This week we are looking at four more Laserdiscs that have found their way into my collection. There isn't a theme for this one outside of them all being Laserdiscs.
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1997 was the "Year of the Black Actor Hero." So many black actors got their shot at being action heroes. We got action films from newer stars like Shaquelle O'Neill (STEEL), Michael Jai White (SPAWN), and Dennis Rodman (DOUBLE TEAM), along with films from more astablished action stars like Eddie Murphy (METRO), Will Smith (MEN IN BLACK), and Wesley Snipes (MURDER AT 1600). It was very interesting year for black action heroes.
Then we got MOST WANTED. The film stars Keenan Ivory Wayans as a military guy who is framed for murder and has to go on the run to clear his name. Wayans has been in a few action films before MOST WANTED. He made I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA, A LOW DOWN DIRTY SHAME, and THE GLIMMER MAN. The difference here is that those were action comedies, whereas MOST WANTED is a straight-laced action film. Wayans clearly wanted to be taken seriously as an action star and this was his best chance. He wrote the script and had planned on directing the film but, according to imdb.com, there were problems on the set of THE GLIMMER MAN, which caused Wayans to have to seek out another director. He chose David Hogan after seeing BARB WIRE. This would have been a good choice had Hogan been given a chance to do what he did on BARB WIRE. Hogan took what could have been a stinker, with BARB WIRE, and made something that was pretty unique. The film could have been crap but he made sure it wasn't.
The same can not be made about MOST WANTED. This is one of the most cliched films released in the 1990s. If you saw THE FUGITIVE from 1993, then you have seen MOST WANTED. Wayans is framed for murder and then goes on the run. The only thing that is different is that he isn't a doctor but a soldier. This, of course, changes nothing as Wayans does nothing to differentiate the film from THE FUGITIVE or any other film like this. We have seen this thing time and time again, so there is no real reason to see it. The only reason I watched it was that it was a joke amongst my friends and me back in the day. Any time we would see a bad film, we would always ask, "Was it as bad as MOST WANTED?" despite the fact that none of us had ever seen the film. We just knew the film was that bad.
The thing is, I like Keenan Ivory Wayans. He broke a lot of barriers with IN LIVING COLOR and I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA is a pretty good Blaxploitation spoof. He even gets Steven Seagal to do light comedy in THE GLIMMER MAN. I don't like the way he handled Anna Faris continuing her run on the SCARY MOVIE films after the series was "stolen" from the Wayans. For those who don't know, Faris says that Keenan called her after her involvement in SCARY MOVIE 3 was announced. He asked her to not do the film because they weren't involved. When she told him she was under contract, he said "All they can do is sue." This made me look at him in a different light as he had been in the business long enough to know what a lawsuit could do to someone. I lost a lot of respect for Keenan when I read that.
New Line Cinema released MOST WANTED into theaters on October 10th, 1997, in 2,098 theaters. The film bombed hard, opening up at #9 at the box office before crashing its second week. The film ultimately earned $6 million at the box office against a $25 million budget. New Line Cinema would then release the film on home video (VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD) in February of 1998. The film was also rereleased on Laserdisc later in 1998 with a DTS track.
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APOCALYPSE NOW is one of the best films ever made. Almost everyone who has ever seen the film will attest to this. The film is a fever dream of a journey into the darkness of not only war, but also of the human experience. Martin Sheen plays a captain in Vietnam who is tasked with a secret mission to assassinate a rogue colonel accused of murder. The journey takes the captain down a river from Vietnam into Cambodia, where the colonel is located. The journey takes the captain into various dream-like places and introduces him to various soldiers and locals. The film is brilliant and incredibly well made. It's exciting, sad, angry, dreary, and ultimately broken.
Francis Ford Coppola's wife, Eleanor, was tasked by her husband, who was financing the film himself, to film behind the scenes footage. She was given a camera and a ton of film and she documented everything. No one knew what would happen during the filming, but thankfully, Eleanor was there to document it.
