cult film freak: gang

Showing posts with label gang. Show all posts

Written by James M. Tate / 10/10/2025 / No comments / barbara wilson , barboura morris , colette jackson , exploitation , fay spain , fifties , gang , jay sayer , john brinkley , june kenney , richard devon , roger corman , sandra smith , ziva rodann

JUNE KENNEY, FAY SPAIN AND JOHN BRINKLEY IN 'TEENAGE DOLL'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKOUmVvHuhtFWBTh-BFNIacNwYq22MV23500ZBEHH9EJPffr0sYCmuaFtUYp_DHOsxL5_XyinL0KdS6fncrkKSJuTgOLVg8WJKDd4eGDmy4P5czF-Y-LB_nYM5JRBy0RGiR2v2lKwlkEGgjmQh6vl0yKAnP1vh9NGQ1fa01oiLoeacM4BJZpFoki_Mfrf/s1818/1%202.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1102" data-original-width="1818" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKOUmVvHuhtFWBTh-BFNIacNwYq22MV23500ZBEHH9EJPffr0sYCmuaFtUYp_DHOsxL5_XyinL0KdS6fncrkKSJuTgOLVg8WJKDd4eGDmy4P5czF-Y-LB_nYM5JRBy0RGiR2v2lKwlkEGgjmQh6vl0yKAnP1vh9NGQ1fa01oiLoeacM4BJZpFoki_Mfrf/s16000/1%202.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: TEENAGE DOLL Year: 1957 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>The opening scene in Roger Corman's 1957 girl-gang melodrama TEENAGE DOLL feels like you walked in ten minutes late... as The Black Widows leader Fay Spain is explaining to her underlings about what happened to one of their own girls, lying already dead outside a dark warehouse... Turns out it was an uptight goody-goody who somehow committed the murder, and, hiding in the shadows, June Kenney's listening to the conversation, knowing these tough young locals are now after her...

barbara wilson, barboura morris, colette jackson, exploitation, fay spain, fifties, gang, jay sayer, john brinkley, june kenney, richard devon, roger corman, sandra smith, ziva rodann

JUNE KENNEY, FAY SPAIN AND JOHN BRINKLEY IN 'TEENAGE DOLL'

Title: TEENAGE DOLL Year: 1957 Rating: ***1/2 The opening scene in Roger Corman's 1957 girl-gang melodrama TEENAGE DOLL feels like you w...

DARRELL HOWE WITH JUDY HOWARD IN 'ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGqdQAX_se_9ruyNc6qDGpKL7Npsq5gYJ1sAj3wXsT0S31Jc8wpVu6Pe8DfcxSAN5s-Rk3Zg9QzyKrU981nONTpyZp5L13m7cNHxwZfM00oKXF2UJJ64cTOWpoB7Fo-wGBlBhMgUri28Rf8H2d9owcMfo_qJIu_Vt-kRpIhXENEfV-xZFmlsPQ5QOj4_Oi/s1164/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGqdQAX_se_9ruyNc6qDGpKL7Npsq5gYJ1sAj3wXsT0S31Jc8wpVu6Pe8DfcxSAN5s-Rk3Zg9QzyKrU981nONTpyZp5L13m7cNHxwZfM00oKXF2UJJ64cTOWpoB7Fo-wGBlBhMgUri28Rf8H2d9owcMfo_qJIu_Vt-kRpIhXENEfV-xZFmlsPQ5QOj4_Oi/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Judy Howard in ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO Year: 1962 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>When token investigator Michael Granger is kind of affably/subtly questioning local hoodlum Darrell Howe on he and his gang's whereabouts when some people got beat up the night before, Howe's facially-scared Chet lies about going to a movie... specifically <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2022/03/cpn.html">CRIME AND PUNISHMENT</a>... an ironic parallel the cop instantly understands...Yet is only partially what ANATOMY is inspired by... as the law's only around right after bad things happen: like a rich man's house burning because his son hooked up with Chet's loose and lithe <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2024/10/DragstripH.html">GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW</a> ingenue Judy Howard, who, with only a few scenes, smoothly combines passionate seduction with perplexed vulnerability...

don devlin, exploitation, frank killmond, gang, judy howard, michael granger, neo noir, pamela lincoln, ronnie burns, russ bender, russell howe, sixties

DARRELL HOWE WITH JUDY HOWARD IN 'ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO'

Judy Howard in ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO Year: 1962 Rating: **** When token investigator Michael Granger is kind of affably/subtly questioning loc...

