Killpoint (1984)

No Trailer, Here’s the whole flick:

*Spoilers Throughout*

Director: Frank Harris (Low Blow, The Patriot [not the one with Mel])

Schlock Category: Action/Adventure, Crime, Revenge

Here are some of my observations as I watched the film:

• So far I’m like 8 minutes in and I don’t know what the hell is going on. All I know is that there’s gun runners fighting in a city. Some guy stole a bunch of weapons from an armory and then used those weapons to arm his thugs and kill dozens of people in a Chinese restaurant. There’s also hilarious shots of them shooting cups, wall decor and liquor bottles. They’re not leaving until everything has a bullet hole in it!
• The leader of the thugs told them to shoot everyone in the restaurant to leave no witnesses, yet in the next scene they have the make of the car and half the license plate number and how many assassins there were. Sure, there was an informant telling Richard Roundtree these facts but it’s still funny because they totally killed dozens of people for no reason.
• Multiple shots of cops cleaning their squad cars. Absolutely riveting.
• The police chief is talking on the phone with an ATF agent and he reminds him of the shooting in the restaurant and says we have a real trouble with this thing. You mean besides the dozens killed in cold blood?
• This ATF fella has one of the worst mumbling, gravely voices of all time. He puts Coldyron from R.O.T.O.R. to shame!
• Now the same leader of the thugs is instructing new assassins that again, there will be no witnesses and if the crime gets back to him, he’s going to kill: “you, you and you. Your mama, your daddy, your sister and your brother.” Aunts and uncles are exempt.
• The police department are introduced to Lt. Bryant (Roundtree) and quietly sitting next to him is their very own Lt. Wong. Wong, despite being the lead of this movie never utters a word.
• Sylvester Stallone’s Cobra totally ripped off this movie’s supermarket slaughter! But I’m just wondering why the assassins are killing people in a supermarket? Who was the mark?
• Cameron Mitchell is totally rocking the ascot.
• And now he’s simultaneously giving praise and damning his pet poodle who shits in his living room.
• And now he just shoots his TV. Just like Elvis! This looks to be another memorable off-the-wall Cameron Mitchell performance.
• The call girl that Mitchell ordered doesn’t want to take her clothes off. Huh.
• This dialogue is so gosh-darn boring.
• This lush piano piece of music goes extraordinary well with the shots of Wong looking at a cadaver.
• A training montage that includes shots of Wong’s eyes and nose staring intently into the camera. He’s focused as fuck!
• CHINA BOY!!! 
• I’d also like to point out how cute Wong looks. He looks like a mild-mannered Asian kid especially because of his adorable bowl cut and bangs. Couldn’t they, I don’t know, make this tough revenge-seeking cop, look a little more intimidating?
• Hahahaha. Mitchell is laying in bed watching TV with a breakfast tray making his poodle smoke a cigarette. Oh and he’s shirtless but wearing a red ascot.
• This is a lengthy montage of the informant’s choice of truck stop dive bar. There’s drinking, shooting pool and some fella telling some other fella to go to the head.
• Now Mitchell is wearing a blue ascot with daisies in his hair as he plays with the poodle in a hot tub. So I’m assuming ascots are totally his thing. And that every scene will feature a new color.

• I’m really used to the surly and overly angry police chiefs in cop movies. But not in Killpoint, this police chief is overly anxious and timid. He’s in way over his head and looks like he should be manning a burger joint.
• Why is Nighthawk’s, I guess, girlfriend/chauffeur pointing a gun at this Mexican fella while they test out the automatic weapons? This made no sense. And yeah, this African-American second-in-command is named Nighthawk for some reason. Maybe that’s his last name? Benjamin Nighthawk?
• Oh there’s Lt. Bryant! We haven’t seen him since that police briefing scene. That was literally 20 minutes ago!
• And he’s supposed to be working with Wong but they haven’t been in a scene together also since that briefing scene. Ponderous why Roundtree is even needed in this movie.
• Is this a dance or a karate tournament? Or is it both?
• Is that a water fountain in the middle of a locker room?
• Hahahaha. Redneck in a pick-up truck stops at a gas station and just rudely orders a black guy who clearly doesn’t work there to fill him up. The black guy is in the gang and robs and threatens the redneck until he leaves.
• Wong is asking a pawn shop owner who sounds and looks a lot like Dan Haggerty, about illegal weapons. The shop owner then calls some weird British dude that we never saw or heard of before.
• I have to bring up the fact that every 15 minutes there’s a really awful country song in the soundtrack. This movie’s plot is inconsistent but it has it’s patterns.
• Shots of gratuitous topless dancing. Females!
• Within seconds of finding out Roundtree is a cop in this club, Nighthawk starts shooting. At this point, I don’t even think they know who Nighthawk is and he simply could’ve just played it cool and left the club without Roundtree even finding out.
• Mitchell’s ascot color: black
• Watching Mitchell eat is making me lose my appetite.
• Another random fight scene for Leo Fong. With a very racially diverse cast of thugs.
• How is Wong getting jumped by Mitchell’s men going to prove he isn’t a cop? Mitchell said if he was a cop he’d have back up. How would he have back up if he didn’t have the chance to call for back up since he’s fighting for his life?
• Ascot color: red
• Why is the criminal mastermind, who lives in a spatial mansion, eating with Nighthawk in a dive diner?
• This is one brilliant scene and it’s totally useless and bat-shit crazy. It rivals the amorous female nurse scene in Samurai Cop!
• Wait a minute, did she just say she was “raped one time…?”
• Another 20 seconds of hearing this waitress blabbering on about nonsense and her baby crying nonstop, I’d kill her too.
• Now there’s a voice-over of Mitchell talking about his problems with his men and his missing his dog. Like he’s the protagonist of this feature. This is absurd.

