Armed and Dangerous (1986)

I've got to love Mark Lester. There's no movie of here's I hate. Here, away from the norm of usual of action dramas, etc, out pops a comedy with some dramatic moments. Here, he succeeds again. AAD is funny, let me tell ya. Candy who's set up by bad guy cops, in a t.v heist, teams up with American Pie's Levy (one of the worst lawyers you'll ever meet) who's forced to resign. Their new careers have em' working as security guards for an Armaguard company, but soon smell something besides mounds of garbage (check out that scene) where corrupt union figures, and some other bad guys are robbing genuine employers off their doe. Candy and Levy make a great team and get up to some real shenanigans, while also getting to the core of this operation. Steve Railsback, is unforgettable as a wild out there oil tanker driver, the most accepting, when his rig goes up in flames. Too, this is the first flick I saw Ms Ryan in, who plays the daughter of the cranky boss running the business, forced into working with the bad guys. This film also has a lot to offer like shark catching, and is a teaching tool to cops who climb trees to rescue cats from them, although how Candy got up there is a big visual fault upon the director, while not showing him clinging onto any others on the start up. Too, what the hell's wrong with always angry Tiny Lister Junior, as the big pointy bald guy/security honcho Bruno. See him in 8 Million Ways To Die and work that out too. Although running for only a week in Adelaide cinemas, here's one comedy flick I really liked and still do up until this day. Judy 'Boobs' Landers as one of Candy's girls is another comedy asset. One of the better comedies of this ilk.

John Candy is not one of the all time great actors, but he is memorable in his own way. His characters tend to be cute, cuddly, and sometimes simply clumsy. His characters were enjoyable and his movies entertaining. Unfortunately, now that he is dead, others try to imitate his style of acting and just don't seem to come close. Everybody is an original and that goes just as true for John Candy as it does for everybody else. Armed and Dangerous is about a police officer, Dooley (John Candy) who catches a couple of crooked cops stealing television sets, but is framed instead. Another character, a hopeless lawyer, is encouraged by a judge to quit law and find another career, so they both become private security guards. As guards they are forced to join a union and discover that this union is conducting some very illicit business, including staging robberies when the security guards are off duty. Dooley and the ex-lawyer are caught by this scam and decide to expose the crooks. This movie is an anti-union movie. In every part of the movie, the union is portrayed in a very bad light. The union bosses are all crooks and the cast is made up of very thuggish looking characters. The boss is corrupt and the union is more concerned with making money for themselves than for looking after the workers. When confronted with a lawyer who asks too many questions, they ban the lawyer from the meetings so that they might continue with their crooked schemes. The purpose of this movie seems to reinforce in our minds that unions are evil and that they should be disbanded. Americans have always hated unions because they are too left and infringe on the right of the individual to make money. The movie ignores that facet of the union that protects the worker though. Instead we are constantly forced to see the evil side of the union and not the good side. It is an entertaining movie with its share of comedy. Armed and Dangerous is a movie that John Candy fans will appreciate, and though I do not consider myself a devout fan, I do not mind him. In another way this movie seems to be like Police Academy, except it does not focus on the training but rather the work.

This was a nice surprise. I figured it would be stupid and not all that funny. Wrong. It WAS funny. Yes, it's a harmless "no-brainer" type of movie but it was fun and had likable lead characters, people you could easily root for to make good. In this, it was a pair of security guards: "Frank Dooley" (John Candy) and "Norman Kane" (Eugene Levy). Every comedy has its stupid moments, this included, but the good outweighs the stupid. What also makes this above-average is that it is not just a comedy. There is action and suspense in here and the combination works. Believe me, this film is not all laughs.I watch this and makes me sad that Candy is no longer with us. He was a great entertainer.

This is one of John Candy's funniest movies, the supporting cast is also hilarious. Sure, this is not a brilliant plot but I guarantee you will be laughing non-stop. If you are a fan of SCTV, it is a must watch. "C'mon, a little toxic waste never killed nobody"