{"id":4097,"date":"2024-09-18T18:25:13","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T18:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=4097"},"modified":"2024-10-13T18:57:28","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T22:57:28","slug":"firepower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/09\/18\/firepower\/","title":{"rendered":"Firepower"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Firepower<\/strong> (1979)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Associated Film Distribution\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 104 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Michael Winner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Bill Kerby, Gerald Wilson and Michael Winner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Gato Barbieri\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Robert Paynter\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Release date: April 27, 1979 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starring: James Coburn, Sophia Loren, O.J. Simpson, Eli Wallach, Vincent Gardenia, George Grizzard, Fred Stuthman, Billy Barty, Anthony Franciosa, Jake LaMotta, Richard Caldicot, Frank Singuineau, George Touliatos, Hank Garrett, Conrad Roberts, Victor Mature.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0I was interested to learn that the action-thriller Firepower <\/strong>was originally intended as a vehicle for Charles Bronson who reportedly pulled out after the producers refused to write a role for his wife and frequent co-star Jill Ireland. I don\u2019t know if the picture would have turned out any differently (I doubt it), but it makes a mighty fine B-movie with James Coburn (The Magnificent Seven) in the lead.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In fact, Firepower<\/strong> has one of the coolest movie casts of the 70s. Where else will you see the diminutive Billy Barty (Under the Rainbow) rub elbows with that voluptuous of all Italian beauties Sophia Loren (Marriage Italian Style)? Is that even physically possible? Although I realize he\u2019s since become persona non grata<\/em> in every circle, it\u2019s still nice to see former NFL star O.J. Simpson in his prime. And I\u2019ve always liked Vincent Gardenia (Death Wish I & II, Moonstruck).<\/p>\n

\u00a0I remember wanting to see Firepower <\/strong>when it hit theaters in April \u201979, but it was yet another victim of that insurmountable parental R-rated movie block. I finally saw it on home video in October \u201985 when my grandfather (good old Pop Pop Ewing!) picked it out at the local video store. I thought it was a good flick. Filmed primarily in the Caribbean, it has a fair amount of action and intrigue. The storyline may be a bit confusing, but it\u2019s still good solid B-movie entertainment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Firepower <\/strong>opens with the murder (by mail bomb) of a chemist in his laboratory. It seems he had incriminating information on pharmaceutical company CEO\/reclusive billionaire Karl Stegner regarding his culpability in releasing bad drugs. The widow, Adele Tasca (Loren), approaches the FBI with the incriminating file after Stegner\u2019s head of security (Grizzard, Bachelor Party) breaks into her apartment and offers her a deal. She wants revenge against the wealthy criminal for her husband\u2019s murder, so she suggests they hire retired bounty hunter (and former lover) Jerry Fanon (Coburn) to assist them in capturing him.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Nobody has even seen Stegner in more than 30 years and he\u2019s never been photographed so nobody knows what he looks like. He hides out in his super, high-security mansion of the island of Antigua where the US has no jurisdiction and no extradition agreement with the government. \u00a0In order to get to Fanon, agent Frank Hull (Gardenia) must make a deal with Mob lawyer Sal Hyman (Wallach, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) to drop all pending charges against him in exchange for him producing Fanon.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Fanon agrees to help bring Stegner to justice and heads off to the island with his old friend\/partner in crime Catlett (Simpson, The Naked Gun). From here on in, it\u2019s an intricate game of cat-and-mouse as Fanon and company attempt to find a way to identify Stegner and grab him. It won\u2019t be easy because he\u2019s always heavily guarded in that mansion of his. The closest person to him is his personal physician Dr. Charles Felix (Franciosa, Death Wish II) who\u2019s on 24-hour call due to the billionaire\u2019s heart condition. This all leads to some fairly well-executed, kick-ass action scenes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I like Firepower<\/strong> for many reasons, chiefly because I dig this kind of 70s action\/thriller. Take an all-star cast and put them in an exotic location amongst the rich and beautiful, that\u2019s a winning formula in my book. The saxophone-heavy score by Gato Barbieri greatly enhances the feeling of such a movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Another reason I like Firepower <\/strong>is that I\u2019m a fan of director Michael Winner\u2019s work. The late filmmaker is responsible for such titles as Death Wish I, II and III (1974, 1982, 1985), The Mechanic (1972) and The Stone Killer (1973), all starring Charles Bronson. Firepower isn\u2019t a perfect movie by any means. It gets a \u00a0confusing at times, especially when it comes to Loren\u2019s character. She changes loyalties more than Madonna changes personas. There are a lot of unnecessary characters who do nothing to serve the plot like the Mob boss played by Barty. He shows up for a few scenes and that\u2019s it. And what\u2019s with Victor Mature (Samson and Delilah) at the end? That was just weird. There\u2019s this one plot development concerning Coburn\u2019s character that comes out of nowhere. It happens within the first 20 minutes of the movie, you\u2019ll know it when you see it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0At least Firepower<\/strong> moves at such a fast pace that none of its flaws make much of a difference. It\u2019s an entertaining action-thriller with a cool cast. I mean, who doesn\u2019t like James Coburn, a true old school bad ass!\u00a0 Who doesn\u2019t think that Ms. Loren is gorgeous? She may be approaching 80 as of this writing and still looks phenomenally beautiful. And how can you beat a supporting cast as eclectic as this? Former boxer Jake LaMotta (the subject of 1980\u2019s Raging Bull) as a henchman? How cool is that? The cinematography is especially good for a movie like this.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In short, Firepower<\/strong> is one of the most underappreciated films of the 70s. A true hidden treasure that\u2019s sadly not yet available on DVD*. Isn\u2019t it about time somebody gets on the ball and makes this available to all the action junkies out there? Let\u2019s get cracking, people!<\/p>\n

* = Firepower<\/strong> came out on DVD in 2015.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Firepower (1979)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Associated Film Distribution\/Action-Thriller\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 104 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, violence)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Michael Winner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Bill Kerby, Gerald Wilson and Michael Winner\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Gato Barbieri\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Robert Paynter\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Release date: April 27, 1979 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Starring: James Coburn, Sophia Loren, O.J. Simpson, Eli Wallach, Vincent Gardenia, George Grizzard, Fred Stuthman, Billy Barty, Anthony Franciosa, Jake […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4871,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure","category-hidden-treasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Firepower-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\/4097","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=4097"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4872,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4097\/revisions\/4872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}