The Bad Pack (1997) Poster

(1997)

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5/10
An old A-Team script revised?
Big Jon-221 May 1999
Albeit not a horrible film, it wasn't a good film either. A plethora of stereotypes (The cool leader, the insane guy, the ice-cold assassin chick, the happy-go-lucky guy, the introspective muscleman, the computer geek) are paraded out and put through a typical A-Team adventure involving some really badly acted white supremist survivalists who are terrorizing a Tex-Mex boarder town. This is the type of screenplay one knocks out during a slow television night.
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3/10
Disappointing, talky action film
gridoon26 July 2006
OK, let me start with the best (if not the only good) thing in this movie: Shawn Huff. I don't know if the word "WOW" is enough to describe her. Her portrayal of an expert markswoman / assassin is picture-perfect, and she delivers with conviction such lines as (after shooting two guys point-blank) "Hell yeah I think you're afraid of me!". I think she is Brent Huff's wife, but she's so good in her role that I don't care if she got it only because of that. The rest of the film, however, is one disappointment after another: Roddy Piper is an ex-wrestler. Does he fight in the movie? No. A big German guy is shown at first as an underground fighter. Does he have any more fights? No. The villains (a para-military group) are shown training during the opening credits. Do they get to put their training to use? No. And so on. The action (what little there is of it) is of generally poor quality, apart from a few decent motorcycle stunts. Ultimately, "The Bad Pack" is the poor man's "The Magnificent Seven" (*)
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3/10
Bad is the word alright
sveknu2 November 2007
Unfortunately, this movie is a totally missed opportunity. At first, it looked really interesting. A team of mercenaries was going to Texas to take on some right wing white trash people. It showed a lot of promise when the leader of the mercenaries was doing his recruiting of different characters. With people like Robert Davi, Ralph Moeller and Roddy Piper, this is going to be fun at the end, I thought. But no. The movie just goes on and on without nothing really happening except boring dialogue and lots of preparations.

Take Roddy Piper, for example. Almost all he does here is being a driver. Really disappointing. And Ralph Moeller, who is some sort of a fighting champion in the beginning, never fights again in the movie. He is totally under-utilized, and only talks and delivers a few gunshots near the end. The guy was great in Best of the Best 2, so I just don't understand what he was doing here.

The last action scene that the whole movie was building up on is just terrible and utter trash. I guess this movie got killed off because of the budget, and overall it must have been braindead people being responsible for this. One of the right wing guys even speaks with an accent!!!

Stay away from this, unless you have to watch every action movie ever made.
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2/10
Hmmm, this looks familiar
mushrom2 January 2001
Hmmmm, a small town of peaceful farmers is taken over by bandits who force them to do what they want, and give them all of their food and supplies.

No, I am not talking about Seven Samuri, nor the western remake The Magnificent Seven. I am not even talking about the Disney remake A Bug's Life.

Except instead of 7, there are only 5 or 6 heros in this movie. And instead of Yul Brynner we get Roddie Piper. He does an OK job of acting, but the tired worn out script was so bad, nobody could have saved it.

