Bulletproof (1988)

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Director:

Steve Carver

Writers:

T.L. Lankford (story) and
Fred Olen Ray (story) ...

Genre:

Action | Drama | Romance

Plot:

A group of dangerous terrorists succeeds to get hold of a tank of the army and all its crew.

Plot Keywords:

Tank | Cold War | Rescue | Terrorism | Mexico

Cast

Gary Busey	...	Frank McBain
Darlanne Fluegel	...	Devon Shepard
Henry Silva	...	Colonel Kartiff
Thalmus Rasulala	...	Billy Dunbar
L.Q. Jones	...	Sgt. O'Rourke
René Enríquez	...	General Brogado (as Rene Enriquez)
Mills Watson	...	Colby
James Andronica	...	Agent Tarpley
R.G. Armstrong	...	Miles Blackburn
William Smith	...	Russian Major (as Bill Smith)
Luke Askew	...	General Gallo
Lincoln Kilpatrick	...	Captain Briggs
Lydie Denier	...	Tracy
Ramón Franco	...	Camilo (as Ramon Franco)
Juan Fernández	...	Pantaro (as Juan Fernandez)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Ultra Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | West Germany:18 | Norway:15 | USA:R | Canada:AA (Ontario)

Company:

Bulletproof Productions

Trivia:

The helicopter dolled up to represent a Soviet Mi-24 "Hind" gunship is a Sikorsky Sea King.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the Thunderblast tank rotates its turret, the columns holding up its barrel suddenly disappear.

Quotes:

Frank McBain: [holding gun on Pantaro] What's the password?
Pantaro: [holding hands up] Thunderblast!

What a clichéd mess!

I had such high hopes for this movie when I discovered it. Not only does it star my favorite actor of all time (Henry Silva), but it serves as the vehicle for Gary Busey's ill-fated and misguided debut as an action star! Unfortunately, I was pretty let down by the time the end credits rolled. The only redeeming aspect of this dated movie is the first half-hour, which is a pathetic attempt to mimic Lethal Weapon-styled buddy cop movies. Like many other action flicks starring big ego second-tier stars (Steven Seagal being our number one offender here), they really try to build up the main character as a devil-may-care indestructible ex-CIA supercop who all the bad guys know about. Notice during the ice cream truck chase when the villains have this exchange after they pound Busey's car with bullets:

Villain 1: I think we blew him off! Villain 2: You don't blow up a dude like McBain!

The story is pretty lame once it gets going. McBain is hired by the army to retrieve a tank named "Thunderblast" (!) that seems to be some armored afterbirth of the Reagan-era military buildup. Henry Silva's role is pretty wasted as a Libyan colonel who is working alongside the Commies. Aside from the hilariously bad first half hour and the introduction of the word "butthorn" into popular lexicon, Bulletproof is pretty much a waste of time.