Executive Target

Executive Target is a car crash. Both literally, and figuratively.

Nick James (Michael Madsen) is a disgraced stunt car driver, busted out of jail by a gang of super-criminals who want to kidnap the US President (Roy Scheider).

They want James to drive the getaway car because: “No-one else can do what he can behind a wheel.” That’s right: nobody.

Just in case he doesn’t fancy the job, the super-criminals snatch James’ wife – thus compelling him to take part in the kidnap. First though, the grizzled driver is required to take part in a bank heist. This is meant to be a test of James’ skills before the kidnap gig, but its real function is to provide a car crash set-piece. Another car crash set-piece.

That’s because Executive Target is basically one big car chase. In fact, it would like you to believe it’s the ‘greatest crash movie ever made’, featuring ‘the best car chase since Bullitt’. Bold claims, but not entirely without foundation.

The three, lengthy set-pieces are indeed well staged. Unquestionably, there’s more fast-paced, tyre-screeching, car-flipping, vehicle-exploding action than you could ever hope to witness.

Be in no doubt: watching these scenes, Jeremy Clarkson would be sat splay-legged before his hi-def widescreen and reaching for the Kleenex. (Can I just apologise to all readers here for the irrevocable mental image I may have just conjured there.)

Oh, there’s mayhem a go-go. There’s even a sequence where they pointlessly drive through a market, just so a warehouse full of boxes can be skittled aside. Honestly, it’s all here.

But, before we get excited and pull the throttle right out (again, apologies for that Clarkson allusion), let’s pull into a literary lay-by and talk about Michael Madsen for a moment.

The Madsen’s acting style embodies a lazy casualness that reminds me of Robert Mitchum. It’s in full evidence here as, despite finding himself enmeshed in a huge criminal conspiracy (and with his wife in fatal jeopardy), he displays nothing more demonstrative than a somnambulistic sang-froid.

But despite this laid back style, Madsen does have a great ability to give off a suggestion that he might suddenly do something – even if he then does nothing. And indeed, nothing is what he mostly does in this movie.

There is one really great Madsen moment, however, when he throws a cigarette away just before sharply accelerating his car away from some pursuers. The gesture’s got an effortless cool that you can’t fake.

Anyway, James duly kidnaps the President, but before handing him over to the super-criminals, enlists him to help rescue his wife. The film ends with a good old fashioned shoot-out as James storms the criminal’s underground bunker, backed up by the President’s security team – who show considerably more prowess than they did earlier when ‘protecting’ the President.

Now, I might have made the kidnap of the President sound a touch easy. But, while POTUS’ close protection team prove utterly hapless during the kidnap scene, the President does have a couple of helicopters providing air cover, and they’re much more successful in inflicting casualties on the criminals.

Until, that is, the criminals unveil a heavy machine gun mounted to the back of a pick-up truck. Of course, our two chopper pilots obligingly pooter directly into the gunner’s line of fire and find themselves duly incinerated.



Artistic merit

It’s good to see that, even in a film dedicated to automotive action, director Joseph Merhi includes a couple of aviation explosions amid the car-maggedon. However, perhaps unsurprisingly, it does look as if more effort went into the car smashes than the chopper crashes.

The editor pulls the old trick of suddenly cutting to an image of a full screen explosion which obscures the helicopters – thus nullifying the need to actually explode a helicopter which needs to be returned to its owner.

To try and maintain the illusion of a genuine chopper fireball, they drop the fuselages of a couple of helicopters from just out of shot onto the street – with one landing on top of a car - cueing further explosions.

They may well have got away with such a sleight of hand if the helicopters we see buzzing about in the sky looked anything like those dropped on the car. But that would be an ambitious hope. In car terms, you essentially see a Volvo get blown up and then a Mini hitting the ground.

Number of exploding helicopters

Two.

Exploding helicopter innovation

Sadly, none to report. One can only hope that Merhi will one day set out to make ‘the greatest exploding helicopter movie ever made’.

Positives

When the second helicopter crashes down a policeman needlessly slides across the bonnet of his patrol car to avoid flying debris. It’s totally unnecessary, a very minor detail, but a nice touch nevertheless.

