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| Images courtesy of Synapse Films |
Somewhere
between Mercenary Fighters, Hired to Kill and The Expendables falls
The Exterminator and The Protector helmer James Glickenhaus’ independent
1991 action war film McBain starring Christopher Walken, Michael
Ironside and. A $16 million indie that
died a quiet death upon initial theatrical release before becoming a cult
favorite through VHS rentals, its best remembered for its unofficial connection
to The Simpsons character McBain, a riff on Arnold Schwarzenegger.
A bit like a Nico Mastorakis actioner if it
were financed by Cannon Films, the film like Glickenhaus’ others is chock full
of detonations of explosives and arterial spray that perhaps underutilizes its
overqualified cast members but more or less turns over a solid beer-and-pizza
movie featuring one of the industry’s finest actors as the epicenter. Not necessarily good but thanks to Synapse
Films’ new remastered blu-ray release, B-movie disciples have a chance to eat
this one up!
North Vietnam prisoner-of-war Robert McBain (Christopher Walken sort of doing The Deer Hunter again) is rescued by a military raid of Rangers to whom which he owes many thanks. The leader of the operation, Santos (Chick Vennera) takes out a $100 bill, tears it in half and tells him if the other half of the bill finds it way back to McBain, he can repay him.
Eighteen years pass and Santos is
murdered on live television by a Colombian dictator (Scorsese character actor
Victor Argo) during a battle against political corruption. Survived by his mercenary fighter sister
Christina (María Conchita Alonso of The Running Man and Predator 2),
she comes to New York with the other half of the bill and brings it to McBain
who in turn reaches out to the surviving Rangers of Santos’ group to reassemble
a new team including but not limited to Frank Bruce (Michael Ironside), Eastland
(Steve James) and Dr. Dalton (Jay Patterson) with the intention of challenging
the grip of power on Colombia while avenging Santos’ murder.
Written, directed and self-distributed by Glickenhaus with his production company Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment striking and distributing the theatrical prints themselves to retain home video rights, this absurdly over-the-top blood and guts action thriller is something of a proto-Expendables in how it opens on a corrupt seizure of power followed by a greatest hits roundup of action stars kicking ass and taking names.
Though Walken’s boundless screen talents are somewhat underutilized in
this, his screen presence is still all over the movie. Really its María Conchita Alonso who gives
her all to this film in a role that, let’s face it, Sigourney Weaver would’ve
been jealous of. Tough, determined,
fearless and ready to wade knee deep through death, she’s a fierce fighter who
arguably outshines her male costars despite this being very clearly a brawny
macho action piece with lots of things being shot or blown apart.
Visually, Frankenhooker cinematographer Robert M. Baldwin’s work is mostly serviceable with the Colombia scenes shot on location in the Philippines, capturing the action set pieces in full or wide shots so we can see all the military equipment and weaponry being moved about the screen. There’s also, in typical slimy bad guy fashion, the elegance of high monetary lifestyle onscreen which remind some viewers of the James Bond villainy from John Hurt in Jake Speed. The soundtrack by German born former Tangerine Dream member Christopher Franke is also a serviceable backdrop to the fireworks flying across the screen though a year later he’d turn over far more memorable fare for Universal Soldier.
Despite the star power and scale of the set pieces, the film barely broke $500,000 at the box office and after getting a VHS tape release from MCA/Universal it eventually fell to bargain bin label Goodtimes Video. Languishing in obscurity until Rifftrax released on-demand a version of the film with a Mystery Science Theater 3000 styled commentary poking fun at it, the film received a 2K restoration from Synapse Films who eventually made efforts to release this obscure truly homegrown B-movie on blu-ray disc for the first time.
With renewed interest in 1980s action movie trash, particularly the
Cannon Films brand and particular interest in James Glickenhaus’ oeuvre with The
Exterminator having received a special-edition release from Synapse Films, McBain
while plainly lowbrow will give you the explosions and crimson bloodbaths
fans of Glickenhaus are looking for while also giving Christopher Walken fans
not one of his best but still an entertaining picture nevertheless.
--Andrew Kotwicki
