1991 - MCBAIN, underachieving action film

The writer/director James Glickenhaus who made the entertaining urban thriller Shakedown sure didn't try very hard with this film, in fact you could say he didn't seem to try at all.  McBain is a real "by the numbers" action film.  

Christopher Walken is McBain out to avenge an old Vietnam War buddy who has been killed by an evil South American dictator.  After being alerted to the death of his friend by that friend's hot Hispanic sister played by María Conchita Alonso.  Walken rounds up his old Vietnam war platoon buddies and heads to South America where they shoot and blow up a lot of stuff.

The film leaves no cliche untouched and the story is so rote it gives the word rote a bad name.  Even the action scenes are incredibly lackluster.  Lots and lots of stuff blows up but it's presented in such a nonchalant way that even blowing people and machines up seems like an afterthought.

 

Walken is an actor from the less is more school of acting.  He so underplays his part it seems like he is almost in a different movie or hoping he was in a different movie. Maria Conchita Alonso in her prime was a great beauty but her acting to put in charitably leaves a lot to be desired.

 

McBain is an odd action film, Glickenhaus should have been able at the very least  provide some entertainment with the usual shooting and killing stuff but the film gives off the vibe of a director who has a complete lack of interest in the film or even the film making process.

The running time is 107 minutes.

1988 - SHAKEDOWN, a good urban action film

The old corrupt cops on the take plot is dusted off for this very entertaining film with some excellent action scenes and stunt work.  Peter Weller is a public defender who stumbles on to a plot by some NYC cops to extort money from drug dealers.  Sam Elliott is his buddy (a what else), rogue cop who helps him get to the bottom of things.

The film looks like a lot of it was shot on actual locations in NYC and it certainly has the grimy 1980's urban atmosphere with scenes photographed near porn theaters and in some very crappy neighborhoods.  The writer/director James Glickenhaus and his production team have staged some impressive large scale action scenes, one that involves a jet that is actually kind of unnerving to watch.

 

This is the kind of action film that knows what it wants to do and generally hits it's targets unlike a lot of the overblown action stuff that is released today.

 

The film runs a brisk 97 minutes.