Deadly Force (1983) Embassy Pictures/Action-Thriller RT: 95 minutes Rated R (language, strong violence, sexual content) Director: Paul Aaron Screenplay: Ken Barnett, Robert Vincent O’Neill and Barry Schneider Music: Gary S. Scott Cinematography: Jon Kranhouse, Norman Leigh and David Myers Release date: July 8, 1983 (Philadelphia, PA) Cast: Wings Hauser, Joyce Ingalls, Paul Shenar, Al Ruscio, Arlen Dean Snyder, Lincoln Kilpatrick, Bud Ekins, J. Victor Lopez, Hector Elias, Ramon Franco, Gina Gallego, Big Yank, Estelle Getty, Victoria Vanderkloot, Richard Beauchamp. Box Office: N/A
Rating: ***
Now this is more like it. I’m in a place where I feel like I truly belong. Welcome to the wonderful world of sleazy violent B-movies! That’s an apt description of Deadly Force, a fairly entertaining action-thriller starring Wings Hauser who made an indelible impression on movie audiences the previous year as the psychopathic pimp Ramrod in Vice Squad. Who doesn’t love that one? This time, he’s the good guy. Talk about a complete change of pace, right? He plays an ex-cop on the trail of a serial killer with a penchant for carving an “X” on the foreheads of his victims which would explain why the press dubbed him “The X Killer”.
What can I say? I live for junky action flicks like Deadly Force. By the way, I LOVE the title! Deadly Force …. it just says it all, right? That’s the kind of title I always loved seeing on the marquee at local theaters. I wanted to see this one at the movies, but it didn’t play in any of the theaters in my neck of the woods. I had to wait until it showed up on HBO the following summer. It was just as cool as I hoped it would be. It’s not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination, but it accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. It provides 95 minutes of good violent B-movie action! What more can you ask from a flick that you’d generally find either on a triple bill at an urban grindhouse theater or on the $1.99 shelf at the corner video store?
Let me be clear on one thing, Deadly Force is NOT a vigilante flick of the Charles Bronson kind. The “hero” is attempting to solve a series of murders and will not let anything get in his way. He doesn’t play by the rules exactly, but he’s not out killing everybody that even looks guilty of some crime.
Former L.A. cop Stoney Cooper (Hauser) now resides in New York doing odd freelance work for cash. Predictably, he was kicked off the force for his reckless behavior and not going “by the book”. He receives word that his old pal Sam’s (Ruscio, Any Which Way You Can) granddaughter has become the sixteenth victim of The X Killer. Sam asks him to return to L.A. to track down the killer who just happens to have a $250,000 reward out for his capture (dead or alive, I presume).
Since he left years before, Stoney has become persona non grata in the City of Angels. His list of enemies rivals only that of Richard Nixon. His former commanding officer (Kilpatrick, Cool Breeze), now a captain, informs him that he’ll be in deep you-know-what if he interferes with the investigation. The mob boss (Snyder, Marked for Death) that he put in prison for six months wants him dead. His ex-wife Eddie (Ingalls), now a TV reporter, wants no part of him.
Despite all of this adversity and opposition, Stoney settles himself in Eddie’s apartment and starts looking for the X Killer. He tracks down his old informants and starts asking questions around town as the bodies continue to pile up. What’s really strange about these murders is that the killer doesn’t seem to be following any kind of pattern. He appears to select his victims at random. Not only that, the killer knows who Stoney is and joins the long list of folks who want him dead.
Meanwhile, Stoney tries to patch things up with Eddie who’s preoccupied with interviewing Joshua Adams (Shenar, Scarface), a millionaire self-help guru who might know something about the unknown killer. There’s plenty of action along the way as Stoney draws closer to uncovering the identity of the X Killer.
I really miss the days when B-movies like Deadly Force opened in theaters instead of going straight to home entertainment. Where’s the fun in watching a sleazy exploitation flick in the privacy of your own home? That’s like listening to a rock concert on an old one-speaker transistor radio. You need an audience full of loud action junkies to fully appreciate a movie like Deadly Force.
But enough waxing nostalgic about the long gone days of grindhouse movie theaters, what about the movie? It’s a pretty good flick! Hauser turns in a solid performance as the ex-cop who knows that he’s onto something that the local police aren’t. There comes a point in Deadly Force when the police captain declares the case solved and closed. Stoney (as well as the entire viewing audience) knows damn well that the X Killer case is far from over. There’s more to it and everybody knows it except the bull-headed captain.
I’ve always found Hauser to be a solid leading man in B-movies, but he’s at his best when he’s being bad (Ramrod forever!). Shenar also delivers a good performance as the arrogant millionaire who might (or might not) be hiding information pertinent to the investigation. The late actor is another one who excelled at playing slimy baddies. Ruscio makes a very cool sidekick and master break-in guy who provides some nice comic relief. The only weak link is the stiff performance delivered by Ms. Ingalls. Her line readings are about as convincing as a zebra trying to pass itself off as a camel. But so what? A B-movie like Deadly Force doesn’t need top-notch actors. Nobody comes to see a movie like Deadly Force for the acting. They come for the action and violence and Deadly Force has plenty of both. They come for unbelievable scenes like the one where Stoney manages to convince some creep to not blow up a warehouse full of stolen goods by bribing him with a share of the reward money. It’s moments like this that make B-movies a slice of cinematic heaven. Besides, how can anybody resist a title like Deadly Force? I just LOVE that!
