No Safe Haven

My review was written in September 1989 after watching the film on MCEG/Virgin video cassette.

"No Safe Haven" is an okay action pic that curiously has sat on the shelf nearly three years before headin for video stores.

Written by the husband-wife team Wings Hauser and Nancy Locke, pic toplines Hauser as a U. S. spy in Honduras who heads home for revenge when mobsters kill his mom and young brother. Teamed with sidekick Robert Tessier (bald thesp cast as a good guy for a change), he then heads back south of the border to clean up the drug lords.

Under Ronnie Rondell's direction, pic moves at a fast clip and has solid stunt scenes. Subplot involving pro football is not very interesting or germaine to the story.

Hauser is fine as the tough-guy hero, while there is some odd in-joke banter between him and Locke, who plays a Peace Corps worker in Honduras.

Wonderfully ridiculous over the top 80's revenge actionfest. It's the usual Hauser standard, rough around the edges, not well made, a bit cringy, but a lot of fun. If you're into the genre and era then it's worth a look.

There's no safe haven, when Wings Hauser it out for revenge. Which a drug cartel soon finds out. "No Safe Haven" is your typically forgettable 80s action fodder… ridiculously over-the-top in nearly every department from the action set-pieces, clunky dialogues and the villainous bad guys (especially a lip-smacking Branscombe Richmond). Quite reckless, but done with enough panache despite its low-budget frame. It's somewhat slow to begin off, but it does pack a little punch when the frenetic action is transported to an impregnable South American jungle fortress.

After the death of his two younger brothers and his mother at the hands of a vicious drug syndicate, Hauser's CIA agent Clete is a man on a mission. He gets by with plenty of charisma, a touch of intensity (mainly those scenes in the first half when one-by-one he playfully begins picking off the henchmen to make a point) and with the aid of a weapons expert amusingly played by Robert Tessier. Gladly the story stays simple, despite the pointless distractions. Hauser goes about his brutal business accompanied by a screeching rock soundtrack. We know what it wants to deliver and for most part it serves up the stereotypical and cheesy action goods.

Wings Hauser and Robert Tessier provide plenty of action and Branscomb Richmond plays a memorable villain in "No Safe Haven", a revenge movie with lots to offer. You immediately know this is going to be a wild ride, when before the opening credits have rolled, you have guns blazing, cars and buses exploding, and naked babes. The sound track is very creative and adds to the excitement, along with several very humorous scenes. Everything about the film is high energy, and the movie gets real bloody, real fast. It's a treat to see Robert Tessier perfectly cast as an arms dealer, who obviously is proud of his work, and loves to demonstrate his products. There is nothing complicated about "No Safe Haven", it is simply a "B" action film that delivers the goods. - MERK

When Hauser wants revenge, you're dead already. You just don't know it yet. Hauser is out to kill every member of a Columbian drug organization because they executed his mother & little brothers. So he's a man with a mission, fair enough. The action & killings in this film get pretty hilarious. At one point Hauser locks a bad guy out on the balcony. He sets him on fire and gives him the choice: burn up or jump off the building. Another baddie gets first blown up, then run over by a speedboat (with Hauser at the steering wheel, of course). One more gets hooked up to a helicopter (by Hauser, naturally) and hitches a ride before plunging to his inevitable death. Wonderful! You simply don't mess with the Hauser.