Armed Response (1986)

Anytime a film delivers what it promises, it gets at least a 5 rating from me, and "Armed Response" gives you exactly what you would expect from a low budget action movie. The weak points would be , numerous explosions and gratuitous car crashes, a paper thin plot, finally a shootout in Chinatown with grenades and automatic weapons that goes totally unnoticed by anyone. The strongest point is the fun of seeing David Caradine, Lee Van Cleef, and Michael Berrymen together, and they do not disappoint. Another plus is the musical score, which seems to fit perfectly. Top that off with some lively one liners and you have an entertaining action film. - MERK

David Carradine and Lee Van Cleef star as father and son cops who join forces to avenge the murder of their sons/brothers at the hand of the triads who are after a priceless artifact that the hapless family has gotten their hands on. Brent Huff is the ill faded brother who keeps the family proud by being tortured and not caving in. Also is Lois Hamilton the wife of Carradine who also is kidnapped with her and Carradine's daughter in this plot heavy but generally enjoyable guilty pleasure. I haven't seen many movies from Fred Olen Ray but I figure this has to be one of his better features, this one is alone worth watching for the cast. Which include David Carradine, Lee Van Cleef, Mako(As the head mobster) and Michael"Hills Have Eyes" Berryman who are always fun to watch in anything. The movie is fairly predictable and Carradine is obviously a tad too old to jump in and kick ass but Armed Response gives of the unpretentious vibe that makes the response of of general acceptance from the audience.* * out of 4-(Fair)

"Armed Response" qualifies as one of B-movie director Fred Olen Ray's better crime thrillers. David Carradine plays Jim Roth, a Los Angeles barkeeper in his own bar who suffers from Vietnam War flashbacks. Interestingly, the Vietnam sequences in his memories emerge as much as an indictment of the historic American-Asian conflict as the after effects that the fighting inflicted on his psyche. Unfortunately, the helmets and the uniforms don't contribute to the authenticity of the action, though everything else about this sequence passes muster, especially the choppers. Carradine dons the smallest possible helmet imaginable and looks too old. Meanwhile, spaghetti western star Lee Van Cleef minus his hair piece is effectively cast as Carradine's crusty, ex-detective dad Burt Roth. Japanese actor Mako of "The Sand Pebbles" does a credible turn as ruthless Yakuza boss Akira Tanaka. Last, but not least, horror movie icon Michael Berryman of "The Hills Have Eyes" registers a memorable appearance as one of Akira's more sinister henchmen. The scene where Berryman blasts one of expendable members of the Roth family with a shotgun will stick in your mind because he wears a jump suit with a yellow smiley face on the left breast pocket. Chiefly, the predictable but entertaining T.K. Lankford screenplay pays homage to the 1940s mystery thrillers that starred Humphrey Bogart, particularly "The Maltese Falcon." The Yakuza wants a valuable statue back, so they hire an unscrupulous gumshoe Cory Thornton (B-movie veteran Ross Hagen of "The Devil's 8") who dresses the part persuasively from fedora to trench coat) and his honest partner Tommy Roth (Brent Huff of "I Spy Returns") who is also Carradine's younger brother to collect it. Carradine has yet another younger sibling who gets involved in the plot later and suffers horribly at the hands of the Yakuza. Initially, at the rendezvous to exchange the stature for the money, treacherous Cory double-crosses bad guy Steve (Roger Corman stock player Dick Miller of "Small Soldiers") and his sexy, pistol-packing sidekick Deborah (Laurene Landon of "Yellow Hair and the Fortress of Gold") at a remote spot in the desert. Cory makes it look like Steve and Deborah pulled the double-cross, when in fact he engineered it and his gullible partner fell for it. No sooner have they apparently dispatched Steve and Deborah than a carload of thugs careen toward them out of the nearby hills. Tommy takes them out with a Vietnam era M-16. Cory wounds Tommy, but Tommy manages to escape in a bullet-riddled car with the statue. Tommy makes it back to older brother Jim's residence, dramatically smashes through the window and falls on Jim's wife (Lois Hamilton of "The Electric Horseman") as they are quarreling about the night-sweating flashbacks that have made Jim so irritable. Of course, neither Burt nor Jim tells the police anything about the statue. They decide to launch their own investigation. Fred Olen Ray keeps the action moving at a fast clip in this trimly-paced 85 minute melodrama. He sets up the plot in about 30 minutes then has Akira and Jim tangling with each other over not only the statue but also his $100 thousand dollars. Moments of humor are few and far between in this straight-laced Chinatown shoot-em up. You'll hate Ross Hagen's deceitful private eye, but you'll cheer his just comeuppance in the final scene. X-rated porn star Michelle Bauer has an eye-spinning turn as an exotic dancer in what ranks as the only semi-nude scene in "Armed Response." Mind you, "Armed Response" is NOT a classic, but it doesn't waste time telling its formulaic, hard-edged story. Olen Ray maintains more than a modicum of credibility while he adheres to the conventions of the genre. Lee Van Cleef gets to trade shots with the bad guys, but he plays more of a sidekick to Carradine than a leading player. If you look hard enough, you'll spot Fred Olen Ray as one of the bad guys. Atmospheric locations and film noir style lighting enhance this respectable actioneer.

"Armed Response" is one of Fred Olen Ray's earliest directorial efforts, and it also less schlocky than some of his other ones, closer to an actual legitimate action film (it's hard to believe he would make a film as unbelievably bad as "Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers" only two years later). It has a fairly complicated plot, which would be hard to summarize in a single paragraph, and a cast that's a B-movie fan's dream (where else could you find Lee Van Cleef and Michael Berryman together?), though it must be noted that David Carradine is particularly awful in this movie. (**1/2)