Out of Bounds (1986) Columbia/Action-Thriller RT: 93 minutes Rated R (violence, language, drugs) Director: Richard Tuggle Screenplay: Tony Kayden Music: Stewart Copeland Cinematography: Bruce Surtees Release date: July 25, 1986 (US) Cast: Anthony Michael Hall, Jenny Wright, Jeff Kober, Glynn Turman, Raymond J. Barry, Pepe Serna, Michele Little, Jerry Levine, Ji-Tu Cumbuka, Kevin McCorkle, Linda Shayne, Maggie Gwinn, Ted Gehring, Meatloaf, Allan Graf, Siouxsie and the Banshees. Box Office: $5M (US)
Rating: *
The action-thriller Out of Bounds is a ‘five-day wonder” (opened on Friday, gone by Wednesday). It was the second such movie that summer; the first was American Anthem. I was planning to see it that Wednesday, my first day off from ACME that week. When I opened the paper to the movie schedule, I was bummed to see that it had already ready been yanked from theaters. I found out later it was a studio decision. I went to see Maximum Overdrive at the same theater (the Barclay Square) a week or so later and struck up a conversation with the manager who told me Out of Bounds performed so poorly, the studio recalled all prints early. He told me maybe three people showed up in its final two days (Monday and Tuesday). He also said it was every bit as bad as the reviews said it was. I found that out for myself when I rented it on video the following February.
Casting Anthony Michael Hall (aka “The Geek” from Sixteen Candles) as the lead in an action picture turned out to be an idea as misconceived as Blue City, another bad actioner starring another young actor- i.e. Judd Nelson- looking to break free from the Brat Pack. In Out of Bounds, Hall plays Daryl Cage, an Iowa farm boy who gets mixed up with drug dealers in L.A. after he grabs the wrong bag at the airport. He’s there to live with his older brother (McCorkle) and his wife (Shayne, Screwballs) in the wake of his parents selling the farm and splitting up. Daryl has some things he’d like to say to his brother, but decides to hold off until morning. He shouldn’t have waited; the brother and wife are both dead by morning, brutally murdered by the vicious dealer, Gaddis (Kober, The First Power), looking for his product, ten kilos of heroin. What’s worse, the L.A. police think Daryl did it.
With no place to go and nobody to call, Daryl goes to the only person he knows in L.A., a waitress named Dizz (Wright, Near Dark) that he met on the plane. Against everything even remotely resembling good judgment, she agrees to walk out on her job and help him find the scumbag who killed his brother so he can clear his name before the cops blow him away (remember, this is the LAPD we’re talking about here). This entails a complete makeover for Daryl and spreading the word through the city’s underbelly that they’re holding a large supply of smack. Sooner or later, the rightful owner will make himself known. When he finally does, it’s less than civil.
Taking into account that Daryl is an out-of-towner and a fish out of water, this kid has no idea what he’s doing. Neither do the writers apparently. It’s a given Daryl will do dumb things like pick up the weapon at the crime scene and take it with him when he flees the scene, but please tell me he’s not dumb enough to pull it out in front of cops with guns drawn, is he? Yep, he is! What happens next defies all logic. He instantly becomes an action hero jumping onto the back of a motorcycle and forcing the owner (Graf, Blue City) at gunpoint to play getaway driver. It leads to a wild chase through crowded streets during which Daryl remains unbelievably calm. Yeah, sure.
HOWEVER, I’m more willing to believe this than a lot of other things that happen in Out of Bounds. Take the mix-up at the airport. The dealer goes to a lot of trouble to get the drugs even murdering the poor driver of the truck it’s hidden in. It’s worth a crapload of money, maybe more than a cool million. Why then does he check it at the airport? For that matter, why does he even take a plane? Wouldn’t it be safer to drive or take a bus or any method of transportation that doesn’t involve possible bag checks? Back to the airport, with all that’s at stake, why isn’t the dealer already waiting at the carousel when the bag comes out? Isn’t there even a small chance that somebody might grab it by mistake? After all, red carry-on bags aren’t that uncommon. I know, we’re not supposed to ask such questions in action movies, but you can’t help it with one that raises as many questions as Out of Bounds.
I haven’t even mentioned the other two guys (Barry and Serna) chasing after the drugs. They track Gaddis as he tries to chase down Daryl. It doesn’t really matter who they are, they’re bad. That’s all that’s important. Then there’s the cop, Lt. Delgado (Turman, Gremlins), investigating the brother’s murder. He might believe in Daryl’s innocence; all he needs is solid evidence to prove it. This is where questions about the competence of the LAPD come into question. How is it that an entire forensics team has to go over the house three times before finding fingerprints that don’t belong to Daryl or the occupants? For that matter, why doesn’t Daryl just level with Delgado and explain what happened? At the very least, it would leave room for doubt regarding his guilt.
I could sit here and give you a whole song and dance about Brat Packers wanting to transition into adult roles and the likely success rate of each actor. Forget it. Let’s stick with Hall. Plain and simple, he’s terrible in Out of Bounds. As an actor, Hall is as much in over his head as the character he plays. For what it’s worth, he fares better in naïve farm boy mode than as a pretend tough guy. He doesn’t have any chemistry with Wright who looks like she’s competing in a Cyndi Lauper lookalike contest. Her character Dizz claims she’s really an actress, but if you go by how she acts in the reel life of Out of Bounds, is it any wonder she’s never gotten a single job? As for Kober, he snarls, glares and glowers as the bad guy. In other words, business as usual for an 80s action movie villain.
The one cool thing about Out of Bounds is how it takes you on a tour of the rock club scene of L.A. You get to hear some good music. Punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees makes a cameo. Also, the action scenes aren’t too bad although I’d like to know how it is that nobody sees or hears two men shooting at each other atop and down the side of a tall building on the Sunset Strip. Again, NOT a question to ask of a dumb action flick.
I’ll be honest, as thoroughly bad as Out of Bounds is, I consider it a guilty pleasure. It’s a deliciously bad 80s movie, one that has become entertaining with the passage of time. The icing on the cake is that it’s directed by Richard Tuggle who only two years earlier wowed critics and audiences with the dark Clint Eastwood thriller Tightrope. Out of Bounds turned out to be his last theatrical film. Gee, I wonder why? It’s not all his fault though. A lot of the blame lies with the hole-ridden screenplay by Tony Kayden. It makes you wonder if anybody in Hollywood actually reads the scripts before filming starts. In any event, Out of Bounds works best as an unintentional comedy with a cool soundtrack.
