Band of the Hand

Good story, good acting, good music. Oh, and it's freakin' hilarious. I first saw this movie as a kid with friends and we loved it for the hilarious lines and characters. Now as i watch it at age 24 i still love it. Its one of those movies that has so much unintentional comedy that its such a pleasure to watch.

And the cast isn't to shabby either. You can even find Lawrence Fishburn, credited as Larry Fishburn, playing a coke peddling pimp. I highly recommend this film.

And if for nothing else, watch this movie to see Lauren Holly attempt to pronounce "brujeria."

"I keep askin', where's the facility?" - Ruben Pacheco

For my brother, "Billy Jack" was the film that was low budget, cheezy and darn good when it came to telling a story you really WANTED to hear. For me, it was "Band of the Hand."

Though I was in the ultimate conservative environment (1st school after Marine Boot Camp), I couldn't help but love the melding of "the establishment" and a bunch of kids who were definitely from the "wrong side of the tracks." Most important, it let someone show some teens that they could make a difference, even if the method might have been a bit much.

One more thing: Lauran Holly may have been "eye candy" for the movie but she DID have a powerful albeit limited role, and that impression has positively affected my opinion of her in later roles. James Remar (you ladies know him from Sex and the City) did a good psycho role as well.

The people who rag on BAND were probably the same who bought Don Johnson sport coats in the 80s and are now ashamed. You trendy-then now-pretentious fools, it's not supposed to be freakin' Shakespeare! BAND is a stylish 80s flick with plenty of heart, action and coolness. It's the ultimate fantasy for 15-year-olds. Five troubled 'yoots' are sent to an experimental last-chance program in the Everglades run by Joe, a mysterious Miccosukee Indian/Nam Era elite commando. (See? Already off to a good start)! Joes lays it down: learn to live in this wilderness or die. The 2nd half of the movie (and 'program') takes place in a Miami ghetto run by local drug lord LARRY Fishburne, replete with cute lil' lines buzzed in the sides of his high-top fade. (There's also an underaged Lauren Holly to consider, long before that drooling idiot Carey came and went).

War ensues in the hood as Joe trains the yoots to fight. Purists and prudes can shove it...when Dorcey's machine gun lights up the street from the roof of the feel-good 80s pastel renovated crackhouse it's a spinal moment. The characters don't have to be 'deep' cause they're all the way likable and automatic gold star for the guest appearance of a vulcan cannon (aka "that's a goddam minigun!") If you don't dig this flick, YOU'RE OUT OF MIAMI!

This is such a wonderfully dorky, cheesy movie. I have always liked it, and I've watched it many times. I love the clothes, the soundtrack, the hairstyles, everything. The story is pure crap, but I enjoy it nonetheless. Perhaps the best part of all is the actors who've achieved so much since then: a pre-Matrix Laurence Fishburne, a pre-Jim Carrey Lauren Holly, and best of all, a pre-Hedwig John Cameron Mitchell! Who could have imagined that cute little silent Crazy would grow into the singing, song writing victim of a botched sex-change operation? Not I. It just makes Band of the Hand more fun. And was there ever a cooler Indian than Joe? I think not. My siblings and I giggle like mad whenever he appears on screen.

This is one of those movies that you had to see when it first came out. It also helps I think if you were the same age as the kids in the movie. The locations were magnificent. And some of the performances were not too shabby either I might add. This was an atypical 80's movie, set in Florida (do you think that a Miami Vice relation was intentional?). When I was a kid I loved this movie, and upon watching it again recently, I didn't even remember how cheesy it was. I just remembered these 5 deadbeat kids, forced to work as a group to survive, and everyone thinking that it would never work. Even now that I've seen it and know how cheesy it is, I still just remember it the way I used too.