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Shotgun
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| Year: |
1989
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Director: |
Addison Randall
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| Stars: |
Stuart Chapin, Rif Hutton, David Marriott, Metanel Ryan, Jerry Neal, Peter Morrison, James Baker, Katie Caple, Donna Ball, Nicci Payne, Rhonda Gray, Jastereo Coviare, Julian Kidd, Paulo Tocha, Denny Smith, Andres Carranza
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| Genre: |
Action, Thriller, Trash |
| Rating: |
  2 (from 1 vote) |
| Review: |
Down Mexico way a deal is being organised in a small town, where two million dollars of drugs money change hands, and the recipient proposes a toast of tequila, but then the Mr Big asks for the whole town in return which he is not prepared to give. That's his loss - of life, that is, when the crooked American businessman and his henchmen open fire and massacre the Mexicans, then escape by helicopter in a hail of bullets. Meanwhile, back on the streets of Hollywood there is a story going around the prostitutes there of a man who is so into sadomasochism that he is willing to beat his hired call girls within an inch of their lives - and sometimes further.
Enter our hero, a tough cop who refuses to play by the rules, one Shotgun Jones! Actually Shotgun's first name is Ian, though the impression you get is that he would rather be called by his nickname even if everyone else in the movie insists on calling him Ian. He probably made up the "Shotgun" part himself, didn't he? Anyway, this modest little action thriller was the product of low budget enterprise PM Entertainment who, noting the moneymaking possibilities of the action flick craze did their best to cash in with a series of works which gathered a small following. Not because they were good, but because they were very bad, quite stupendously so in places, which guaranteed laughs.
Those giggles were forthcoming when Ian, sorry, Shotgun strutted his stuff, yet largely that was down to a hamfisted application of clichés that were getting pretty hoary even by 1989. It was as if writer and director Addison Randall had sent away for a do-it-yourself cop thriller kit and this was the result of him fitting it all together somewhat haphazardly so that you could certainly see what he was aiming for but also how far from his ambitions the final effort was. The leading man was Stuart Chapin, a hulking Sasquatch of a man whose voice went disconcertingly high-pitched during his showcase comedy drunk scene, but every cop who doesn't play by the rules needs a partner to try and fail to keep him in line.
So step forward prolific supporting actor Rif Hutton as Max Billings, who you very much expect to bite the dust thereby giving Shotgun all the excuse he needs to go on a rampage through the baddies during the last act, but for some reason Randall resisted that particular cliché possibly because he envisaged a Lethal Weapon-style franchise out of these characters, with Chapin the tall Mel Gibson and Hutton the thin Danny Glover. Not that this prevented the rest of it coming across as components designed by a committee, including a different impetus for Ian, sorry, Shotgun to wreak revenge on those who have slighted him. Yes, even though he is a cop who doesn't play by the rules, he has a sister who is a prostitute and after the masked BDSM killer has made an unlovely name for himself, she is his latest victim.
This time it's personal, so Ian, sorry, Shotgun is more determined than ever to ensure he gets his man, no, not Hutton, he's happily married, I mean he wants to take down the scum who killed his sister. Which by all that is right in truth, justice and the American way should mean he can kill anyone he suspects until he finds the criminal and then kills him too - it's what civilisation is built upon, after all. However, wouldn't you know it, his chief takes umbrage at this suggestion and threatens to take his badge! Stupid red tape! Which is why the film transforms into a bounty hunter movie two thirds of the way through, since bounty hunters can blow away anyone they damn please and don't have to answer to anyone, the ideal profession for Ian, sorry, Shotgun. With these strains to be sleazy, tough and gritty, naturally it all looks ridiculous because the budget and imagination were not there to back up their big ideas, though what they did have were about a hundred electric guitar solos on the soundtrack, complete with a theme song for the title character as if he was a TV cop. World's worst disco, too.
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| Reviewer: |
Graeme Clark
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