Stahl-Justiz

Martin Kove stars as Steele, Vietnam vet, ex-cop turned Rambo meets Death Wish-esque avenger who declares a one man war on the Vietnamese mafia to avenge one his Vietnam War Buddy's family and protect said buddy's daughter. Along the way police detective (Ronny Cox), Military personnel (Joseph Campanella) and head cheese of the Vietnamese Mafia (Soon Tek-Oh) all acquire the wrath of steele vengeance. Bad Movie charm goes a long way with Steele Justice because if you're not a fan of the genre, this flick is going to be rough going. For me, I grew up with these movies and there's nostalgia involved. I don't think beyond that there's much else to the film. The action sequences are entertaining (as opposed to well-staged), Kove makes for a surprisingly likable if bumbling hero. There is a lot of Bad Movie charm to enjoy about Steele Justice, there is the infamous poison dart and frying pan scene, the fact that Kove has a poisonous snake as a pet that he deploys and the fact that the film is often funnier than most comedies, as the humor is so broad as to somehow be so stupid it's funny. Once again, it's a tough call as, quality wise it's sort of indifferently made, the bad guys don't really make sense and the way everyone seems to know everyone in what appears to be a big city draws attention to how bad the script is. That said, Rambo rip offs work in the same way Bruce Li films as simple absurd escapism. You know what type of person you are and whether you would watch such or not. I was not disappointed or bored watch Steele Justice.

* * out of 4-(Fair)

My review was written in April 1987 after watching the movie at a Times Square screening room.

It's rather difficult to tell whether writer-director Robert Boris is playing it straight with "Steele Justice", a cornball actioner in which the unintentional laughs come fast and furious. Grindhouse fans are likely to be confused.

Martin Kove toplines as John Steele, the umpteenth Vietnam ve back home in L. A. with a problem. South Vietnamese General Kwan (Soon-Teck Oh) betrayed his unit back in 1975 and is now a California big shot posing as a philanthropist but actually heading up a drug ring, assisted by his sadistic son Pham (Peter Kwong).

Things come to a head when Steele's best pal from Vietnam, Lee Van Minh (Robert Kim) and his family are murdered by Pham, with the cute daughter Cami (Jan Gan Boyd) surviving. Steele whips into action and bodies pile up.

Format might have made for an acceptable, routine film noir, but Boris includes a wealth of silly material that causes the film's credibility to evaporate. Most obvious gaffe is a large-scale central sequence of guest star Astrid Plane warbling in a music video shoot (replete with Jeff Kutash choreography) directed by Steele's beautiful ex-wife (Sela Ward). The oriental gangsters and a squad of good guys show up, and it is the hapless chorus line that gets mowed down in machine gun fire. Producer John Strong likewise emphasized a hard rock score in a previous effort, "Savage Streets", but it doesn't help matters this time.

Kove's acting is one-note, a surly sneer and more bare-chested scenes than William Shatner or Charlton Heston in the '60s.

Bernie Casey lends strength and wry humor as a cop pal of Steele's while poor Ronny Cox as the police chief looks like he strayed in from the set of "Beverly Hills Cop II", even wearing the same sports jacket. Oddball casting has soap opera stars popping in, Sarah Douglas as a district attorney, and cast against type, Shannon Tweed as a beautiful gangster and Joseph Campanella as another bad guy. Worst decision was to have Jan Gan Boyd, recently impressive as an adult in "Assaassination" (replete with a tasteful sex scene with Charles Bronson) and "A Chorus Line", fitted out here with pigtails as a whiny little girl.

Tech credits are good.

