Steele Justice (1987) Atlantic/Action RT: 96 minutes Rated R (violence, language, drug material) Director: Robert Boris Screenplay: Robert Boris Music: Misha Segal Cinematography: John M. Stephens Release date: May 8, 1987 (US) Cast: Martin Kove, Sela Ward, Ronny Cox, Bernie Casey, Joseph Campanella, Soon-Tek Oh, Jan Gan Boyd, Robert Kim, Shannon Tweed, Sarah Douglas, Peter Kwong, David Froman, Al Leong, David Lander, Phil Fondacaro, Kevin Gage, The Desert Rose Band, Astrid Plane. Box Office: $1.3M (US)
Rating: ***
There is no argument. The 80s were a great time for action movies. For movie geeks like me, there was nothing more gratifying than checking out the latest offerings from Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Norris and Bronson. There were also the one-off actioners like Black Moon Rising, Eye of the Tiger, Wanted Dead or Alive, Death Before Dishonor, Action Jackson and Steele Justice.
The 1987 actioner stars Martin Kove in his first lead role. You know him best as villainous sensei Kreese in The Karate Kid. On TV, he played macho Detective Isbecki on Cagney & Lacey. It was supposed to launch his career as the next big action star, but it didn’t quite work out that way. Audiences skipped Steele Justice en masse when it came out in spring ’87. I guess they didn’t want to see yet another action movie featuring a messed-up Vietnam vet. I, on the other hand, didn’t care. If you know me, you know wild horses can’t keep me away from violent action flicks like this.
Kove plays John Steele, a burned-out mess of an ex-cop who goes up against the Vietnamese Mafia (aka “The Black Tigers”) after they execute his former partner/best friend Lee (Kim, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and his family in retaliation for interfering with their drug operations. He can’t convince his former boss Captain Bennet (Cox, Beverly Hills Cop) to go after the man responsible, Kwan (Oh, Missing in Action 2: The Beginning), a Vietnamese general he first encountered at the end of the war when he stopped him from stealing $20 million in CIA gold. Everybody sees Kwan as a respected member of the Vietnamese community. Surprise, he’s really NOT! Steele knows it, but nobody believes him. As such, he takes it on himself to take down Kwan and his entire gang while keeping the sole survivor of the massacre, teenage daughter Cami (Boyd, Assassination), safe from assassins looking to finish what Kwan’s son (Kwong, Big Trouble in Little China) started.
Until recently, I hadn’t seen Steele Justice since the 90s. Looking at it with wiser eyes, I realized how silly it all it is. It’s one of those “so bad it’s great” movies. It contains the usual 80s action movie clichés like the thick-headed police superior, the training montage set to a cheesy rock song (“Fire with Fire” by Hot Pursuit), the hero treating his own wound, the ex-wife (Ward, Nothing in Common) who stills loves her former husband even though she says otherwise and the dopey dialogue. There are some great goofy lines in Steele Justice. Here’s a sampling:
“He isn’t being recruited. He’s being unleashed.”
“The war isn’t over for you, it just changed locations.”
And how about this exchange:
Kwan: “The only law is Black Tiger law.”
Steele: “And the only justice is me.”
How do you NOT love dialogue like this? The line about “being unleashed” is just precious. Because it’s the 80s, we also get a scene of a music video being filmed (“You’re Not a Lover” by Astral Plane). It’s the usual New Wave-type song. Of course, it’s interrupted by Kwan’s men arriving on the scene with automatic weapons blazing.
Then, of course, we have the final confrontation between Steele and Kwan. They fight it out ninja-style with swords. Kwan is clad in black while Steele dresses just like Rambo replete with ammo belt across his bare chest. We’ve seen all of this before. What we’ve never seen, however, is the unique explosive device used in the opening scene in Vietnam. It’s a rat with a hand grenade strapped to its back. Who knew the nasty little buggers could be so useful?
As for the acting, what do you expect from a movie called Steele Justice? It’s not like we’re talking about On the Waterfront here. That being said, I’ve seen better and worse than this. It’s great to see Kove play a good guy. The problem is he isn’t very convincing as a man still suffering the effects of a terrible war that ended more than a decade ago. He’s a little better when he shifts into action hero mode. Still, he’s easily outacted by his pet snake Three-Step so named for his poisonous bite. If bitten, the victim dies within three steps. Oh, possibly on loan from Cannon, makes a decent bad guy. You just love to hate him.
The worst performance in Steele Justice comes from Boyd, an actress in her 20s playing a girl who can’t be more than 15. She just can’t act. The cool supporting cast includes Bernie Casey (Sharky’s Machine) as the only cop on Steele’s side, Joseph Campanella (Mannix) as Steele’s former commanding officer in the war, Sarah Douglas (Superman II) as a bitchy DA and, in a bit of unlikely casting, Playboy Playmate Shannon Tweed (Hot Dog… The Movie) as a crime boss doing a drug deal with Kwan. Oh, and how can I forget 80s action mainstay Al Leong (Lethal Weapon) as one of Kwan’s henchmen? He’s always a welcome presence in this kind of movie.
On a technical level, Steele Justice isn’t what you’d call a well-made movie. The editing is especially faulty. Check out the scene where Steele shows up at a Vietnamese pool hall looking for Kwan. One of the denizens delivers a kick to a sensitive region. We don’t even see the kick. Oh yeah, Steele Justice is one of those action movies in which every Asian character knows kung fu. LOL! I love it! So what if it’s not PC? Screw that! But I digress. The point I’m trying to make is it doesn’t possess the highest production values. It’s a B-movie through and through to its crazy core.
Written and directed by Robert Boris (Oxford Blues), Steele Justice is the closest thing to a Cannon movie that doesn’t bear the familiar logo. If I didn’t already know, I could easily mistake it for a Golan-Globus production. I like this movie very much. It’s a decent actioner and a fun bad movie. It’s a good choice for a Saturday night flick with the guys. It’d be a nifty candidate for the RiffTrax treatment as well. It may not be what Boris intended, but it’s a nice mix of action and unintentional comedy. Movies like Steele Justice is one thing I miss about the 80s.