I can only say that I bought the DVD for $3 on sale, and the movie was worth the $3. But I would not pay anything more for this thing.
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VERY VERY BAD
lccjr_789 July 2003
wow i saw this move on HBO (thx god i didn't buy it like the other guy) and i would have to say that this movie has the worst acting and stunts in it period. this movie sucked ass. but there is a upside to haveing a movie this bad. you can tell people to rent it and they will laugh all the way back to the video store and then tell you why the hell did you tell me to rent it. this movie is a must watch drunk tho, man it SUCKS!
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4/10
It's a Lacktion movie
tarbosh2200011 October 2015
Warning: Spoilers
In the dusty border town of Los Robles, Texas, an evil white supremacist group led by Lamont Sperry (Teague) and his loyal henchman Sven (Ole-Thorsen) set up shop. I guess if you hate Mexican people, you go to the source, right? Well, two brothers decide the only way the destitute community can rid themselves of the baddies is by checking the ads in the back of Soldier of Fortune magazine, and hiring some mercenaries to kill them all. They take a train to L.A. and meet with a man named Biker (Wells), but he refuses their offer. Eventually they find the right man for the job: a one-man fighting force named McQue (Davi). What follows is classic "Assembling a Team" as McQue goes and finds people with special, individualized skills for the mission: Dash Simms (Piper) is the driver, Remi Sykes (Shawn Huff) is the sniper assassin, Kurt (Moeller) is the muscle, etc. This newly-christened (but never actually said out loud) BAD PACK is promised millions of dollars from the cache of the evildoers if they succeed...but will they? The Bad Pack is a disappointment. With a galaxy of B-Movie stars on display and Brent Huff both in front of and behind the camera, you'd think it would be a no-brainer to make an awesome action classic. Not so much. But they did get the 'no brain' part right, as the movie is very, very dumb. It's filled with stultifyingly stupid dialogue that drags down the whole project. Also, it needed more action. Saving all the action for the big climax is a no-no. Seeing as this is a supposed action movie, you should really have action DURING the movie. Doesn't Brent Huff, of all people, know that? There's something sanitized about it - what little action scenes exist throughout the movie are quick and bloodless, and there's minimal bad language and no nudity. It's almost an action movie for the whole family. While it was great to see fan favorite Robert Davi in a lead role like this - especially when he's foiling robbers at a diner with his canefighting skills or popping extended, unnecessary wheelies on his bright green motorbike, we wish the movie overall was of a better caliber and better suited to his skills. And because the whole outing is pure 90's (of the pay-channel and back-shelf-of -the-video-store variety), there are not one but two scenes of Punchfighting: one with Battle Creek Brawl's mega-meathead Jeep Swenson (R.I.P.) and Ralf Moeller, and another with Brent Huff and some other guy. Presumably these were the scenes meant to tide us over until the finale.

Marshall Teague, as the main baddie, looks a lot like George Lucas in this movie. And that's in the scenes when he doesn't look like Kenny Rogers. This really brought to the silver screen what George Lucas is probably like in real life. Yet another character we didn't mention thus far, Jeremy Britt (Scott) plays a Black nerd (Blerd?) whose only function in The Bad Pack is that he owns a laptop. He claims to be the guy who "gets them the information", as if the other members of the team don't have access to the internet. But it was the golden age of Urkel, so, that decision makes sense.

But that leads us to two terms we coined - first is the Lone Tiger effect, when you think a movie is going to be good because of a stellar cast, but instead it's a mess because there are TOO many characters and no one gets enough time in the sun. That's The Bad Pack. Also it's a Lacktion movie: a supposed action outing that lacks action. That's The Bad Pack as well. Add to that some annoying characters and some light bathroom humor, and our good will is falling precipitously. And it's all such a waste. The potential is CLEARLY there for a better movie, but it falls flat. Roddy Piper as a DRIVER who only marginally participates in the (of course) final warehouse fight? Are you kidding me? But on the bright side, Ralf Moeller stole his scenes and is quite good in it, as is Shawn Huff (that would be Mrs. Brent Huff).

Sadly, audiences who watch The Bad Pack are Huffing the fumes of the glory of the past work of the participants.
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1/10
A pack of badness
Well, whilst I hesitate to say anything good about this film, I think it may just slip into the 'so bad it's good' category. Without a doubt the worst film I have ever watched in my life, I can still remember where I was when I watched it, and whom I watched it with, well over a decade on.

