Running Cool (1993)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Directors:

Beverly Sebastian
Ferd Sebastian

Writers:

Beverly Sebastian (writer)
Ferd Sebastian (writer)

Genre:

Action

Tagline:

They were the last thing this town wanted... But just what it needed.

Plot:

Bone and Bear, two rough and tough bikers ride out from Sturgis, SD. to the marshes of South Carolina to help out their "bro" Ironbutt Garrett...

Plot Keywords:

Biker | Motorcycle | Swamp | Independent Film

Cast

Andrew Divoff	...	Bone
Tracy Sebastian	...	Blue Hogg
Dedee Pfeiffer	...	Michele
Paul Gleason	...	Calvin Hogg
Arlen Dean Snyder	...	Sheriff
Bubba Baker	...	Bear
James Gammon	...	Ironbutt Garrett
BJ Davis	...	Bubba
Arnie Cox	...	Big Red
Carolyn Gendron	...	Melanie Garrett
Marlene Cameron	...	Hattie
Virginia Light	...	Ada
Wayne Nardella	...	Sprocket
Jan Duncan	...	Marnie
Mark Salem	...	Meathead

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Iceland:12 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Crystal River, Florida, USA

Trivia:

The filmmakers put out a call for 200 biker extras. 2000 showed up. They all donated their pay to aid construction of the Central Florida Zoo's Eagle habitat

Quotes:

Bear: I feel like a turd in a punchbowl...

One dimensional biker movie

Bikers Bone (Divoff) and Bear (Baker) visit their old friend Ironbutt (Gammon) to find that he is being forced off his land by ruthless developer Calvin Hogg (Gleason). Desperate to protect his marshlands Ironbutt enlists the help of his friends to raise money to save the land and fight off the developers.

This seems to be trying to cast bikers in the role of Native Americans - stewards of the land and the environment. They're mostly sensitive men who love nature and others - any crime they do is only ever self defence and, yes they like a bit of a fight but overall they just want to be at one with their surroundings (and have wet tee-shirt competitions!). This is my first problem with this is that it tries to cast bikers as misunderstood, caring men who have the environment as one of their many concerns (ignoring the effect of their bikes' burning fuel!).

This also means that the developers are portrayed as "evil" while the lawmen are portrayed as "stupid" or "corrupt". This then sets up various confrontations in which the bikers come off looking good. Much of this is the form of fighting, all of which is slow and lazy. Having seen Hong Kong fight scenes where everything is choreographed down to a move this is quite a bore. All the fights are slow and without excitement or tension, they consist of a series of punches where the "bad guys" are stunned and stand awaiting the next punch. Anyway, the plot and the fights continue until the serious conclusion where everyone, including the bikers and the developers learn an important lesson about love, friendship and others....

The cast are quite good - some of the bikers look frighteningly like Ewoks from Jedi! Divoff is quite good but only needs to give an one-dimensional performance as the sensitive, strong guy. Little Pfeiffer is good as Michele and Bubba Baker brings some comedy as Bear. Gleason is good as Calvin Hogg, but Tracy Sebastian is terrible as his son. All the rest of the cast are so-so, but really this isn't material where a shining performance would be really possible.

Overall the film is quite lame, the characters are all one-dimensional with a far too positive shine put on the bikers to be totally believable. The fight scenes are boring and the plot is predictable. The happy "we all learnt a lesson here today" ending is terrible. The only group that'll get a kick out of this movie are those that are or like bikers.