My review was written in June 1987 after watching the film on Vidmark video cassette.
"Banzai Runner" is an utterly conventional action picture, symptomatic of the new breed of production which reflects limited aspirations. Good performances by name actor in the cast, Dean Stockwell, is the drawing card and home video shelves the destination.
Wihe film vaguely resembling confrere Dennis Hopper's forgettable 1981 pic "King of the Mountain", Stockwell toplines as a California state trooper frustrated by local rich guys, dubbed "runners", who drive their costly, souped-up cars at night at speeds approaching 200 mph in informal races. Stockwell's brother was killed, run off the road by one of these dudes, and he's frustrated by official opposition which prevents him from souping up the cop cars to pursue the offenders.
Rather, his new boss Eric Mason wants him to concentrate on drunk drivers. After a speeding incident and another run-in construed as harassment of a "runner", Stockwell is fired and gets a new job working undercover to bust drug dealers for the federal government. Unconvincing plot contrivance has him getting into a race with two runners who also are the local drug kingpins and one of whom, Billy Drago (Frank Nitti i "THe Untouchables" feature), killed his brother.
There's some good, high-speed chasing en route to the predictable finish, but filmmaker John G. Thomas fails to introduce interesting variations on the timeworn theme of a cop's problems. Stockwell is convincing both behind the wheel and in dramatic scenes, but the supporting cast is generally too low-key. Tech credits are standard. Unrated pic is extremely tame, deoid of nudity of other exploitation elements.
