Suburban Commando (1991)

Shep Ramsey is an interstellar hero, righting wrongs, etc. His ship is damaged after a fight with an interstellar nasty and he must hide out on Earth until it can recharge. He leaves his ... See full summary »

Director:

Burt Kennedy

Writer:

Frank A. Cappello

Stars:

Hulk Hogan, Christopher Lloyd, Shelley Duvall

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hulk Hogan	...	Shep Ramsey
Christopher Lloyd	...	Charlie Wilcox
Shelley Duvall	...	Jenny Wilcox
Larry Miller	...	Adrian Beltz
William Ball	...	Gen. Suitor
Jo Ann Dearing	...	Margie Tanen
Jack Elam	...	Col. Dustin 'Dusty' McHowell
Roy Dotrice	...	Zanuck
Tony Longo	...	Knuckles
Michael Faustino	...	Mark Wilcox
Mark Calaway	...	Hutch
Laura Mooney	...	Theresa Wilcox
Dennis Burkley	...	Deak
Luis Contreras	...	Ringo
Nick Eldredge	...	President Hashina

Storyline

Shep Ramsey is an interstellar hero, righting wrongs, etc. His ship is damaged after a fight with an interstellar nasty and he must hide out on Earth until it can recharge. He leaves his power suit at home, but still finds himself unable to allow wrongs to go unrighted and so mixes it up with bad drivers, offensive paperboys, muggers and the like. Then the family he's staying with finds his power suit and the father tries it on.

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Plot Keywords:

power suit | hero | fight | robber | knife | 

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Taglines:

Right suburb. Wrong planet.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Family | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 October 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Urban Commando

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$6,948,859 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

The machine that Ramsey used to find the freeze laser is the PKE Meter from Ghostbusters.

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Goofs

When Shep jumps in the air and lands on a skate board the following long shot clearly shows him to be standing on some sort of a platform supported by three large wheels.

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Quotes

Shep Ramsey: Earthlings... I *hate* earthlings...

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Connections

Featured in The Nostalgia Critic: Suburban Commando (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Black Book"
Written by Chip and Tony Kinman
Performed by Rank And File
Courtesy of Rhino Records

User Reviews

Harmless, painless formula movie, with a handful of solid gags

It's a peculiar badge of cinematic honour to be the least-worst Hulk Hogan movie of all time. Hulk plays some sort of super-powerful alien who, in coming to Earth on whatever Universe-saving mission he's on, becomes involved with a suburban US family.

Such fun as the movie has is in the alien's attempts to deal with the frustrations, annoyances and rules of suburban life. The pleasant surprise for those who come to "Suburban Commando" without unsustainable expectations of seeing anything remotely resembling a classic is that this material - Superhero Hulkster dealing with normal suburban irritations - is pretty well-handled, with a few big, satisfying laughs, and not without an element of satire.

Whether it's the director or whoever, someone babied Hogan through this one, since the film plays to his strengths (ie he coasts on the natural screen charisma that made him a star in pro wrestling), and avoids his weaknesses (ie acting) that are copiously evident in other Hogan movies.

Otherwise, the remedial comic book plot tends to take over, which is endurable but no particular fun, and Christopher Lloyd has one of his bad days at the office as the suburban family's father. Wrestling fans shouldn't struggle to spot Mark Calloway (aka the WWF's Undertaker) and might even pick up Hogan's high school buddy Ed Leslie (Brutus Beefcake).

Most of the good stuff's in the first half hour or so, from memory. If you're partial to some simple but effective comedy on the theme of familiar irritants in suburban life, you might get a rise out of at least that much of the movie. For what it is, "Suburban Commando" is ok.