F/X (1986) Orion/Action-Thriller RT: 109 minutes Rated R (language, violence) Director: Robert Mandel Screenplay: Gregory Fleeman and Robert T. Megginson Music: Bill Conti Cinematography: Miroslav Ondricek Release date: February 7, 1986 (US) Cast: Bryan Brown, Brian Dennehy, Diane Venora, Cliff DeYoung, Mason Adams, Jerry Orbach, Joe Grifasi, Martha Gehman, Trey Wilson, Tom Noonan, Roscoe Orman, Josie de Guzman. Box Office: $20.6M (US)
Rating: ****
To this day, the action-thriller F/X still amazes me. Back (WAY back!) before movies were defined by their budget, there was this concept called “originality”. Maybe you’ve heard of it? The premise of F/X (Hollywood-speak for special effects), which only cost $10 million to make, is very clever. A movie special effects artist is hired by the government to help fake the assassination of a mob informant only to find his own life in danger after the job is done.
I first saw the trailer for F/X before Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins in October ’85 and knew instantly it would be a winner. I saw it opening weekend (Sunday Feb. 9, 1pm show) at the old Pilgrim Gardens Theater (Drexel Hill, PA) and it blew my mind. At the time, I subsisted on a fairly steady diet of action movies where the hero typically made his point with fists, guns, knives, swords and explosives. I still love movies like that.
In F/X, the hero, special effects guy Rollie Tyler, relies on his unique skills to survive the predicament in which he finds himself. He’s played by Bryan Brown (Breaker Morant), an Australian actor with whom I wasn’t familiar. He does a great job in the role. He’s believable precisely because of his unfamiliarity with American audiences. A movie like F/X works best with somebody like Brown in the lead. I doubt Stallone or Schwarzenegger could have pulled it off as well and I LOVE those guys.
Tyler, who works primarily on low budget B-level horror movies like “Fade to Black” and “I Dismember Mama”, is approached by Justice Department agent Lipton (DeYoung, Shock Treatment) with an interesting offer. He wants to pay Tyler $30,000 to utilize his skills to help stage the fake murder of mobster Nicholas DeFranco (Orbach, Law & Order). He’s all set to testify against the Mafia after which he will go into witness protection. In order to ensure everything goes as planned, Lipton’s boss (Adams, The Final Conflict) asks Tyler to be the “assassin” who publicly kills DeFranco. It goes flawlessly. Or so he thinks.
As Tyler makes his getaway, the first of several attempts on his life takes place. Somebody wants him dead, but who? After his actress girlfriend Ellen (Venora, Heat) is killed by a bullet meant for him, Tyler, with the help of his plucky young assistant Andy (Gehman, The Flamingo Kid), decides to use his special set of skills to weed out the guilty party(ies).
Meanwhile, veteran New York detective Leo McCarthy (Dennehy, First Blood) is called in to investigate the girlfriend’s murder. As it so happens, he’s been trying to put DeFranco away for several years and is understandably peeved when his boss (Orman, Sesame Street) assigns the mobster’s murder to another detective (Wilson, Raising Arizona).
Although F/X has been in circulation for 30 years, I don’t want to give away too much. I don’t want to ruin it for young film lovers who haven’t yet seen it. It has a few neat surprises up its sleeve. I’ve watched it many times over the years and still enjoy it even though I know what’s coming. Much of that stems from a clever and intelligent screenplay by Gregory Fleeman and Robert T. Megginson. Director Robert Mandel (Big Shots, The Substitute) does a crack job keeping things moving. F/X has a few well-orchestrated action scenes; in particular, a car chase involving the truck Tyler and his assistant work out of.
The acting is especially good. Brown makes no attempt to hide his Australian accent, a move that ultimately works in his favor. Non-Americans aren’t prone to automatically trust the US government in all matters so it’s easy to understand his distrust of Lipton and his boss. Dennehy is dependable as ever as the only NYPD cop interested in figuring out what’s really going on. He’s one of my favorite character actors; it always great to see him in action. DeYoung is sufficiently shady as a government agent who may not be on the up-and-up. Broadway actor Orbach is terrific as DeFranco, a well-tailored creep. Gehman brings spunk and pluck as Tyler’s right-hand woman. Joe Grifasi (The Pope of Greenwich Village) contributes a nice supporting turn as McCarthy’s befuddled partner.
Of course, the best part of F/X is the tricks Tyler uses against his opponents. Who needs a gun when you have a kit filled with the tools of the F/X trade? The closing song, “Just an Illusion” by Imagination, is a great way to end things. As a special added touch, the closing credits include outtake shots of the principal players. It’s sort of like stage actors coming out to take their final bows at the end of a performance. F/X is one of my favorite movies of the 80s. It’s clever, suspenseful, exciting, funny and fun. Just strap in and enjoy the ride.