This is a film that skips effortlessly up the K2 of bad film-making, blissfully unaware of quite what a difficult achievement it is to combine wooden characters and lines, amateur effects, clichés and anticlimax, all the time without tripping up and straying into parody. Amazing.
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4/10
One for Roddy, two for the blond and one for Eastwoods son in law Gonzalez Gonzalez.
rjfromtoronto9 January 2023
Might as well watch an episode of the A Team or Knight Rider, it looks so late 90s cheese action made for tv movie though it probably wasn't, think TBS on a Sunday afternoon type B movie. Roddy Piper did a fun job, Davi was his usual self, the Austrian guy I can't put a finger on, maybe he was in Beer Fest with the Super Trooper guys circa 2000s. It was a silly frivolous cheaply made quickie with chessy bad guys, a few familiar faces and the usual poor Immigrant folks who need help lol. Watch it for a laugh, I paid a $1 for it at a charity shop, worth about 50 cents of that but you can't beat cheese, it's no Tango and Cash, or Expendables or 7 Samurai but it is old school silly fun for 80s kids. Late night or Sun afternoon if nothing else is on. But 12 reviews says it all lol.
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5/10
Chesesy but fun
omar-d-sheikh30 December 2023
I stumbled upon this on a Home Screen and noticed how many actors I recognized from different movies. It's like the original 90s Expendables of b list actors. Ralph Moeller, Sven O Arnies buddies he always cameos. Lamar from Revenge of The Nerds. Roddy Piper! Jeep Swanson. The crazy Australian guy from Road Warrior and Weird Science. It's crazy how many people were this. If you watch it for just fun it's enjoyable and has heart. The heroes have honor. If you watch some scenes you can see some funny mishaps. Lamar dude is drinking a Corona but he slams it too hard and it starts to bubble up so he has to sip it or ruin the scene. The blonde is about to snipe a guy and Roddy happens to look right at the barrel as she shoots w no eye protection. You know that was not planned. I didn't expect to enjoy it when the first long training mo rage was playing out but as soon as all the good guys were on screen I was I to it. The 50 cal firing off w just a fire out of the barrel looked so fake but it's a fun movie if you don't take it seriously.
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6/10
Decent little film
suchenwi28 September 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Seeing a majority of bad to very bad reviews here, I'd like to make my point too. The Bad Pack isn't perfect or very good, but I wouldn't call it bad either - a low budget action comedy (both aspects maybe slightly under-dosed) with interesting faces. Same old, same old story elements of course.. but it didn't bore me.

The roles of the ultimately 7 "samurai" were marked enough that I could remember them all the next day (the Sniperess, the Madman in particular). The "Sons of Texas" militia was not played out much, and never did one see the hundred I kept hearing about.

One extra point for the Latinos to travel by train - I always like to see Amtrak and a Union Station. And their odyssey in L.A. was cute and touching. 6/10.
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3/10
Yes, they were bad...
Aaron137511 April 2023
Not sure how this movie was as bad as it was as it had a couple of stars, a mildly good premise and what one thought was going to be a very violent conclusion with guns blazing, but here we are. None of the stars seem interested, not even ones who should if they wanted to keep getting roles, the premise did not work because the big bad conclusion one expects in a film like this turned into a slight pit stop. I have been in fast food drive in lines longer than the 'explosive' finale lasts...

The plot, a town on Mexican Americans are being harassed by a group of racist militia types. Who do they turn to for help? Well, a group of highly trained solider of fortunes, a kind of A-Team if you will, only they are more like the C-Team; however, that being said as easy as they take down the militia, the Mexicans could have just bought guns and skipped the middle man and done the whole job themselves...

So we get Davi who is good as a villain, but not so good as the hero, who for reasons unknown wears a confederate hat. Not a rebel flag hat, but an actual confederate soldier hat making me wonder who thought that was a good idea. Then there is Rowdy Roddy Piper who plays guy who drives. Seriously, there are more members of the team, but they are so poorly fleshed out as the rest are just crazy guy, buff guy and good shooting girl. Meanwhile, a dude who just joins up for no reason gets more screen time and is fleshed out better. I mean sure, guy stops a bank robbery in a diner I'm at, I wish to serve him like a toady forever...not!

