I’ve been trying to remember the title of an action movie that was one of those films on endless repeat on cable (probably HBO or PRISM, if anyone remembers that channel) when I was a kid in the early 1980s.
I can remember no particular stars, though I wouldn’t be surprised if Chuck Norris was in it. There was a martial arts/action-machine-gun (a la Rambo, Commando, etc.) vibe to it. I seem to recall that the ending involved 4 or 5 heroes storming some enemy compound, undoubtedly to rescue a beautiful woman.
The scene that sticks in my mind is of one of the heroes (and maybe the damsel in distress?) about to be shot by a villain. They’re dead to rights. The gun fires … but then one of the other heroes bursts into the room, wielding a metal bar like a bo staff, and deflects the bullet with the bar.
They win, etc.
Anyway, this random scene and random movie has been haunting my brain for a while. Is it real? Or did I dream up some terrible action movie plot?
I can’t pick out a specific film but this sounds like more of a Jeff Speakman movie. He was more of a ‘Nineties icon of lower tier martial arts movies but the sublimely absurd low budget finish move was really his trademark. In The Perfect Weapon (hah, no ego there) he transparently rips of the henchmen’s death in Goldfinger (and indeed, Oddjob himself) by using the henchmen’s weapon to set up a trap.
Stranger
I really think it might be Kill and Kill Again. It came out in 1981, so it’s the right time frame. It doesn’t star anyone famous enough that you’d remember, as the lead actor is some guy named James Ryan. And, yes, there is a compound to be stormed, although the person they’re aiming to rescue is a kidnapped scientist who is not a hot babe. I think this is the movie featuring the scene I’m vaguely picturing in my mind, although it seems to me that the thing he was blocking with was maybe a shovel or a fireplace poker as opposed to just a metal bar.
Here’s a snippet of the scene you mention, starting at 13:00.
I knew exactly what scene you were talking about. Glad other people came up with the name of the movie, because all I know is I saw it on endless repeat on HBO or something in the 80s…
Cool link.
Another good-bad flick in the same genre and even out the same year is Force: Five. “Thank God for Black & Decker!”
(Sorry for the delay—my subscribe to thread wasn’t working…)
That is absolutely it. I particularly now remember the insane driving-off-and-probably crashing-and-killing-everyone ending.
Thanks!