Saturday, August 29, 2009

Shakedown

Thank God for Hulu's free streaming movies.

Shakedown is a 1988 action movie directed by James Glickenhaus.

The film stars Peter Weller (Robocop, Buckaroo Banzai, 24), Sam Elliott with appearances by Richard Brooks (Law & Order, and for the overzealous Firefly fans, the bounty hunter in the final episode) and John C. McGinley (Scrubs). The rest of the cast I only recognize a few of the people, which isn't very surprising since it's a B-action movie from the 1980s.

Peter Weller is Roland Dalton a Manhattan public defender taking his last case which is to defend a crack dealer Michael Jones played by Richard Brooks who is accused of killing a police officer in Central Park. Jones claims that it was self-defense, and that the officer was a 'Blue Jean Cop.' What's one of those? Well, as Sam Elliott's Richie Marks explains to Weller's Dalton, a 'Blue Jean Cop' is a dirty cop. We know off the bat, that Sam Elliott's character is a fucking badass.

The film unfolds, with Dalton and Marks teaming up to bring down one of the city's drug kingpins and their racket. There's a pretty epic gunfight in the middle of New York's busy streets, with even a set of spring loaded throwing knives thrown in. The chase takes them into the middle of a huge shanty town, which makes the city look more like 1932 than 1988. Sam Elliott's character is a fucking badass.

And as I watched, there was a fight sequence at Coney Island, culminating in a fist fight on a roller coaster. And it proves again that Sam Elliott's character is a fucking badass.

Please watch this film through to the end. The climax, well - is extremely epic. And it proves again that Sam Elliott's character is a fucking badass. There are a few shots of the New York skyline that the current administration would have loved to have had as angles in the photo-op stunt a few months back. If nothing succeeded before, you'll come away realizing that Sam Elliott's character is a fucking badass.

On a side note, Death Wish 4: The Crackdown can be seen on one of the marquees as Marks and Dalton leave another theater (probably seeing The Exterminator or The Soldier, two James Glickenhaus films).



I fully expected it to be schlocky as any late 80s "crime" film could be. The film is pretty derivative of other films, so if you pass over this there are plenty of other films that will fit the bill. It is a film that you can have a few beers and crack a few jokes at. And it has Sam Elliott using semi-automatics and automatics, on hoodlums. What else could you ask for?

** 1/2 out of *****

1 comment:

Ben said...

Sam Elliot is a fucking badass.