McBain (1991)

Santos attempts to lead a people's revolt in Colombia to overthrow the oppressive El Presidente. When his revolt fails and he is killed, his sister Christina goes to New York to find McBain... See full summary »

Director:

James Glickenhaus

Writer:

James Glickenhaus

Stars:

Christopher Walken, Maria Conchita Alonso, Michael Joseph DeSare

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Joseph DeSare	...	Major Tenny (as Michael Joseph De Sare)
Chick Vennera	...	Roberto Santos
Michael Ironside	...	Frank Bruce
Steve James	...	Eastland
Eric Granger	...	Secret Service
Thomas G. Waites	...	Gill (as T. G. Waites)
Jay Patterson	...	Dr. Dalton
Christopher Walken	...	Robert McBain
Cris Aguilar	...	Sing Lau (as Cristito 'Kris' Aguilar)
Protacio Dee	...	General Ho (as Protacio 'Tony' Dee)
Craig Judd	...	Screaming P.O.W. (as Craig Walter Judd)
David Pegram	...	Armodo (as David Tamayo Pegram)
Dinah Dominguez	...	Rebel Hooker #1
Jedd Malgaso	...	Rebel Hooker #2
Joel Torre	...	Chauffeur

Storyline

Santos attempts to lead a people's revolt in Colombia to overthrow the oppressive El Presidente. When his revolt fails and he is killed, his sister Christina goes to New York to find McBain, a lieutenant Santos rescued during the Vietnam War. McBain agrees to avenge Santos' death, calls up his old war buddies, raises the necessary funds by killing a few drug dealers and threatening the mafia, then leads an attack to topple the corrupt government.

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Plot Keywords:

colombia | raid | commando unit | commando mission | liberation army | 

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Taglines:

It's payback time!

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Genres:

Action | Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong war violence, and for language and drug use

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 September 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

McBain - O Guerreiro Moderno

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$320,000, 22 September 1991

Gross USA:

$456,127

Company Credits

Production Co:

Marble Hall, Shapiro-Glickenhaus Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo (4 channels)

Color:

Color (TVC)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Riffed by the guys from MST3K, under their RIFFTRAX brand-- Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett.

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Goofs

General Epper wears the insignia of a General of the Army, a ceremonial rank which was last awarded to Omar Bradley prior to the Korean War.

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Quotes

McBain: Santos is dead. You remember Santos? This is his sister.
Frank Bruce: Yeah, I remember Santos. It's a hell of a thing they did to him. But there's nothing we can do about it now.
McBain: You know, I get up in the morning and I go to work. I go to the same bar each night and drink the same beer. I laugh, I talk. But when I saw Santos on tv, I got jealous. Because, he was doing what he did best.
Frank Bruce: What, you miss the smell of napalm in the morning?

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Connections

Featured in The Cinema Snob: Bad Movie Cinema Snob: McBain (2010)

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Soundtracks

Brothers in Arms
Written by Mark Knopfler
Sung by Ann Corfield

User Reviews

Great action-packed revenge/war movie!

When I first heard about the title, I thought of 'The Simpsons', just like so many other reviewers, but when I saw the cast, I was completely stunned, that so many great character-actors would actually be in this! First of all, we have Christopher Walken (Deer Hunter, Pulp Fiction), who plays the title character, McBain. He is rescued from a Vietnam POW-camp by some of his buddies, one of which is Santos (Chick Vennera, Yanks, The Milagro Beanfield War), who splits a HUNDRED DOLLAR BILL with McBain (Vietnam soldiers are loaded with cash apparently), and tells him that he can re-do the favor to him, if he ever gets into trouble.

Then, 18 years later, Santos and his sister Christina (Maria Conchita Alonso, The Running Man, Predator 2) join the rebels in Colombia trying to get rid of their evil dictator, El Presidente (Victor Argo, Taxi Driver, King of New York), and when Santos fails the mission, Christina goes to McBain for help.

McBain then asks his good ol' Vietnam buddies to help him. First there's the token tough black guy, Eastland, played by "American Ninja"'s Steve James, who was also in director James Glickenhaus' previous movie, "The Exterminator", where the exterminator's real name also was Eastland, coincidence? I think not. There is also a lot of other references to The Exterminator, among other things, the most notable one being that McBain himself wears a welders-mask when Christina sees him for the first time, when he is working on a welding-job on top of a bridge!

The other guys in the Vietnam-pack are: The rich guy who can afford all sorts of equipment for the team, Frank Bruce (Michael Ironside, Total Recall, Starship Troopers), and then there's the doc, Dalton, (Jay Patterson, TMN Turtles), and last but not least, there's the cop, Gill, who has had enough of his unsatisfying job, he's played by Thomas G. Waites, who some of us might remember from The Warriors and The Thing.

And in other big roles, we find Luis Guzmán (Boogie Nights, Carlito's Way), as a small-time drug-dealer who can't get a decent job. Also, there is Dick Boccelli as the drug-dealing kingpin who gets hung up in a crane on top of a roof by the McBain-gang, almost Exactly in the same way he got hung up over a meat-grinder by John Eastland in the EXTERMINATOR-movie! Now, I haven't seen Glickenhaus' "Shakedown/Blue Jean Cop" yet, but I'm almost ready to bet half a hundred-dollar bill that Boccelli gets hung up in that movie too!

Well, back to the plot of this movie.. they go off to Colombia and saves the day, yay! But who cares about the plot anyway, the cast is great, and the action-scenes are very well done, and you're never bored while watching this movie! Highly recommended to all action-lovers!