Of Great Risk

I’ll say it yet again: The great thing concerning having a vast DVD/video collection, as well as having a DVD player, as well as having a television set that plays videos, is being able to see, and re-see, and re-re-see really qualitative films, films that make you sit up and take notice, films that truly hit the spot (Not to mention particular scenes from pictures. To wit: The party scene during the Pierce Brosnan-Rene Russo remake of The Thomas Crown Affair wherein Rene shakes her bun-buns in that sumptuous black gown and the following, which has her and Brosnan “doing it” bare-ass naked all over that equally sumptuous mansion). And the latest film to make the list is the lighthearted-adventure flick High Risk. At its best–which, happily, is very, very often–the picture provides intense pleasure, bringing to mind those light-adventure romps that Burt Lancaster made almost as a matter of course during the 1950s. I have seen it three times already, once on HBO and twice on DVD, and I have richly enjoyed it each time. You will, also, if you get a copy, and I heartily recommend that you do.

We begin with this one male suburbanite, Stone (James Brolin) picking up his three buddies, Troy (Cleavon Little), Tony (Chick Vennera), and Dan (Bruce Davison) and the four of them riding out to meet this professional gunrunner, Clint (Ernest Borgnine), who proceeds to show our heroes his wide display of guns. Stone is impressed; his pals are aghast (Dan, to Stone: “You said we were only going to need a couple of pistols. To shoot snakes.” Troy, looking over the considerable firepower: “There’s enough ammunition here to start a war”). We eventually learn that Stone plans for the quartet to parachute into this Columbian country and steal a cool five mil from Serrano (James Coburn), an expatriate drug king. When Tony proclaims Stone’s plan to be “bullshit,” Stone replies: “‘Bullshit’? I’ll tell you what’s bullshit. I sold my house…We don’t do this, we give up the dreams.”

Eventually our heroes parachute into said Columbian place, sneak into the home of said drug lord, and steal said five million. Afterward, they’re all high on their victory (When Tony comes riding over to them upon his horse, Troy good-naturedly terms it “[a] little ass on a big ass.” Then, when Tony, still on horseback, gets to Stone, who is also on horseback, the latter enquires: “Hey, asshole. How’s it feel to be a billionaire?” To which the former replies: “You’re still a crazy son of a bitch”). Yet their celebration is short-lived when Serrano’s men pursue all of them, wind up capturing Troy and Tony, and put them in jail. It is here where we meet Oli (former Bionic Woman Lindsay Wagner), a sister prisoner who, among other things, asks of them: “You got any money?” When they answer in the affirmative, she advises: “Well, don’t trust Roberto Rey [the local legal person].” Before long, however, Troy and Tony get enough of speaking with Oli and tune her out. Which causes her to yell at them: “Goddamn bores! You better develop a sense of humor! Or you’re never gonna make it!”

Happily, all three, with the help of one of the local kids, wind up breaking out of jail and they all wind up chowing down in this restaurant, with one of the locals looking over at Oli and aggressively leering (Which has Oli telling the boys: “Tell [the lech] to put his teeth back in his mouth and get lost”). Ultimately, they all reunite with Stone and Dan and the entire quintet board the plane they flew into the country in and they all fly out, the money in tow.

Truth be told, High Risk is a full-on kick. Director Stewart Raffil is truly on top of the proceedings and whips them along deftly. His script matches his direction in the area of keeping the action moving. And the actors are all on top of their game. James Brolin maintains the same virile charm and brisk authoritativeness he displayed when he was TV doctor Robert Young’s associate almost 40 years ago. Cleavon Little, Chick Vennera, and Bruce Davison make a delightfully raffish and delightfully determined group of wannabe soldiers-of-fortune. Anthony Quinn is marvelously Zorbaesque as the leader of a group of bandits our foursome encounter. Lindsay Wagner, happily, hasn’t lost one iota of the free-flowing charm and effortless grace she had when she was bionic. And James Coburn, fortunately, treats us to a terrific helping of his ingratiating glints and smiles as drug kingpin Serrano.

No, High Risk isn’t a “meaningful” film. It is not the kind of picture that would win big at any TV awards show (Well, maybe at the MTV Movie Awards. Maybe). And the stuffy, full-of-themselves critics at The New York Times and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette likely tore it apart with abandon. However, High Risk provides 94 minutes of fun, straightforward entertainment and a sizeable amount of well-staged, thrilling action sequences. In a time of pompous, self-important Sundance winners and Cannes winners, those factors are definitely nothing at which to sneeze. Duane Brooks www.yahoo.com