24 Hours to Midnight

Because I know the filmmakers and how this film came to be...Well,I survived. Stock footage of Cyntia Rothrock,voice over by BRINKE STEVENS and some very kewl walkons...Leo Fong and Stack Pierce. Tulare ,California was supposed to be what BIG city...Anybody know ? Wait a second was PHIL CABLE even listed in credits ???

Cynthia Rothrock, whose first film this is, appears on the video cover and has a couple of fight scenes in the opening 5 minutes. Then her character is dressed up as a ninja for the rest of the running time, except that the woman inside the ninja suit is NOT Cynthia. It's easy to see that from the close-ups of her eyes, and the ending credits confirm it. But even if you ignore this fraud, "24 Hours to Midnight" is not a good movie. The script, full of irrelevant and recycled scenes, is strictly amateur hour, the direction is inept and the "action" scenes are uninspired. The criminal organization that "Cynthia" goes after is supposedly making billion dollar deals, yet its headquarters seem to be a small cheap room. The only bright spot in this movie is a sexy female cop (Myra) - without her I would have given it a "Zero" rating for sure.

This movie originally came out in 1985. It was one of Cynthia's first roles. The re-release of this movie has Cynthia Rothrock as the headline star. Now, if it were true, then the movie would have been better, but you only see about 3 minutes of her in the whole movie. She is suppose to be the ninja who gains revenge on the drug lord and his henchmen for killing her husband. You see her in the very beginning and then through a series of flashbacks to the beginning scenes, but the the ninja is NOT her. They used some double and kept her face covered for the whole movie. I felt I was watching Game of Death. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone! Rating 1/10

OK, I needed a job in 1991 (or thereabouts, I really can't remember)...and I was friends with Leo Fong...a very nice guy and hopeful film-maker. He enlisted my help to resurrect a film that had been started a few years earlier, and then quickly abandoned, after a dispute between Cynthia and her boyfriend, and the producer(s) of the film. My job was to retrieve the printed work-print and sound rolls from a storage vault in Hollywood (during which I seriously injured by back, which I suffer from to this very day), and piece together the measly amount of actual footage shot with Rothrock during a two or three day period. Then I incorporated new footage that was shot, and helped suggest new scenes to make the "story" work...It was a complete mess, but I did the best I could...(at the same time I was cutting this at director's sound in Burbank, I ran into Charlie Napier who was there looping for "rocketman", and asked him to appear in Don Jackson's "Return to Frogtown"...another story all together...) Should I write an autobiography of my life in the low budget film world??? Would anybody read it??? I guess not...

The Film is a bit of a jumbled mess. The plot involving a wife seeking revenge for her murdered husband and Two cops who just seem to drive around is pretty uninvolving. The reason I would like to find it is I acted in it and would just like a copy. Vanity I guess