JAMES REMAR IN QUIET COOL

year: 1986 cast: James Remar, Adam Coleman Howard, Nick Cassavetes, Jared Martin rating: ***1/2

A modern Western... SHANE revisited to be exact... where an ex girlfriend calls a roughneck New York City cop for help. Seedy marijuana smugglers run the small town where she lives, and they ain’t into munchies.

In the beginning of the film we’re introduced her family living free in the hills: yuppies without credit cards. The patriarch listens to a bad cover of CALIFORNIA DREAMING; life is bliss till a group of marauders slay everyone except the teenage son Joshua.

Adam Coleman Howard plays the part with the same rogue prowess as James Remar’s urban cop Joe, and he’s as just as important to the proceedings, perhaps even more being it’s his personal revenge story: Bow and arrow in hand, Joshua becomes a Charles Bronson version of Robin Hood, taking out a few of the thugs, who are different than most pot smoking characters depicted in movies...

Nick Cassavetes as Valence with flower-shaped gun-spray

Usually mellow and free spirited hippies, these daylight tokers are cut-throat and don’t take prisoners. Led by a narrow eyed Jared Martin and his stone faced henchman Nick Cassavetes (son of John), the small town belongs to them… Till now.

When Joe enters with unassuming machismo, we learn how tough he is when locals cross him. Not like we didn’t get a taste for his talent in the big city segments – ten minutes involving a shootout and cool car chase – but here’s where he really matters... There’s a price to pay for everyone dumb enough to try stopping him: from barroom bullies to gun-wielding thugs. Though his plight isn’t an easy one; each scene brings a tougher adversary than the next.

Flower shape gun spray continues with a tubby thug, who is not Dennis Burkley

The best parts have the city cop and the teen vigilante team up against the baddest of the bad guys. Joshua learns a few fight tactics from Joe while Joe learns the geographical layout from Joshua, providing both equal footing and giving Joe someone to protect that the audience really cares about.

Ample searing saxophone mixed with tense synthesizer envelop the woodsy gun battles and fistfights, occurring practically with zero downtime, proving 80 minutes is perfect for the action genre.

James Remar fights fire with gunfire

Adam Coleman Howard as Joshua Greer

Daphne Ashbrook as Katy Greer

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