HEARTS OF DARKNESS was released in 1991 and garnered universal praise. Gene Siskel picked it as the Best Film of 1991. The film played in a few theaters and made a little bit of money before it made its way to home video. The film would on VHS and Laserdisc in July of 1992. It would then get a DVD release in 2007, followed by a Blu-ray release (in a double pack with APOCALYPSE NOW), and finally a 4K Blu-ray release in 2026.
HEARTS OF DARKNESS is the best film about filmmaking ever made. It shows us how difficult filmmaking can be while also showing how rewarding it can be. Coppola risked his life and the lives of his cast and crew in order to get the film he saw in his head. He definitely achieved his vision and we got to see the good and the bad of the journey there.
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In 1980, two years after the break-through success of SNAKE IN THE EAGLE'S SHADOW and DRUNKEN MASTER, Golden Harvest, the studio that had Jackie Chan under contract, decided to send Chan to the U.S. to make a film. It would be the first film they would produce in the U.S. as they wanted to get into this market and they figured Chan was the best person to get introduce them.
The film would be THE BIG BRAWL (or BATTLE CREEK BRAWL as it was known outside the U.S.) and it would be a big ole bomb. No one went to see this thing and it was quickly forgotten about.
Golden Harvest would continue making films in the U.S. and they would hit pay dirt with THE CANNONBALL RUN, starring Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, and a rogues galley of movie stars. Jackie Chan was one of these movie stars. He plays a Japanese (?) racer who uses technology like infrared to give them an advantage. The film was a massive hit and a sequel was made three years later with Chan returning.
After the box office bomb that was MEGAFORCE, Golden Harvest decided to give Chan one more run in the U.S. before pulling him out completely. The film Golden Harvest landed on was THE PROTECTOR.
THE PROTECTOR was written and directed by the great James Glickenhaus and tells the story of two New York City cops who travel to Hong Kong after the daughter of a rich businessman is kidnapped.
Chan notoriously hated the film. He hated it so much that when it was released in Hong Kong, he re-edited the film to remove the cursing and nudity along with reshooting the climatic fight scene. This version would be more favorably accepted than the U.S. version of the film. I actually like both versions of the film with my prefered version being the U.S. one. I think the Hong Kong edit is very well done but I like the grit of the U.S. one.
THE PROTECTOR was a flop at the box office, grossing under $1 million during its entire run. The film was released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1986. It was given a barebones DVD release in 2002 and I wouldn't be for another ten years until it got a Blu-ray release. The film then made it's 4K Blu-ray debut in 2026 from 88 Films.
The Hong Kong version would see a VHS release in the U.S. in the 90s, from Tai Seng. Every Blu-ray release of the film has included it as a special feature.
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In 1994 a little film called FEAR OF A BLACK HAT was released. The film was a mockumentary that focused on a rap group called N.W.H. as they travel around and perform at concerts. The film is the THIS IS SPINAL TAP of rap and it is fucking hilarious. I honestly think it is better than THIS IS SPINAL TAP.
The success of FEAR OF A BLACK HAT opened up the door for writer-director Rusty Cundieff to make his next film, TALES FROM THE HOOD.
TALES FROM THE HOOD is an anthology horror film that tells five stories that focus on the black experience. Four of the stories are race based with the fifth not concerning race at all. Unlike many anthology films, all of the stories in TALES FROM THE HOOD are great. Even the wraparound segment with the funeral home caretaker is excellent. I remember seeing this in my local multiplex right before they shut down. It was an awesome theater experience and I recommend anyone who is interested in the film, or has already seen it, to see it in a theater, if possible.
TALES FROM THE HOOD was a minor box office success, making $11 million against a $6 million budget. The film was a much bigger hit on home video with the film hitting VHS and Laserdisc in November of 1995. The film would get a DVD release in 1998 before being forgotten about for 15 years. Scream Factory released the film on Blu-ray in 2017 with some nice special features (a new commentary track with Rusty Cundief and producer Darren Scott was recorded at Clive Barker's house but was unusable.
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