Action USA

One of the many cheap action movies to come out in the late 1980s and early 1990s. This film is in the territory for MST3K, but despite the hilarious acting, editing, and camerawork, we are treated to a nice series of car chases with over-the-top stunt work. The story-line follows two FBI agents (very Riggs and Murtaugh-esque) assigned to protect a murdered drug dealer's girlfriend from thugs and run into trouble from every direction. With cheesy performances by Cameron Mitchell, Ross Hagen, Hoke Howell, and William Smith (!), you can't go wrong with this.

Millions of years of evolution have lead to the accidental making of this movie,a vast wet tapestry of human relationships through out history connecting each of us to one another, and also this movie. Does stuff get blown up? Stuff does. Is it possible to film a whole movie along one greasy state road in Texas? Oh yes. With poverty being so rampant through out the world is there enough money to make this movie? Again, yes. No starving child was fed so that this movie might dance before your eyes as some flickering light upon a cave wall. A screenplay was purchased with money, and from those words captured in ink, this movie was born. Yes, there is a car chase and yes there is nudity.

If there is ever a film that lives up to its title, it is this one. There is lots of action and it is filmed in the U.S.A. (the title on the clapper in the end credits is A HANDFUL OF TROUBLE). Director John Stewart can't go ten minutes without staging some crazy action scene. It is weird though as his film unfolds almost in reverse as the biggest action scenes take place in the opening twenty minutes. Not that the film's finale is a let down, it just doesn't have the huge explosions and insane car jumps that the first 20 minutes display. You know you are in for a good time when the opening credits list Cameron Mitchell (who was obviously shot separately from everyone else), William Smith and Ross Hagan in succession.

One of the greatest things to ever happen to me, was finding this film, for sale in a crappy video store(called Gruntz), near Atlantic Beach, NC. We picked it up on the way to our weekend at the beach. We watched it once the first night, twice the next day, and another five times in the months since. "Action USA" is not the best movie ever, but it is, hands down, the most awesome! I want to buy the rights to this film, and put it out on DVD, just so other people can see it. The stunts are the best I've ever seen, and they just keep coming.The dialog is even better. You will not believe Ross Hagan's ability to spew the most wicked one-liners, while delivering back-hand slaps.

While I had indeed heard about this 1989 movie titled "Action U. S. A.", I have actually never seen it before now in 2025. I had the opportunity to sit down and watch director John Stewart's 1989 movie as part of watching a bunch of 1980s and 1990s movies, and thus of course opted to do so. Since I had no idea what I was in for here, I suppose writers James Desmarais, David Reskin and John Stewart had every opportunity to entertain me.

I can't claim that the storyline was a particularly entertaining or enjoyable one. And that made for sitting through 96 minutes of this quite a test of wills.

Of the entire cast ensemble, I was only familiar with Gregory Scott Cummins, Ross Hagen, Hoke Howell and William Smith. The acting performances in "Action U. S. A.", despite the fact that the script was rubbish, were actually fair enough.

The sound in the movie was really annoying, because the dialogue audio in some of the scenes was pretty low in comparison to the overshadowing music that was amped up way too high. It was at the point of making the movie unwatchable.

This was not an impressive movie, and definitely not a movie that I will return to watch a second time.

My rating of director John Stewart's 1989 movie "Action U. S. A." lands on a generous four out of ten stars.