Deadbeat at Dawn (1988)

After one too many encounters with The Spiders (a rival gang), The Ravens' leader's girlfriend tells him to quit the gang or it's Splitsville. He does so, but the leader of The Spiders is ... See full summary »

Director:

Jim Van Bebber

Writer:

Jim Van Bebber

Stars:

Paul Harper, Jim Van Bebber, Megan Murphy

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Paul Harper	...	Danny
Jim Van Bebber	...	Goose
Megan Murphy	...	Christy
Ric Walker	...	Keith
Marc Pitman	...	Bone Crusher
Maureen Allisse	...	Iris (as Maureen Gentner)
Tom Burns
Steve King
Dave Parker	...	Drive-thru attendant
Bill Stover	...	Stubby
Carol Lee
Mark Gillespie
Tom Harris	...	Man in Bar
John Bradley
Lili Hendler

Storyline

After one too many encounters with The Spiders (a rival gang), The Ravens' leader's girlfriend tells him to quit the gang or it's Splitsville. He does so, but the leader of The Spiders is hellbent on revenge and arranges the murder of the girlfriend. That ticks off the boyfriend, who wreaks havoc with the two gangs, who have joined forces in order to pull off a security truck heist.

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Plot Keywords:

gang | heist | revenge | murder | drugs | 

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Taglines:

He quit the gangs. They killed his girl. He became...

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Genres:

Action | Crime

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 May 1999 (UK)

Also Known As:

Gore en las calles

Filming Locations:

Dayton, Ohio, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Smodeus Productions Inc.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shot over the course of 4 years.

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Quotes

Goose: Christy is dead.
Christy's sister: Did you kill her?
Goose: No... I loved her.

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Connections

Referenced in In the Belly of the Beast (2001)

User Reviews

Such a cool movie!!

I have seen a lot of movies, there is no question there. But once in a while a movie jumps out at me so bad ass, so cool, and so different than anything I've seen in a while, that I need to tell the world. This film my friends is Deadbeat at Dawn.

Imagine the revenge elements of Death Wish, the slum scenery of Street Trash, and the gang battles of The Warriors all pent up in one angry themed film. That's the best way I can describe this film's feel in a nutshell.

Goose, who is played by the films director Jim Van Bebber, is a relatively nice guy caught up as a leader in a street gang called The Ravens. They do not get along with their rivals The Spiders and the bloodshed between the two is constant.

After realizing that he may end up getting killed and leaving his girl high and dry, Goose decides to quit The Ravens and join the working world to start building a better life. But now that he is not connected, The Spiders seize the day and get revenge on Goose starting a hell storm of revenge that ends up becoming one of the coolest paybacks you will ever see in cinematic history.

When I first saw a clip of this movie, I was reading reviews on IMDb before I purchased Deadbeat at Dawn. A review stated, "If you liked playing Double Dragon on your Nintendo, you will love this movie!" I saw some clips online and understood what the reviewer was saying. The last twenty minutes of this movie will make you feel like your playing a kick ass video game from the eighties.

Van Bebber actually has some fighting skills and is pretty awesome with the nun chucks. He beats a ton of gang members up.

The worst thing about Deadbeat at Dawn is that not enough people are aware of this low budget masterpiece. This is a grind house film; not some over produced multimillion dollar budgeted film with a filter over it. This is the real deal Holyfield.

The film is all around dirty and gritty, it carries a no holds barred "I'm making a brutal movie" approach throughout, and leaves the viewer in awe.