RALPH BAKSHI ANIMATED MEAN STREETS 'HEY GOOD LOOKIN'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhATx_YOFWuDMTKoKM42rVd36MKiapvDylupzgRlBE7rMkQ74TMlKnIL__h0Ux3WiOebBpQubkkeasDMyxfv9qnOdqtFmvJ8u1XrFQJe__0diDTxJWAPAR_1puPxh7vgEp1m7SPqslE_xeHq9GBqoy_XQhxe62am8ym7RqOVBXLSDEBuALnbxHy9hs0V23C/s2012/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-11%20at%2010.15.34%20PM-1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1082" data-original-width="2012" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhATx_YOFWuDMTKoKM42rVd36MKiapvDylupzgRlBE7rMkQ74TMlKnIL__h0Ux3WiOebBpQubkkeasDMyxfv9qnOdqtFmvJ8u1XrFQJe__0diDTxJWAPAR_1puPxh7vgEp1m7SPqslE_xeHq9GBqoy_XQhxe62am8ym7RqOVBXLSDEBuALnbxHy9hs0V23C/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-11%20at%2010.15.34%20PM-1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Richard Romanus in HEY GOOD LOOKIN' Year: 1983 Rating: ***</td></tr></tbody></table>Often compared to <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2013/09/grease-revisited.html">GREASE</a>, being that the main character... a suave/strutting New York City hood... resembles John Travolta, it seems animation icon Ralph Bashki's HEY GOOD LOOKIN' is more Martin Scorsese's <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2019/08/goodstreets.html">MEAN STREETS</a> as an adult-oriented cartoon, and for two good reasons... The first is that the script and some of the artwork were created in the mid-70's, right after STREETS came out and where Bashki was to originally combine animated and live-action characters... leaving only a few genuine locations, from a dingy poolhall to Coney Island...

action, cartoon, david proval, eighties, exploitation, fifties-era, gang, ralph bakshi, richard romanus

RALPH BAKSHI ANIMATED MEAN STREETS 'HEY GOOD LOOKIN'

Richard Romanus in HEY GOOD LOOKIN' Year: 1983 Rating: *** Often compared to GREASE , being that the main character... a suave/strutting...

JEREMY PIVEN LITERALLY DRIVING 1994'S RIDE 'JUDGEMENT NIGHT'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin6GkOGa-1ZYurARF2V-9t4uW44R2KDCUG7K6MLuZcYfug2G0WENcP9r-9Mw_4v2DMuhkf5nAHH2MpJSHYNHD1PS5bGXN2ZdzIM-Ex2CjTeVzijUqiPlRA8-M8UC4LnFqkt6jpfeAjMqZpEixIKxKPHBjDC8qGh6vEY6JJU5GNogRAlMkbnLIjfUKZ4M3Z/s1594/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-04%20at%201.54.19%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="728" data-original-width="1594" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin6GkOGa-1ZYurARF2V-9t4uW44R2KDCUG7K6MLuZcYfug2G0WENcP9r-9Mw_4v2DMuhkf5nAHH2MpJSHYNHD1PS5bGXN2ZdzIM-Ex2CjTeVzijUqiPlRA8-M8UC4LnFqkt6jpfeAjMqZpEixIKxKPHBjDC8qGh6vEY6JJU5GNogRAlMkbnLIjfUKZ4M3Z/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202024-10-04%20at%201.54.19%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jeremy Piven in JUDGEMENT NIGHT Year: 1994 Rating: **1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>In JUDGEMENT NIGHT, token instigating/troublemaking black-sheep of drinking-buddies Jeremy Piven has provided a giant one-night-only RV for buddies Emilio Estevez, his nervous little brother Stephen Dorff and intense yet cool-headed Cuba Gooding Jr to hang out and drink in... all while watching prime night boxing on the way to  front seats for the actual match... What's funny is that, while stuck on a very important freeway traffic jam, and with drinks in hand and mobile satellite television, they could have simply cruised around and had a better time than at the place they never reach...

action, cuba gooding jr., denis leary, emilio estevez, gang, jeremy piven, nineties, race against time, stephen dorff

JEREMY PIVEN LITERALLY DRIVING 1994'S RIDE 'JUDGEMENT NIGHT'

Jeremy Piven in JUDGEMENT NIGHT Year: 1994 Rating: **1/2 In JUDGEMENT NIGHT, token instigating/troublemaking black-sheep of drinking-buddies...