So, the film should have been good, but was instead very weak. Not taking inspiration from 80's hardcore action films, but instead kind of being tepid. The bad guys are completely inept and the townspeople should feel embarrassed to have been terrorized by them. Still, good for a laugh or two as we watch this team of misfits get their fairly simple plan to stop the evil doers together.
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10/10
I loved it!!!
denisegw1 July 2001
As a female I rarely watch action films, but The Bad Pack is fun from beginning to end. The film has great characters as well as an exciting and often funny narrative. The Bad Pack doesn't take itself too seriously. The writer/director obviously has his tongue firmly planted in cheek. This film should have recieved more attention.
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7/10
THE ORIGINAL EXPENDABLES!!! A Fun Little B-movie gem
lukem-5276025 September 2019
THE BAD PACK is a 1997 action Thriller with a B-movie ensemble cast.

This fun action flick is a perfect example of the time period, the 90's straight to video market, this is a pure genre film that's mostly Action orientated but with cool hero characters, i love the look & feel to this 90's flick, i know that 90's tone/ look & feel including the cheesy music but it all feels Nostalgic & comforting, a little relic gem from a more simpler time "The 90's" that feels so far away now & i miss it!!!

With no over the top c.g.i of today & without a mega budget this little Action film is easy watching & simple story-telling just how they made 'em back then.

A team of skilled Mercenaries are hired to protect a small Texas town from an evil racist militia. Simple story with cool characters. We get some shots of sunny Los Angeles & then the story takes place in a sunny & dusty little Texas town for the rest of the movie, nothing spectacular on the cinematography side but standard to fine stuff but it does have a very cool music score.

The Bad Pack is such an easy-watching piece of action entertainment, it follows a straightforward story of a few good people standing up to even more bad people. It's good vs evil packed into a low-budget B-movie with some humour & fun action. Its nothing amazing but it's just Awesome & i love it. The film probably could've done with more action but i get that the budget was tiny so what we got is good enough for me & also i wish Davi had a bigger fight sequence with the leader of the Militia as his showdown with him was pretty underwhelming & needed more action. But hey, i enjoy this little Action film & the team of characters are very likeable.

This deserves much more credit as "Stallone" obviously copied this for his first "Expendables" it's so obvious from the rag tag team of mercenaries & the plane they use right down to fighting for a small unfortunate town against an evil militia/dictator, i loved "The Expendables films" that's a great Trilogy right there but this movie was what sparked the idea for Stallone but i gotta say Robert Davi is Awesome as the leader of his team.

Davi's character is so cool, i would have loved a sequel to get to spend more time with McQue, from that cool moment we see him eating a sandwich during a robbery at his local Diner, he's so calm & cool until he strikes & beats the robbers up very quickly, it's such a fun way to introduce this cool tough hero!!!

Robert Davi is a great actor, he's just always underrated & underused these days but during the 90s he was constantly turning up in straight to video action Thriller films, I'm a big Davi fan & love him in B-movie films such as this The Bad Pack, Center of the Web, Night Trap, Peacemaker, Maniac Cop 2&3, The Zone & other's. My top 3 Robert Davi films would be: The Bad Pack, Under Surveillance & Maniac Cop 3.

He is a great B-movie action lead & always has a Cool & Calm presence on screen, he makes a good rugged lead similar to the likes of Tom Atkins & Robert Forster & here he plays tough mercenary McQue, who gets a team of mercenary types for a dangerous mission to take out a militia that's terrorizing the Mexicans of a small Texas border town, this is the first true "Expendables" & in this rag tag team we get the Awesome Roddy Piper (They Live) who gives a funny & tough performance & you can see he's enjoying it!!! Roddy was always great in these straight to video action films, he made a load of fun B-movies in his time & it's always nice to see his face again, RIP Roddy.

Roddy made some B-movie gems such as Tough & Deadly, Back in Action, Sci-Fighter & Jungleground.

There's also a beautiful but extremely deadly Assassin Remi Sykes played by Shawn Huff, it's a cool & fun role.

We've also the big beefcake "Arnie" type Ralf Moeller (Cyborg, Universal Soldier, Alone in the Dark 2) who plays Kurt Mayer he's the big muscles guy of the group & a great fighter, he's cool, tough & fits right in.

Movie villain favourite Vernon Wells (Mad Max 2, Innerspace, Commando) has a small role as Biker bad guy, it's cool that he pops up in this fun flick.

