he has only one expression throughout the film." Um... Joe Bob... I think he's known as "The Face" because of the size of it, not the expressions on it. This is the first of many Z'Dar films we'll be showing this year, so get ready.

And yes, I did mention a Joe Bob Briggs intro in the previous paragraph. He not only has an introduction to the movie, but he does commentary too, which I listened to a little bit. Man do we all miss him. I understand that TNT makes out much better with New Classics like Ransom and The Family Man, but what about the children, huh? What about us? We loved having Joe Bob there screening real New Classics like Virtual Assassin and Voodoo. Here's to you, Joe Bob Briggs, you are one of the good ones.



I'm sure you know MTV has a new show called The Jersey Shore, which is pretty much The Real World set at the Jersey Shore with a bunch of Guidos and Guidettes. It got me thinking, I wish I had an ethnic identity like that that I could relate too, that had horrible stereotypes that I could take ownership of. So I tried to think of what silly things the worst French Canadians do, and the only thing that came to mind was how they invaded the Maine beaches every summer, rocking their Speedos. No way I'm doing that. But our hero did. And why wouldn't he? And he's not even French Canadian.

So if you can handle a little of what Joe Bob affectionately referred to as "Bacon Grease-Foo", you'll love this movie. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's ridiculous, but I can safely say you won't feel like someone shoved a club up your ass afterward.

For more info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130236/