This straight to drive in action pic, is just your typic action fare, with some well staged action set pieces, no more. What's fascinatingly strange here, it's it's lead, Kove, who I've never seen, take the lead before, while also playing a good guy. I'll be honest, I've never considered this guy to be much of an actor, my friend, even stating, during the 80's, he's a no talent, but I've seen him in a lot of stuff. I am glad to see him in this, and really, he doesn't do half a bad job (but don't push it) as a Vietnam vet turned cop, out to bust an Asian bad arse, (one of his team you'll recognize straight out of the first Die Hard) who has slain the closest thing to family, though his late vet/cop buddy was crooked. The surviving daughter, a little Asian girl, who overacts, especially one bit of dialogue, robot sounding, when she and Uncle John are on a stolen boat, about to flee from authorities, is taken under his wing. What Steele Justice suffers from, is tired formula, and you'll feel tired and exhausted by this at the end, when he's claimed victory, killing off the bad dudes, two who went on to star in certain B grade, Wings Hauser fare. There are some dumb moments in this slightly stupid actioner. Ronny Cox, as the police commissioner is so actor stereotyped, when you look at his surrounding roles of this mid 80's era. Shannon Tweed provides nice scenery and a sexual stimulant to the film as Soon Teck Oh's business partner, and she looks so fine in a bikini. Soon Teck Oh, in a kimono, not. A weird partnership. Sela Ward as John's ex, looks undernourished. The eye nabbing performance is that of Joseph Campanella as Steele's old vet buddy, now an untrusting one. He makes his scenes, worthwhile, while another highlight of the average 80's action, is it's rockin' finale soundtrack. Out of interest this was on at the drive in, with another film of even appeal, Slate, Wyn And Me.

Beefcake actor Martin Kove joined the ranks of action genre stars with this routinely plotted but fairly amusing vehicle. Kove plays genial Vietnam veteran John Steele, who goes into action when his wartime comrade Lee Van Minh (Robert Kim), now a police detective, is assassinated along with most of his family. Helped and hindered by former colleagues like Bennett (Ronny Cox) and Tom Reese (Bernie Casey), John goes up against a wartime associate named Bon Soong Kwan (Soon-Tek Oh), who's now a drug lord in America masquerading as a crusading businessman.

I'm going to give the filmmakers (led by writer & director Robert Boris) the benefit of the doubt here, and say that the amount of laughs to be had from watching this are intentional. If one does see it as tongue in cheek, it may yield greater entertainment than if they take it seriously. "Steele Justice" does have its moments. For one thing, it stops cold for a rock video that is eventually interrupted by the ongoing battles between Steele and Kwans' minions. But the unqualified highlight occurs when Steele is shot with a poison dart, and almost nonchalantly, he removes the offending dart, sucks up and spits out the poison, and does a fine job of improvising when it comes to cauterizing the wound. The action sequences are all reasonably well done.

Kove is engaging as our sardonic hero, often to be seen with a smile on his face. Oh is an enjoyably hammy villain in the action movie tradition. Sela Ward is a lovely woman, but as the heros' ex-wife, she offers a pretty insipid performance. Ditto for Jan Gan Boyd (the young lady who was hot for Bronson in the movie "Assassination"), cast as Van Minhs' supposedly teen aged daughter. Watch this and you'll see why she never had much of a career. There's a pleasingly large amount of familiar faces in the supporting cast, although some of them have no more than cameos or walk ons: Joseph Campanella, Sarah Douglas, Peter Kwong, Al Leong, Shannon Tweed, Irene Tsu, David L. Lander, Asher Brauner, Phil Fondacaro, Kevin Gage.

Any completist of 1980s action movies should have a pretty good time with this.

Six out of 10.

I didn't realize Martin Kove, the leader of the Cobra Kai dojo in the Karate Kid movies played John Steele in this movie until I read somebody else's review.Steele Justice was an awesome movie that is way overlooked & should be more well known then what it is.The whole time I watched it, I couldn't believe nobody turned it into a TV show back then or at least spun off a couple sequels.That would've been genius I think.I'm not going to spoil the movie for anybody else but there are a lot of things that will make you either laugh (even though it's probably not meant to) go WOW or WTF.You'll just have to watch for yourself.Watch for the music video though.It seemed like right in the middle of an action flick, they stopped to make a music video.After reading a few other Steele Justice reviews I seemed to have missed out on a few things the 1st time I watched it so now I feel the need to go back & watch it all over again.If you're an action movie fan, go watch Steele Justice.If you're not an action movie fan, go watch Steele Justice