There's the brains,computer type guy, Larry. B. Scott who plays Jeremy Britt who helps with all the technical stuff & gets the guys their plane, he's funny & geeky.

Then there's the crazy one Hoffman played by Patrick Dollaghan, he's on the edge crazy & makes it feel like "The A-Team" when he comes into it.

There's lots of great Action & fun humour, i love the team & the dusty 90s cinematography, a low-budget gem if ever there was one, my type of "Cult Classic" & just a good old fashioned action flick of good taking a stand against evil, but There's such a fun vibe to it all that you sit & enjoy it as pure entertainment.

The Bad Pack is just great old school fun, it's a very low-budget production & it's a pure 90s B-movie that's totally entertaining & alot better than big budget cinema released films!!!

I think i enjoyed this better than "Stallone's Expendables" now i know this isn't a fantastic film & it's very rough around the edges & made on what looks like a very small budget that restrained it from doing alot more "Big Action" sequences as i noticed we never got to see the militia's full potential, we never got to see the "hundred" or more militia army or a full on attack on the town, it all was wrapped up abit too quickly & neatly in the typical "Big warehouse" bad guy base & it did end then quickly as i thought that was just a little battle before the big daytime town invasion but it never happened!!! Still like I've said considering it's tiny budget & small scale it's still one fun little action film. The Bad Pack has vibes of the A-Team & an enjoyable little cast with everyone seemingly having fun.

I enjoy these types of films i love the cheesy 90s music & i think Robert Davi is Awesome & doesn't have that big Ego that Stallone has so he's more enjoyable to watch, he's a great lead & this is his one of his best roles in my opinion. Davi doesn't usually get a great lead role so here is his main action hero "leading man" role & he nails it!!!

DAVI was that rough & tough gritty hero but without being a buffed up pretty boy, i also always remember seeing The Bad Pack cover at Blockbuster video, i have big Nostalgia for this flick & Davi. I would've loved to have seen this cool team again in another movie (maybe up against a Predator!!! My fantasy) because they're a good bunch.

Also Robert Rodriguez obviously also copied this film in many ways or in similar ways for his "Machete" film, i noticed alot of similar bits.
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7/10
Here Comes The B-Team!!!
zardoz-1326 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
A derivative, low-budget, drive-in movie ball-buster of an actioneer, writer & director Brent Huff's "The Bad Pack" shamelessly imitates of the popular "A-Team" television series while it antes up homages to both "The Magnificent Seven" movies as well as anticipates the fireworks of "The Expendables." Perhaps one of the most murderous of James Bond's adversaries, Robert Davi of "License to Kill" sheds his bad guy image to assemble a motley crew of renegades to clash with a homegrown militia that outnumbers them forty to one. Proudly calling themselves the 'Sons of Texas, these lowdown dastards have been running roughshod over a small town of poor, illegal Hispanic immigrants living on the border between Mexico and Texas. These humble folks have suffered grievously under the heel of these racist thugs who prey on them once a month and steal what little food and money these people have earned. These 'Sons of Texas' keep bribing the local authorities to look the other way, while they wallow in their lawless shenanigans. If you crave a hellbent for leather thriller where an elite team of professionals take down a fortified compound bristling with an army of fascist scumbags, then the hopelessly derivative "Bad Pack" may distract you with its half-baked, slam-bang heroics.

Like "The Magnificent Seven," "The Bad Pack" unfolds with heartbreaking examples of the depredations these 'Sons of Texas' inflict on their destitute victims. Refusing to suffer no longer, two of these Hispanics, Hector Chavez (Daniel Zacapa) and Jose Chavez (Bert Rosario) take the train to Los Angeles to hire mercenaries who can vanquish these villains. Not surprisingly,the first man they go to Fredrickson turns out to be an alcoholic coward. Surprisingly, however, the actor who plays this character is none other than Michael Cole of ABC-TV's "The Mod Squad." Nevertheless, his secretary suggests they check out a local restaurant where a hard-nosed, gear-head mechanic, McQue (Robert Davi) enjoy the cruisie. No sooner have they seated themselves in the diner than a gang of masked gunmen burst in and vow to wipe out anybody who refuses to fork over their valuables. One customer remains oblivious to their threats, and the gang leader sticks his pistol in the fellow's face. Wearing a Confederate Army forage cap much like Nick Adams wore in the TV series "The Rebel," McQue decimates these dudes as easily as you and I would brush the crumbs of a meal from our shirts. Reluctantly, McQue accepts the low pay-seven grand up front with another seven on the back end--after the villains have been toppled.

