{"id":1467,"date":"2024-07-31T17:04:01","date_gmt":"2024-07-31T17:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=1467"},"modified":"2024-10-14T11:26:23","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T15:26:23","slug":"enforcer-from-death-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/07\/31\/enforcer-from-death-row\/","title":{"rendered":"Enforcer from Death Row"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Enforcer from Death Row <\/strong>(1976)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dinero Productions\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 88 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, language, nudity, sexual content, rape)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Marshall M. Borden and Efren C. Pinon\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jerry O. Tirazona and Leo Fong\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Tito Sotto\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Frank Harris and Frank Johnson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 1978 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Leo Fong, Darnell Garcia, Lotis Key, Ann Farber, B.T. Anderson, George Estregan, Charlie Davao, Cameron Mitchell, John Hammond, James Lew, Mariwin Roberts.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *<\/p>\n

\u00a0If you think the 1985 comedy Clue is the first movie with multiple endings, you\u2019re wrong. It\u2019s the first MAJOR theatrical release with different endings, three to be exact (the tagline, \u201cWhodunit depends on where you see it\u201d). Now I don\u2019t know if the Filipino actioner Enforcer from Death Row<\/strong> is the very first movie with more than one ending but it predates Clue by nearly a decade. The ending on my DVD copy is different from the version posted on YouTube. Let\u2019s call them V1 and V2 (V for version) respectively. All I\u2019ll say about it for now is that Cameron Mitchell is NOT in the DVD version (simply entitled Enforcer) even though he\u2019s listed in the credits. I knew something was off which is why I looked deeper into Enforcer from Death Row<\/strong> in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I can say that Enforcer from Death Row<\/strong> isn\u2019t the only exploitation movie to be released under different titles. It\u2019s also known as Ninja Assassins, Ninja Nightmare and Death Row Killer. It makes me wonder how many people have been suckered into watching this God-awful action flick more than once. It stinks under any title, that\u2019s the movie\u2019s one constant.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I should warn you I don\u2019t know what actors played what roles in Enforcer from Death Row<\/strong>. This information isn\u2019t given in the end credits. The only cast members I\u2019m familiar with are Mitchell and martial artist Leo Fong (Killpoint). I can\u2019t find a lot of information on the others. I think I\u2019ve narrowed down who co-stars Darnell Garcia and Lotis Key play, but don\u2019t hold me to it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Fong plays T.L. Young, a Death Row inmate about to be executed for a murder he didn\u2019t commit. He\u2019s approached by an agent of the World Organization of Peace with a unique offer. They\u2019ll arrange for his death to be faked in exchange for his help finding out who\u2019s killing all their agents in Manila. With most of the world thinking him dead, Young heads to Manila where he finds out the killings were the work of a criminal organization headed by a guy named Spencer, a vicious bugger with a team of ninjas at his disposal. He has in his possession a deadly chemical weapon that he plans to use for his own personal gain. It\u2019s Young\u2019s job to stop him. This means punching, chopping and kicking his way through the organization.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I have a number of questions about Enforcer from Death Row<\/strong>. Number one, did the makers ever stop and consider what the initials for World Organization of Peace spell (sans the \u201cof\u201d)? Surely I can\u2019t be the only one who notices this. Two, how does Spencer stay in business when he kills all his clients, potential or otherwise? You\u2019d think it would get around he has a predilection for referring clients to snake pits, rats and barrels of acid. Three, did the female scientist (Lotis Key?) working for Spencer really think she wouldn\u2019t get caught helping her brother escape after he pisses off the big boss? And why would she accept a phone call from him later knowing that somebody is probably listening? Four, since when do ninjas use guns? Last but certainly not least, what becomes of Spencer in V2? Whereas his fate is clear in V1, he simply vanishes from the story in V2.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As near as I can tell, the V2 ending is NOT the original one. Look at the way it abruptly cuts in the middle of a fight scene to henchman Prego (Darnell Garcia?) talking on a pay phone. He apparently escaped from the burning lab (with severe facial scarring) and wants revenge against Young. I won\u2019t say exactly what goes down but Mitchell shows up briefly as a big government honcho who wants to recruit Young for future missions. In any event, I prefer this ending only because of Mitchell, a great overactor.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Mitchell is the second good thing about Enforcer from Death Row<\/strong>. The first is the cool title. It\u2019s an ideal grindhouse title. The third (and last) is Fong. The guy can\u2019t act. He\u2019s so wooden; he belongs in a lumber yard. But boy can he fight! The former Methodist minister from Arkansas trained in many styles and ultimately developed his own, Wei Kuen Do. In his case, skills make up for lack of talent. The rest of the movie is horrible. It\u2019s badly acted, poorly written, sloppily edited and flatly directed. It feels like two or three lame movies thrown together to make one truly bad one. Plot lines, like the guy who hires Spencer to hit a dozen different human targets, are introduced only to go nowhere. There\u2019s a completely unnecessary rape scene. Worst of all, it\u2019s not terribly exciting. The action scenes lack zip, zing and vigor. I stop short of calling it boring only because its utter badness makes it semi-watchable.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I look at it this way. Enforcer from Death Row<\/strong> is an exploitation movie. Exploitation movies hold a special place in heart. They held that place even before I knew what an exploitation movie was. So even if they\u2019re bad, they\u2019re still pretty cool. Enforcer from Death Row<\/strong> is most definitely a bad movie, but I\u2019m not sorry I watched it. Exploitation lovers get it, right?\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Enforcer from Death Row (1976)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dinero Productions\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 88 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (violence, language, nudity, sexual content, rape)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Marshall M. Borden and Efren C. Pinon\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Jerry O. Tirazona and Leo Fong\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Tito Sotto\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Frank Harris and Frank Johnson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: February 1978 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Leo Fong, Darnell Garcia, Lotis Key, Ann […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-b-movies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Enforcer-from-Death-Row-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1467"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2026,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467\/revisions\/2026"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}