Low Blow (1986)

This is one I did because I needed to get some more Leo Fong on the site. I don't know that anyone who does a site like we do couldn't need more Leo Fong on their site. In addition to us, our friend from Down Under Simon at Explosive Action has covered this, along with Karl from Fist of the B-List; and this is a Complete the Triangle post for us, as we join our friends at Comeuppance and The Video Vacuum in also reviewing this one.

Low Blow has Fong as a PI who's hired by a rich guy after the rich guy's daughter joins a cult. As is usually the case, things aren't exactly what they seem, as the cult's leader, Cameron Mitchell, is blind, and right under his nose his right-hand woman Karma is taking over power and turning the cult into a prison camp, along with the help of her henchmen, including the great Billy Blanks. Though this nefarious crew gets the drop on Fong initially, that only lasts so long before he escapes, recruits a crew of toughs of his own, Stack Pierce among them, and goes back to the compound to take care of business. These evil cultists won't know what hit them... actually they will, it'll be Leo Fong and his gang.

This is another one of those fun low-budget action bangers you came for. In looking at the other four reviews from colleagues I mentioned above, I think the one thing we were all in agreement on was this was just a fun time. The movie starts with him taking down robbers in a diner, saying "hey, is my ham sandwich ready?" when he enters, and then just shooting the bad guys, knocking one into a classic menu board with moveable letters that we don't see as much anymore. A lot of it after that is Fong in a Member's Only jacket, beating the crap out of people. How much more do you really want in a movie? Okay, then Cameron Mitchell as a cult leader, Billy Blanks as a cult tough, and Stack Pierce as an aging boxer/buddy of Fong's. Yes, by any objective measure, this has some obvious flaws, but in a way the flaws in and of themselves make the film that much more endearing. This is pure Fong trying to make the movie he wants to make on a shoestring budget, and I think for the most part he does what you need him to.

It's crazy to think that not only is this only the third Fong film on our site, but we also didn't even have a tag for him. I think the issue with Fong is a lot of his stuff isn't as available as some of the others, so I've left him, and now we're over 1100 reviews in and he's barely been covered. The good thing is, with the advent of YouTube, more of his stuff is available than it was--including this gem--so I have more of an opportunity to get more of his stuff reviewed. (The bad thing is, we just upgraded our Hulu to include Disney+ and ESPN+, and the volume of out-of-market NHL on ESPN+ is fantastic. It's like, I want to watch Blood Street on YouTube, but there's a Devils-Sabres game streaming followed by a Kings-Canucks game, what am I supposed to do?)

We last did a Billy Blanks movie on December 28th, 2011, so just over ten years ago. I think part of the reason for that is we had done just about every DTV film he'd done to that point, and since then he hasn't really done too much else. Here he doesn't really have a big role, and while he had a good fight with Fong, this is not a "Billy Blanks film" per se, it's more a Leo Fong movie that has Blanks in it; but when it comes to Blanks, we'll take 'em where we can get 'em--which is now 10 films on the site. In terms of a DTV Hall of Famer, it's hard to say, because the quantity isn't there; but could he be in the running for quality? Some of his leading parts in the 90s were some of the best of that era, which says a lot.

There's always this idea when it comes to cults that I'd never be susceptible to something like that, but yet, here I am obsessively cuing up multiple NHL games on ESPN+. I mean, what if former Bruins great Cam Neely DM'd me and started telling me about his new religion he's started? I'd definitely listen. Hell, if PJ Stock, or even Blaine Lacher reached out to me, I'd definitely listen. No, I'd be putty in their hands, it would only be a matter of time before I'm subjected to hard labor in a camp far from home and my wife is calling in Leo Fong to get me out. We don't really have the money for that kind of thing, so it's probably better I keep my mind sharp and aware and not think I'm so above this whole cult thing.

With this last paragraph I wanted was go over the great scene--or series of scenes--where three guys attack Fong, and not only does he dispatch them, but when they try to escape in their car, he disables it, smashes the windows, then dons some eye protection and uses a high-powered saw to cut off the roof of it and turn it into a convertible. This is why we come to movies like this, moments like these are what make it for us. I also think this is why modern DTV doesn't work when the quality is lower the way 80s ones did. There's an earnestness, even when it comes off silly, that just hits in a way that's entertaining. What's nice now is a lot of these are available on YouTube, so you don't need to scramble on the secondary VHS market to find them.

And with that, let's wrap this up. As of this writing, this is now available on Tubi. Before that, and probably after that when Tubi eventually takes it down, it's also available on YouTube. However you see it, it's a fun time.

For more info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091442

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