Costarring with Davi is wrestling sensation 'Rowdy' Rodney Piper of "They Live" as Dash Simms. He is a wizard behind the wheel of a car. Mind you, McQue and Simms are old buddies and show off by careening in circles around each other. Of course, you know Davi couldn't pull off those hair-raising stunts he performs on a bike, but as long as the helmet conceals his face, who cares? When those ill-fated robbers rampaged into the restaurant, one of the diners, Jeremy Britt (Larry B. Scott of "The Karate Kid"), is minding his own business, absorbed as he is in his computer. Afterwards, he wants to help the two Mexicans, too. McQue blows Britt off until the latter justifies his presence as a CDM. According to Britt, he is a 'can do man.' He convinces McQue he can handle the duties of a quartermaster and come up with a plane to fly the team to Texas. McQue recruits another thick-skulled titan, Kurt Mayer (Ralf Moeller of "Universal Soldier"), who has been earning peanuts with his knuckles as a no-holds-barred, bare-knuckle fighter. The lure of the loot these 'Sons of Texas' have serves as sufficient incentive McQue and his cronies. According to an insider who managed to escape from the 'Sons of Texas,' these firebrands have a couple of cool millions stashed in a safe. The next member of their team is Latrell Hoffman (Patrick Dollaghan of "African Express"), and he'll remind you of Dwight Schultz's 'Howling Mad' Murdock with the "A-Team." Now, Latrell doesn't fly planes. He is just plain looney tunes and lives for the fun of a fight. McQue lines up a lethal sniper, Remi Sykes (Shawn Huff of "100 Mile Rule"), a wet dream of a blond babe who can knock the eyes out of a gnat at 1000 yards without creasing her brow with a wrinkle.

While McQue is organizing his team, we are treated to a view inside the 'Sons of Texas' compound where the brawny leader, Lamont Sperry (Marshal Teague of "Road House"), plots his next move after he learns about the arrival of McQue and his men. These two tough guys size each other up over a friendly game of blackjack. Naturally, Sperry isn't impressed with and threatens to squash McQue and his few like ants. Sperry and his men are holed up in a massive warehouse with armed sentries prowling the walls. Since they haven't met their match yet, these 'Sons of Texas' pride themselves on their invincibility. Little do they know that our heroes have stolen several crates of nitroglycerin, so when McQue launches their attack, the 'Sons' are caught off-guard, completely shocked and stunned by these antics. Huff orchestrates the nocturnal attack on the compound with an appropriate number of fireball explosions that generate pandemonium galore. Although it won't win any awards for its dire lack of originality, "The Bad Pack" delivers enough visceral thrills with its harebrained bravado, fireball explosions, and reckless stunts to keep you occupied during its 91-minutes of formulaic mayhem. According to Huff on the commentary track of the Blu-ray release, "The Bad Pack" was lensed in 13 days with a couple of days for re-shoots.
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6/10
The (not too) Bad Pack
DEPRESSEDcherry3 September 2018
Usually, these low budget affairs seek to cash in on a cinematic heavyweights popularity, here we have what could be considered the opposite. You could be forgiven for thinking that part of the production process of making 2010's The Expendables was watching 1997's The Bad Pack, given the similarities. Set in a small Texas border town, under attack by a local militia group, Mexican immigrants hire a band of mercenaries to protect them. Robert Davi and Roddy Piper provide the star names in what I found to be a very enjoyable low budget independent action movie, one which deserved more backing and perhaps even a franchise.
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