Nightstick (1987) PDC/Action RT: 90 minutes Rated R (violence, language, drug use) Director: Joseph L. Scanlan Screenplay: James J. Docherty Music: Robert O. Ragland Cinematography: Robert Fresco Release date: September 1987 (US) Cast: Bruce Fairbairn, Kerrie Keane, Walker Boone, Tony De Santis, David Mucci, Robert Vaughn, John Vernon, Leslie Nielsen, Roger Dunn, Tony Rosato, Corinne Conley. Box Office: N/A
Rating: **
Without even looking it up, I can tell you the story behind the Canadian-made actioner Nightstick. It was released in a handful of theaters, one per major city, across the country so the makers could rightly say it had a theatrical release in the promotional material sent to video dealers in hopes of boosting sales of the otherwise so-so movie. It says on Wikipedia that it’s a made-for-TV movie that was released theatrically in the lower 48. I vaguely remember seeing the box on video store shelves back in the day. It was recently brought to my attention by way of a post on a friend’s FaceBook page. When I saw that it’s “A Sandy Howard Production” (as in the guy behind the exploitation classic Vice Squad), I knew I had to check it out. The icing on this particular cake is a supporting cast that includes Robert Vaughn (The Magnificent Seven), John Vernon (Animal House) and Leslie Nielsen (Airplane!) in non-comedic mode.
The plot, the very epitome of no-brainer, centers on a maverick cop, Calhoun (Fairbairn, Vampire Hookers), brought in to deal with a volatile situation. We know what kind of cop he is because of what bureaucrat a**hole Ray Melton (Vaughn) says when Police Chief Thad Evans (Nielsen) orders Calhoun be assigned the case of a robbery at a chemical warehouse that left two cops dead. Melton describes him as the kind of cop that “creates more problems than he solves” whose “total disregard for the rules keeps Internal Affairs on overtime”. I’m sorry, isn’t that every cop in post-Dirty Harry action flicks? Speaking of which, Calhoun…. Callahan, coincidence or what? I think not. ANYWAY, it turns out the trio that pulled the robbery (and two others like it) plan to extort $5 million by threatening to blow up banks in New York City with nitroglycerin. That is, if Calhoun doesn’t stop them first.
Naturally, the city bureaucrats would rather bust than pay off the baddies, brothers Roger (Boone, Youngblood), Jerry (De Santis, F/X 2) and Pat (Mucci, Prom Night). The bank president Adam Beardsly (Vernon) doesn’t share this attitude. He’s willing to give them whatever they want. He refuses to cooperate with the police even after the creeps attack his wife in their home. Oh, I forgot to mention that the brothers have a personal beef with Calhoun. He’s the one that got two of them sent to prison. Now that they’re out on parole, they want revenge.
I really don’t know why this movie is called Nightstick. Calhoun never uses one and nobody ever calls him that. I guess the producers thought it sounded like a cool title for a cop movie. LOL! Okay, it is a pretty cool title especially for one this utterly mediocre. It’s one of those by-the-numbers jobs that flooded video store shelves in the late 80s/early 90s. It’s thoroughly predictable right down to the hero’s girlfriend Robin (Keane, The Incubus) being abducted by the villains in the final act. That’s not to say it’s a complete waste of time. It’s actually not.
Made in ’87, Nightstick falls outside the Canadian tax shelter movie era. I would, however, classify it as Canuxploitation. It’s a cheap genre movie made in Canada, what else would you call it? Yes, it’s one of those movies where Toronto stands in for a major US city. Only a few exteriors were filmed in New York, the rest is farther north. While I don’t recall Nightstick opening in Philadelphia (it didn’t), I can see it playing at some grimy urban theater on Chestnut Street. I can also see it as the B-title on a double feature at a grindhouse theater. I dig movies like this. Even when they’re bad, there’s still some enjoyment to be derived. This, of course, applies only to fans of exploitation. Others need not apply.
I never heard of Bruce Fairbairn until I saw Nightstick. It’s his first starring role and as far as I know, his last. The man can’t act, plain and simple. I never for a minute bought his renegade cop act. I see no evidence of a personality. The makers needed a warm body and this is who they got. It’s fine though, he’s no worse than the countless other no-name actors hired to play the lead in DTV movies. It’s cool seeing Keane in something other than The Incubus. Too bad she isn’t that much better than Fairbairn in the acting department. For some, it’s hard to accept Nielsen in a non-comedic role. What they don’t know is that prior to Airplane and The Naked Gun, he was a serious actor who typically played heavies. Anyway, I liked seeing him, Vaughn and Vernon in Nightstick. It adds a level of camp to the proceedings.
Directed by Joseph L. Scanlan of the Canadian-made teen comedy Spring Fever, Nightstick has some decent albeit unexceptional action scenes. It’s definitely not lacking in this area. It also revels in genre tropes like Fairbairn’s opening narration in which he explains how New York is the city of more; it has more everything especially crime. The movie has a cheap gritty look to it courtesy of cinematographer Robert Fresco who makes good use of the dirty Toronto-as-New York locations.