NIGHTHAWK!

• Ascot color: yellow.
• Now he’s ordering Nighthawk to get a tombstone for the poodle and to go get a new poodle. He’s clearly lost his mind. And if I watch this any longer, I’m next.
• Hahahaha. Nighthawk’s chick raises the car window that Mitchell is peering into talking to Nighthawk and he’s so slow removing his fingers when a car window goes up and gets stuck. Then Nighthawk slits his throat while he’s trapped in the window.
• Wong is in Nighthawk’s limo making the deal with Nighthawk and when Nighthawk’s men pull shotguns on Wong, Nighthawk says it’s his insurance policy. Wong then takes out a grenade from his Members Only jacket pocket and says that this is is his Insurance policy. Check and Mate for Wong!
• And why didn’t Nighthawk shoot Wong after he activated the grenade. He would have plenty of time shooting him and still run away from the blast.
• The plot description on the back of the DVD isn’t the same as what’s happening in the movie.
• Not that it’s a big deal but Leo Fong isn’t really a martial artist despite him being Asian. And if he is a martial artist he’s not a very skilled one. Why is this guy an action star?
• His fighting style only matches with who he’s fighting. In the previous fight scene he was fighting an African American and he fought him street brawl style. Now he’s fighting someone who knows karate and he’s fighting him with karate. Weird right?
• Why is this called Killpoint? I mean what does that even mean?
• WHAAAAT!!! Mitchell is still alive and kills Nighthawk?!?!? He’s essentially the hero of the movie!!!
• And how is he alive? He had his throat slit! Maybe the ascot kept him alive.
• The credits give credit to every police officer on the Riverside PD! Even the K-9 unit and the dispatchers! I don’t remember any K9 or dispatchers in this movie!

Exploitation Level (Gore, Nudity, Etc.): Plenty of gratuitous violence, especially with automatic weapons. It’s the kill-point of the movie! But not even 15 minutes of the movie is dozens of innocent people mowed down by Nighthawk and his minions. It’s bananas! Unfortunately every kill is basically bloodless though. Strange. And then there’s some topless dancing and gratuitous close-ups of Leo Fong working out. 

Best Scene: Pick any scene with Cameron Mitchell. But I’d go with the one where he’s in the diner and slowly going insane by the baby crying. First off, there’s zero reason for him to be in this diner, when he’s a very rich crime lord. And second, instead of him simply walking away from the annoying position he’s in, he decides to be a lunatic and kill the waitress mother. Funny thing is, while he’s choking her the baby is completely silent.

Worst Scene: The film has a lot of unnecessary filler, mainly due to the blatant fact that they wanted to give credit or thanks to the town’s police department by having a lot of the officers as extras doing ordinary and routine cop stuff, like washing squad cars and chatting in the break room. If I had to choose a really bad scene though I’d go with any fight scene with Leo Fong. I don’t doubt that Fong knows martial arts but it sure as shit don’t look like he knows any fighting skills judging by his moves in this film.

Best Line: “$500 dollars at a pooch parlor and this little…I’ll tell you, I love it…I love it, but she poos and she pisses all over the living room and I don’t want that no more because the next time she does it I’LL KILL HER!!…I don’t want her to do anything in the house anymore. You promised me you’d house break the little bitch! Aw she’s adorable, ain’t she adorable?

FOCUSED!

Well How Schlocky Is It?: This was an absolute blast! It’s up there with other 80s/90s schlock crime masterpieces like Miami Connection, Samurai Cop, Hollywood Cop and Terror in Beverly Hills. Besides having a very silly, quiet and lame looking Asian-American lead be the tough cop on the case it also stars the maelstrom of crazy, Cameron Mitchell. It’s sleazy, poorly acted and unintentionally funny. Perfect blend of Schlock. Grab some buds and suds and have a great time watching this Z-grade classic!