One Way Out

Detective Joe Weeks (Ivan Rogers, looking exactly like Richard Pryor circa The Toy) is hellbent on bringing down crime lord Frank Hanna (Doug Irk) because Hanna had Weeks' wife murdered a few years back. Naturally, such a crazed cop is a loner and bristles when the boss gives him a new partner in Detective Waite (Sandy Brooke). This was a recommendation from a friend and he described it as really cheap but entertaining. I'd agree with that assessment. I may have known it before, but somehow I forgot this was directed by Paul Kyriazi, who made Death Machines (1976). It was apparently shot in Indianapolis, Indiana and Rogers wrote the script. The production makes Indianapolis look like a hellhole with shooting in lots of grimy locations. Rogers is a former kickboxer and, how do I say this gracefully, might be the most charisma challenged person I've seen. He has the same expression after everything. Shooting a drug dealer? Blank stare. Being punched? Blank stare. Seeing his friend murdered? Blank stare. Posing for VHS cover? Blank stare. I can only assume he put up the money for this film.