Street Crimes (1992)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Stephen Smoke

Writer:

Stephen Smoke (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Cast

Dennis Farina	...	Brian
Michael Worth	...	Tony
Patricia Zehentmayr	...	Susan
James T. Morris	...	Gerardo
Max Gail	...	Flannigan
Ron Yuan	...	Jimmy (as Ron Winston Yuan)
Shaun Shimoda	...	Johnny
Joe Banks	...	Happy
Mayah McCoy	...	LaToya
Doug Franklin	...	Car Salesman #1
Angus Duncan	...	Car Salesman #2
Mark Kaufman	...	Car Salesman Killer
Michelle Mania	...	Cop Bar Groupie (as Michelle Smith)
Walter Cox	...	Ernie
Fran Joseph	...	Jeannie

Also Known As:

Dead Even (USA) (alternative title)

Runtime:

Argentina:96 min | USA:94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:18 | Argentina:13 | USA:R

Company:

P.M. Productions

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Mike Worth's girlfriend (the blind lady) is showering and afterwards walks through the house naked. This is filmed from the back. A kidnapper is watching her silently. Just as she is to put on her robe, she turns a little and she can be seen wearing breast covers.

Quotes:

Tony: She is quite a woman. How come you didn't introduce her to me before?
Brian: Because she is quite a woman!

Soundtrack:

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

Another Cheap but Quality Actioner from PM Entertainment!

Michael Worth in MC Hammer pants reminding us how bad fashion was in the early 90s, aggressive Chinese people and an intro showing a cityscape at night while cheesy saxophone music plays in the background - it could only be another cheap but fun martial arts actioner from the folk at PM Entertainment!

The story centres mainly around two cops - Brian O Neal (played by Dennis Farina) and Tony Carter (Michael Worth) who - desperate to bring order to the tough inner-city streets they patrol - stumble upon the idea of staging organised fights between police officers and hoodlums, encouraging the young people to put down their weapons and learn to settle their grudges the honorouble way.. An idea that would only ever work in an action film!

Unfortunately this idea doesn't go down too well with local drug-lord Gerardo (the hulking James T. Morris), and he soon takes steps to bring the streets back under his control...

Although the storyline is hardly epic stuff, my interest was kept throughout by several factors: for one, characters i cared about - thanks to several interesting sub-plots (ie. O Neals blind daughter whom Carter begins to fall in love with), a well-written and sometimes genuinely funny script and a real sense of character development, even down to the minor characters.

Secondly, the acting was pretty top-notch. Im not familiar with Dennis Farina, but i was really impressed with him - at times moving, at times hilarious, this guy really kept the film moving along, and his over-protective relationship with his disabled daughter was very touching and true-to-life.

Michael Worth also impressed me - mostly known for low-budget martial arts roles such as this, I've often found his approach to tough guy roles quite interesting. Instead of being loud and cocky, he is always quiet and quite serious, and I've often thought that he deserved better success than he ever achieved.. Still, actings loss is cheap martial arts films gain, and i would class Michael Worth highly among the slew of Van Damme wannabes that appeared during the late 80s/ early 90s!

Also, special mention goes to Max Gail for his role as cop Flannigan, a character as hilarious as he is vile! I laughed out loud during his public speaking scene!

Finally, the fight scenes. As a big fan of martial arts films, i was pleased to see the fights were plentiful and quite well choreographed.. Michael Worth is a fighter of some speed and flexibility and he gets to show off his stuff plenty of times during the course of the film!

Of course, Street Crimes isn't perfect - though the action is good it never goes beyond just 'good', there are a few little plot-holes, some over-acting at times and Gerardo is far too friendly looking to really convince as an evil drugs lord! But perfect films isn't what PM Entertainment were about - they delivered competent, gritty action films, entertaining and simple, on a low budget - and thats exactly what Street Crimes is! The world of straight-to-video martial arts films is a poorer place without them!