YVONNE LIME IN 'HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS' WITH SUSANNE SIDNEY

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzhDZsVBVc8JdLU5v1Wf2vAS2yRR0KzO40S3UeLkdz7ziS85rKcro8rVH_CI5g3fePF7S3IhenJyF4N9rExPT8N0VxeEc2B5xOS0oLs18oTPoL6KfJNFTynggH-5_PxTfDdDWxvhBsakdV9GdFcr8uLO5PIZ2vElIa9YLsY83ks1civkzFYuG1PHE6AIFM/s2078/1.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1312" data-original-width="2078" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzhDZsVBVc8JdLU5v1Wf2vAS2yRR0KzO40S3UeLkdz7ziS85rKcro8rVH_CI5g3fePF7S3IhenJyF4N9rExPT8N0VxeEc2B5xOS0oLs18oTPoL6KfJNFTynggH-5_PxTfDdDWxvhBsakdV9GdFcr8uLO5PIZ2vElIa9YLsY83ks1civkzFYuG1PHE6AIFM/s16000/1.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS Year: 1958 Rating: ***1/2</td></tr></tbody></table>HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS seems like three movies in one, and the titular tale... about a gang of tough girl bullies playing tricks on beautiful blonde new girl Yvonne Lime... is not only the best, but should have been everything... What a shame that a breezy, completely filler romance with Lime's Joyce Martin with local diner waiter Brett Halsey blandly intrudes... along with scenes involving Joyce's crummy parents... because the downright stunning yet still equally doe-eyed, girl-next-door vulnerable I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF starlet is far more interesting with the female antagonists her age...

brett halsley, dana lund, exploitation, fifties, gang, high school, teen, yvonne lime

YVONNE LIME IN 'HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS' WITH SUSANNE SIDNEY

Title: HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS Year: 1958 Rating: ***1/2 HIGH SCHOOL HELLCATS seems like three movies in one, and the titular tale... about a g...

MICHAEL WINNER REDIRECTS CHARLES BRONSON IN 'DEATH WISH II'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijfDfMBrLwkZFwN8GLTiXp1uksU1XHj9AvRBSAlCtOnEMhpvoJ9qyYpyfxEL4DvnRjYtUzE4IkxS6bhsaNBPmPyJFFaOEAOmJnY8Gsq8vtPmcSfugRpq1RvgPv-GBSxlos0tGo6vnX53UDlcHLhKGuwfCpX3bIY34ultGOJpygbM06mIsr0A6QHvv9M4lW/s1785/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-04%20at%205.07.42%20PM.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="975" data-original-width="1785" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijfDfMBrLwkZFwN8GLTiXp1uksU1XHj9AvRBSAlCtOnEMhpvoJ9qyYpyfxEL4DvnRjYtUzE4IkxS6bhsaNBPmPyJFFaOEAOmJnY8Gsq8vtPmcSfugRpq1RvgPv-GBSxlos0tGo6vnX53UDlcHLhKGuwfCpX3bIY34ultGOJpygbM06mIsr0A6QHvv9M4lW/s16000/Screen%20Shot%202023-12-04%20at%205.07.42%20PM.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Title: DEATH WISH II Year: 1982 Rating: ****</td></tr></tbody></table>Losing his wife entirely and daughter mentally to lethal hoods from the first movie had aged Charles Bronson's Paul Kersey eight-years when it's only supposed to be two.... which is how long it'd been since DEATH WISH made the already popular cult actor Charles Bronson a superstar... and now, in his last stretch at 60 years old, having joined the ranks of ambitious low-budget Cannon Films, the safest bet was a sequel... Along with Bronson, cinema had also changed from the early 1970's crime exploitation into the early 1980's horror/terror element, which is what Kersey... still a successful architect but now in Los Angeles instead of New York... is up against in the form of an ultra-violent gang as opposed to, from the original, random criminals coaxed from the streets (after the initial trio, led by Jeff Goldblum, were never heard of since) or saving innocent people from them...

body count, cannon, charles bronson, eighties, exploitation, franchise, gang, jimmy page, laurence fishburne, michael winner, sequel

MICHAEL WINNER REDIRECTS CHARLES BRONSON IN 'DEATH WISH II'

Title: DEATH WISH II Year: 1982 Rating: **** Losing his wife entirely and daughter mentally to lethal hoods from the first movie had aged Ch...