Negatives

As mentioned before, Executive Target makes two grand claims about itself, but only delivers on one.

I won’t quibble with its assertion that it’s the greatest crash movie of all time. Multiple car pile-ups abound, and no red-blooded film fan is going to complain about watching yet another car smash through the side of a lorry – they’re only this flimsy in films.

However, the actual car chases lack the kinetic excitement of, say, The French Connection or Mad Max. Those sequences conveyed danger and speed, whereas here the chase scenes aren’t much above what you might see in an episode of Starsky and Hutch.

Favourite quote

"When I say cherry coke you shoot."

Interesting fact

Michael Madsen has now racked up an impressive 200 screen credits, in a career which can at best be described as, erm, uneven. However, seeing as he’s listed as a producer on this one, he’s only got himself to blame.

Review by: Jafo

Evasive Action

My buddy over at Saturday Night Screening has done sterling work cataloguing the world of Die Hard-ish. That is, films which take the plot template of Die Hard but then transpose it to a different location.

Evasive Action (1998) isn’t part of that illustrious canon, though – instead it falls into the little known sub-genre of Con Air-ish. And, as the film’s alternative title Steel Train makes clear, this is basically Con Air-on-a-Train.

So, when a group of prisoners are locked into a train car to be transferred to another jail we can be pretty certain they’re not going to be peaceably arriving at their destination a few hours later.

Among the inmates onboard is a mob boss (Roy Scheider) who, shock, horror, is planning to use the trip as a chance to bust out of jail. Also along for the ride is our hero (Dorian Harewood) who – a la Nicholas Cage in the original – just wants to quietly serve out his sentence quietly.

With dizzying predictability, Scheider’s goons soon overpower the guards and spring the prisoners. Only they hadn’t reckoned on Harewood who, having thrown his lot in with a stewardess and young girl he’s befriended on the train, decides to foil Scheider’s plans.

Now, you may be wondering if it’s really sensible to transport dangerous prisoners around on a train. That’s explained in a sly reference to Con Air, when one character says they’re no longer flown: “Not since that plane load of prisoners went down in Vegas.” Cheeky.

Clint Howard: Weary gimmick

The rest of the film isn’t so subtle. Steve Buscemi’s memorable psychopathic killer in Con Air is reprised here, sadly with the instantly forgettable Clint Howard – whose weary gimmick is to speak only in movie quotes.

This works fine when Howard uses a line from Jaws to comment on the latest hitch in Scheider’s plans: “You’re going to need a bigger boat.” But using such a one-trick device soon runs into problems, most bizarrely when he corners the young girl. He’s all set to start monstering the helpless waif, but then is dissuaded when she starts quoting lines from Taxi Driver back at him. Excuse me, Taxi Driver? Did she watch that one with mummy? Hmmm.

Anyway, having chewed up and spat out everything worth using from Con Air, Evasive Action goes on to regurgitate all your favourite, train based thriller clichés. Cue plenty of running about on top of rail cars, uncoupling of carriages, and last minute point changes.

This light-fingered approach to other locomotive films turns into outright larceny with the ending, which simply re-uses footage of the train crash climax in Silver Streak. It has to be seen to be believed. Or rather, see the original and then see this. Whatever: you get the point.

Still, this website is not dedicated to the world of exploding trains – that’s a project for another time – so let’s get to our primary interest in the film.

Scheider’s escape plans involved being picked up by helicopter. However, the police move in to stop the prisoners escaping and during the gunfight the helicopter is damaged by rifle fire.

Trailing smoke, the wounded chopper limps off, disappearing behind a nearby ridge. We hear a crash and a plume of flames leaps into the sky. The chopper, we have to conclude, is no more.

Artistic merit

The first rule of exploding helicopters is that you should be able to see the actual helicopter explode. For this offence alone, director Jerry P Jacobs should crawl behind that self-same ridge and immolate himself.

But, hey, this is a film which rips off the ending of Silver Streak. And by the time I reached the end, I’d gone past outrage and started to just admire the chutzpah of the man.

