Le Beau, la Brute et le Malin

When I originally saw this flick, I didn't think it was that good of a film. I thought it was pretty cool/cheesy though. Cut to a few days ago when I watched it again and I was blown away. This movie was far better than I remembered it to be. The action scenes are some of the best in direct-to-video cinematic history. It's hard to believe that this went direct-to-video since it is way better than any theatrically released action film that came out at the time. No review of this movie would be complete without saying that John Vernon is the man. Ever since ANIMAL HOUSE, Vernon has appeared in a number of truly excellent underrated movies such as this one. 6/10

My review was written in February 1990 after watching the film on Vestron video cassette.

Better known by its awkward original title, "W. B., Blue and the Bean", "Bail Out" is an okay action picture released direct to video.

Three title characters are nicknames for David Hasselhoff (as "White Bread"), Tony Brubaker and Tom Rosales, who play skip tracers hired by Charles Brill to protect heiress Linda Blair. She's out on $1,000,000 bail after being apprehended with a boyfriend who's holding drugs. Warring Colombian and Iranian drug lords lead everyone on a merry chase south of the border until Blair finally realizes Hasselhoff is a good guy and starts to cooperate with him.

Helmer Max Kleven, whose second unit directing credits include topnotch films like "Runaway Train", delivers solid action footage here and maintains a light touch. It's the type of picture that used to be drive-in fodder and is of only minor interest to Blair fans, since she is more damsel in distress than action heroine this time out.

Hi, Everyone, Let's see... we have some scenes in a mansion, a few shots of Skid Row, a Go-Go bar, 50 guys on horseback, a helicopter, a big dog and a van crashing through a warehouse door. OK, there's our plot.

Now we need some actors who work cheap. Hassle...who? He's still alive? Yeah. Linda Blair. I owe her a favor. She let me cut in front of her in line once at the Unemployment Office.

In this bankruptcy of a movie production, Linda Blair shows she is tougher than David Hasselhoff. Hasselhoff gets the last laugh, however, because he is prettier than Blair.

Casting is usually done in a way that will make the movie better. Kevin Bacon and Drew Barrymore could have had some fun with this. It would have destroyed their careers, perhaps, but it would have been much better.

A better bail bondsman movie would be "Midnight Run." Charles Grodin did get laughs in that film. Charles Grodin would have done a good job in Bail Out but he could not make this into a great movie.

The background music is good. There is a lot of senseless action. Most of the senseless action was the director handing the daily footage to the editor.

Tom Willett

They obviously spent a lot of money on this one. There are locations shots, helicopters, explosions, horses, Mariachi sombreros. It's an aimless adventure flick that's supposed to be funny. The people are all caricatures but don't pull it off. I'm not saying it isn't a little fun. It's a TV kind of movie with little real development. A series of episodic rescues. Underlying everything is the fact that people are willing to kill or be killed without really looking into the realities of everything. Linda Blair. What a career. She looks a little frumpy for a leading lady. Hasselhoff is all blue eyes and testosterone. But it is just a bunch of chases, automatic weapons, body parts, some nudity. Just to drag a few people into a movie theater or to watch a video. Like a thousand things I've seen before with almost nothing to recommend it.

Cast:Linda Blair, David Hasselhoff, John Vernon As you watch this film you can see how bad Blair's work has gotten. This action flick stars Hasselhoff as a cop who is hired to protect Blair from bad. If any one wanted to protect Blair from bad they would tell her not to do this film! 0* out of ****