SYLVESTER STALLONE'S UNBREAKABLE SUPERHERO 'SAMARITAN'

<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXQLxD0AVyJDdtluIeSgd9IeglSKk7NnNs0pH5b6pZc5lMWpTNBaKi3mYxatVj_VTgT5Mp6bysKGcfcoG4bbYiPvlFYqpEv0rVzyOn_lZjZKWQ6iitR7shGizG_zaVFFuiwL4N_f3cV1iGxpua4QL1a4lKvmED9619ZM-4disFP1eT4yoQm4naDirdQ/s2272/fribt.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="954" data-original-width="2272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXQLxD0AVyJDdtluIeSgd9IeglSKk7NnNs0pH5b6pZc5lMWpTNBaKi3mYxatVj_VTgT5Mp6bysKGcfcoG4bbYiPvlFYqpEv0rVzyOn_lZjZKWQ6iitR7shGizG_zaVFFuiwL4N_f3cV1iGxpua4QL1a4lKvmED9619ZM-4disFP1eT4yoQm4naDirdQ/s16000/fribt.jpeg"></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Expository intro for SAMARITAN with Sylvester Stallone from 2022 Grade: C—</td></tr></tbody></table>The last time standard-action-flick icon <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/search/label/sylvester%20stallone">Sylvester Stallone</a> played a superhero was the last time 
he would... until now... and both JUDGE DREDD and SAMARITAN concern a backstory involving good against evil brothers, who in this case supposedly died fighting each other, twenty long years ago, and... Well as the description goes, a ghetto kid thinks an old garbage man 
named Joe Smith, played by Stallone with a NIGHTHAWKS beard gone grungy gray,
 is actually yesteryear's titular crime-fighter...

2022, action, cable, crime, fantasy, gang, javon wanna walton, new, pilou asbæk, sophia tatum, superhero, sylvester stallone

SYLVESTER STALLONE'S UNBREAKABLE SUPERHERO 'SAMARITAN'

Expository intro for SAMARITAN with Sylvester Stallone from 2022 Grade: C— The last time standard-action-flick icon Sylvester Stallone play...

STEPHEN LANG DIRTIES-UP THE NEON-80'S IN BAND OF THE HAND

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ9cfBOgwFlU5r2pmCvMSO-rphZE3VHpXqH3CVjBd5c7KrY11nYhPlm-eYPBLbdhXmbzJz_sziRwQR7IjAoTIQzzsbTRocmD1U1siTDnDNvwW9WSvvUgbOoj7dZxcQ3BGz_6hJ7M2kYBE/s1600/14379660_190490821380102_7144340110358413834_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ9cfBOgwFlU5r2pmCvMSO-rphZE3VHpXqH3CVjBd5c7KrY11nYhPlm-eYPBLbdhXmbzJz_sziRwQR7IjAoTIQzzsbTRocmD1U1siTDnDNvwW9WSvvUgbOoj7dZxcQ3BGz_6hJ7M2kYBE/s400/14379660_190490821380102_7144340110358413834_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Neat Opening Credit Title Card for BAND OF THE HAND Year: 1986</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Stephen Lang, the nefarious military man from AVATAR currently spooking audiences as a creepy and lethal blind war vet in <a href="http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/09/DBreath.html">DON'T BREATHE</a>, is a natural for playing the villain... 
 
Although he initially garnered attention as "Indian Joe" in the 1986 teenage version of THE DIRTY DOZEN titled BAND OF THE HAND – the one person who can whip a group of eclectic, hopeless juvenile convicts into shape is, of course, the film's good guy and yet, it depends on the perspective since he's not very popular at first: His narrow eyed, steel-jawed, monotone, meticulous and muscular character has all the ingredients of a determined, impenetrable heavy – but it takes one to know five, and Lang's Joe knows exactly how and where to get the reluctant, flaky bad boys changed into sturdy young men. 
 
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRj97G6tB-8u6y3xC82fOvXK1-33zt47tbTjnrMAYc1v8_YGojy8neEq9vctseD0uZm1YiTHX8spP5r1iFcnI-QlG57kObJudxvfFCxxAu3OBQhZaXYuRaPib0Kqo904fqswqxNOuzx_A/s1600/14379639_190490828046768_2935659876519969241_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRj97G6tB-8u6y3xC82fOvXK1-33zt47tbTjnrMAYc1v8_YGojy8neEq9vctseD0uZm1YiTHX8spP5r1iFcnI-QlG57kObJudxvfFCxxAu3OBQhZaXYuRaPib0Kqo904fqswqxNOuzx_A/s320/14379639_190490828046768_2935659876519969241_o.jpg" width="315" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Stephen Lang as Indian Joe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
What BAND seems to be about occurs in a flash:The survival sequence in the Everglades, including a deadly snake, a wild boar and various shots of wild cats, seems more of a breezy tour than duty... 
 
Having been taken from lock-up to a paddy-wagon to a reed-pummeling fan boat, they enter the murky destination, all dressed up with no place to run, knee deep in mud, bickering, fighting and are initially fleshed-out by their anti-chemistry against each other: from the loudmouth to the lunatic to the maverick to the tough, silent type, it's all pretty much covered... 
 