Positives

Foronjy: OAP villain

It was enjoyable to see Roy Scheider as a villain, a role I can’t remember seeing him play before. There’s a great scene early in the film where Scheider establishes his bad-ass credentials by brutally clubbing an uncredited Sam Jones (Flash Gordon) to death. Scheider was 66 when he made this, and he looks nails.

There’s also some good casting among Scheider’s goons, including Don Swayze – yes, Patrick’s brother – and Richard Foronjy (Carlito’s Way, Once Upon A Time In America, Midnight Run).

It’s easy to assume that being the henchman for a mob boss is a young man’s game. But here’s a surprisingly sprightly Foronjy running along the top of a train, taking care of business, at 61. Sadly, Foronjy suddenly reaches the end of the line on this trip when Harewood punches his ticket. All change!

Negatives

At one point, our hero Harewood is ejected and has to get back on board the train. Having stolen a motorcycle, he races alongside a doorway on the train.

Just as you’re wondering how on earth he’s going to get back inside the train – and drool at the Olympian levels of stuntmanship you’re about to witness – the camera suddenly cuts to Harewood flopping down inside the doorway of the train. Problem solved.

Favourite quote

“You’re going to need a bigger boat.”

Interesting fact

It’s worthwhile spending a moment to consider the film’s title as nobody really takes Evasive Action at any point in the film. It’d be too cruel to suggest that it’s what potential viewers should do as it really isn’t that bad. But if they weren’t happy with the blue collar drama- sounding Steel Train, why change it to this?

Review by: Jafo

Blue Thunder

Roy Scheider plays a burnt out, Vietnam veteran, working for the Los Angeles police department. 

We know Scheider is a borderline nut-job as he has suffers from cool, helicopter-related Vietnam flashbacks which force him to check his sanity using his wristwatch (of all things).

Anyway, whilst flying helicopters for the LAPD's air support division, he's recruited to test a new high-tech, ultra sophisticated chopper. However, Scheider soon discovers that the state-of-the-art whirlybird is part of a high level political conspiracy.

Ultimately, his attempt to expose the secret plot leads him into a helicopter dog-fight with an old Vietnam comrade, played with icy sangfroid by Malcolm McDowell.

When Scheider's chopper malfunctions our hero looks doomed. Fortunately, he's been given a back-story that involves looping a helicopter. Before you can say "looping a helicopter is an aerodynamically impossible feat", our boy Roy has pulled a 360 allowing him to exorcise his Vietnam demons by blowing McDowell out of the sky. 

Verdict

One of the most satisfying helicopter explosions in cinematic history.

Scheider's aerobatic trickery makes McDowell’s copter a satisfyingly easy target. Riddled with machine gunfire it explodes whilst travelling vertically up. It’s forward momentum checked, it drops like a stone to the ground.

If this wasn't enough for exploding helicopter connoisseurs, Blue Thunder includes a further treat - train vs helicopter action. 

Scheider, in an effort to prevent the aerial power of his prototype helicopter being used for ill, lands the craft in front of an oncoming train.

For a moment it looks as if Scheider is going to be smashed to pieces along with the helicopter. However, Scheider's able to escape and we're able to enjoy watching the train languorously smash into the helicopter as Roy casually walks away from a deliciously primitive chopper fireball.

Number of exploding helicopters

Two. A number of other helicopters are shot down throughout the film, but sadly they don’t explode.

Artistic merit

Good. We get to see Blue Thunder explode in slow motion. The rotor blades continue to turn in a cool way.

Exploding helicopter innovation

By looping his helicopter, Scheider defies the rules of aerodynamics to blow up McDowell’s chopper. It's the only time I've seen it done in a movie.

Use of a train to explode a helicopter.

Positives

The entire film is about helicopters. What’s not to love?

Negatives

Scheider turns his back on the exploding Blue Thunder in the time-honoured tradition of action heroes walking away from explosions.

Favourite quote

"Catch you later!"

Interesting fact

When a barbecue shack is blown up, chickens are seen to rain down on the street. Apparently real chickens were used in this sequence because rubber ones would have been far more costly to use. 


Review by: Jafo

You can listen to the Exploding Helicopter podcast about Blue Thunder on iTunes, YourListen, Stitcher or Podomatic.