Sadly, right as things get interesting, we cut to a b-story involving an overlong sequence with ingenue Lauren Holly and the film's chief antagonist to Larry Fishburne's more physical, mobile heavy – that being James Remar as a gangster into black magic, an eccentric, strange element probably inserted to make Remar more menacing, which the edgy WARRIORS and 48 HRS alumni needn't any help with... 
 
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUkdO3cedq06HzRcN1p4x6khWO5ugJTmH3vCnr4tZFaCSh-3y_Rn0w0h2RXXgbV6xVadPH9uIH_zHGT25b9554XtSGF3TKTgSawSOinec7uoRi8Ow7j97CPtguHWkEiVMH_ama2Kvcevk/s1600/14352357_190490824713435_8917196619516144580_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUkdO3cedq06HzRcN1p4x6khWO5ugJTmH3vCnr4tZFaCSh-3y_Rn0w0h2RXXgbV6xVadPH9uIH_zHGT25b9554XtSGF3TKTgSawSOinec7uoRi8Ow7j97CPtguHWkEiVMH_ama2Kvcevk/s400/14352357_190490824713435_8917196619516144580_o.jpg" width="272" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">His name was Larry Fishburne, MATRIX-heads</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Cutting back to the swamp-struggling main characters feels like returning from an intrusive commercial break. And by Day Two, although running scared from what they're supposed to be hunting, the boys seem as if they'd been roughing-it for a week or so (and if it had been a week, it seems more like a month). Up to this point, while the overall pace is fun and involving – especially the set-up as each individual crime, arrest and incarceration is shown – there seems to be a big chunk missing... 
 
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP0y02lEbNTwHT6hSTARp2FjftvWDy4mg_UCIaToRG_AGpOr5aVXmvfG9TuZL6OpV0TQhZryfrWsEQku0ntT6oBQRa5XnCSXHHKVmQakkEQ3swmN5UyJGy8meB__KpULJ5aiieoTQ2-FY/s1600/14372323_190490831380101_7523510588978292122_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP0y02lEbNTwHT6hSTARp2FjftvWDy4mg_UCIaToRG_AGpOr5aVXmvfG9TuZL6OpV0TQhZryfrWsEQku0ntT6oBQRa5XnCSXHHKVmQakkEQ3swmN5UyJGy8meB__KpULJ5aiieoTQ2-FY/s400/14372323_190490831380101_7523510588978292122_o.jpg" width="191" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lang's tough guy repose</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Although it turns out the important stuff's left for the graffiti-laden slums of Miami: Taking over a Crack House (back then referred to as a building full of junkies, pimps and dealers), Lang and Gang have a dangerous fight ahead – their prime adversaries have already been introduced, and they're not alone. At this point, only one of the boys really stands out as a character apart from the group, and he wants his girl, Holly's Nikki, back – she's now a bonafide, bikini-clad gangster's moll: her story had skipped ahead as fast as the males. 
 
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZG0gZAhkeO2iy_MsRM7lVSDaghVWOzpNzdOjldL3TJEG8G7qK5_xkdRiZp2X18jGtv6eGoZRlGEEP6dvvRQFX4dLuSodsjl6YCbP1zjSOjbtF7k0pV6-xKoJx8vqSKN4TPwob8zBe-wc/s1600/s-l225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZG0gZAhkeO2iy_MsRM7lVSDaghVWOzpNzdOjldL3TJEG8G7qK5_xkdRiZp2X18jGtv6eGoZRlGEEP6dvvRQFX4dLuSodsjl6YCbP1zjSOjbtF7k0pV6-xKoJx8vqSKN4TPwob8zBe-wc/s1600/s-l225.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Soundtrack LP featuring Bob Dylan</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
With a gritty, street-savvy, politician-scolding title song by Bob Dylan backed by Tom Petty's Heartbreakers (who Dylan toured with the previous year), and produced by MIAMI VICE 80's/90's crime guru Michael Mann, BAND OF THE HAND is in fact a hands-on, lean and mean tough guy machine, slightly hindered by the loud, bright neon clothes that the 1980's had "totally" veered into at the crest of the decade's midpoint: Hell, even the good bad boys are dressed to shill their multicolored era and yet, flaws aside, what was rushed in the swamplands is slightly made up for later on, when there's just-enough high-octane action during the third act, as Lang does like John Wayne in THE COWBOYS, clearing the way for a strategic crash-course finale with the people that matter most.

bob dylan, eighties, ensemble, gang, james remar, lauren holly, laurence fishburn, military, stephen lang, teen