L'Ambulance

"The Ambulance" is not really a "black comedy", although it does have moments of dark humor throughout. It really is sort of a hybrid comedy-suspense film. Eric Roberts carries things as the perplexed wannabe lover boy, while James Earl Jones comes and goes as a perplexed, somewhat irrational police detective. The movie is not overall terrific, but there are some memorable scenes, especially relating to the ambulance itself. Overall for a B movie, "The Ambulance" delivers enough entertainment value to recommend seeing it, however I doubt multiple viewings would be that rewarding. .......................... - MERK

My review was written in December 1990 after watching the film at a Manhattan screening room.

"The Ambulance" is a wild thriller laced with black humor. Entertaining exercise in urban paranoia will be shown at the Avoriaz fantasy film festival in France and gives Triumph Films a genuine sleeper for 1991 domestic release.

As with his recent "Maniac Cop" pics, filmmaker Larry Cohen works with the inversion principle: taking a symbol of rescue, a vintage red ambulance, and making its appearance and siren fearful. Here he tilts the balance toward humor, though hair-raising stents and sudden moments of violence teem.

Eric Roberts introduces the film as sort of a day in the life of James Toback ("The Pick Up Artist" helmer). In telephoto shots on Manhattan streets (apparently using real-life people as extras), he tries to pick up beautiful Janine Turner.

As she valiantly gives him the brush-off, she suddenly faints, and a sinister ambulance, controlled by the film's heavy Eric Braeden, whisks the diabetic girl to a hospital. After work, Robets tries to find her and, as the film's shooting title suggested, she's vanished "Into Thin Air".

With fast repartee and a gallery of quirky characters spurring the tale along, Roberts continues his search but finds little help from the disbelieving police inspector James Earl Jones. His paranoia increases in quantum leaps as mad scientist Braeden's henchmen start eliminating people around him and give Roberts a frightening ambulance ride.

Help finally surfaces in unlikely sidekick Red Buttons, an aging New York Post reporter Roberts rooms with at the hospital. Jons' pretty assistant on the force, Megan Gallagher, is another kindred spirit leading to an exciting climax atg a downtown dance club where Braeden keeps his kidnap victims upstairs as medical experiments.

With unpredictable plot twists coming fast and furious, this fresh approach to the thriller format is especially of interest to genre fans. Real-life Marvel Comics exec Stan Lee has a nice guest role playing himself as Roberts' boss, and the comic book backdrop is used effectively as Roberts draws large panels of Turner and the ambulance to aid his investigation.

Cohen puts a sting in this tale with a delightful false ending that trumps the "Carrie" finish tacked onto nearly every horror film of recent vintage.

Reteamed here with Jones shortly after they filmed "Best of the Bet" two years ago, Roberts is perfectly cast. His familiar abrasiveness ("Star 80", "The Pope of Greenwich Village") is used to good advantage.

Jones is a hoot as the gum-chewing cop whose know-it-all attitude gets him in trouble. Buttons steals his scenes in his best film assignment since "The Poseidon Adventure".

Following up on her tv policewoman duty on the defunct series "Hill Street Blues", Gallagher is a big-screen find as the tough cop who believes in Roberts. Turner, adopting a different look with long, dark hair here, develops considerable sympathy in her brief assignment. Supporting cast is solid, including Richard Bright (of "The Godfather Part III") as a no-nonsense cop and Braeden, inverting his messianic scientist role of Dr. Forbin, memorable to genre fans in the classic: "Colossus: The Forbin Project".

Tech credits exploit the NYC terrain well, especially Spiro Razatos' unusual chases and stunt work.

Eric Roberts, sporting an impressive mullet, plays Marvel comic artist Josh Baker, who tries his luck with the beautiful stranger he sees every day on the way to work. Not one to take 'no' for an answer (making him a sexual predator by today's standards), he pursues the woman (Janine Turner), even buying her a Walkman from a street vendor (she throws it back at him: probably didn't have Megabass and auto-reverse). However, when the woman suddenly collapses in the street and Josh comes to her help, he learns a little more about her: she is diabetic and her name is Cheryl. An ambulance arrives and whisks her to hospital, or so it seems...

In reality, Cheryl has been kidnapped by human traffickers, who sell people with diabetes for medical experimentation. When Josh is unable to locate Cheryl at any of the local hospitals, he tries to find out what has happened to her, enlisting the help of grouchy New York detective Lt. Spencer (James Earl Jones), elderly newspaper reporter Elias Zacharai (Red Buttons), and pretty policewoman Sandra Malloy (Megan Gallagher)

Like most of director Larry Cohen's movies, The Ambulance is a quirky little B-movie, packed with offbeat performances, often bordering on the camp (Jones, gum in mouth, chews up the scenery and Roberts' mannerisms are strange, to say the least). The film's oddball approach and OTT acting help to make it an entertaining time-waster for fans of cult cinema, despite the somewhat off-putting nature of Josh's flowing locks (not surprised that Cheryl said 'no' to him; do you think Eric Roberts ever looks back at his work from this period and cringes?). Cohen keeps the action moving at a fair lick, with plenty of mystery and peril, and a particularly well-handled final act that features lots of dangerous looking stunt-work.

Of the six Cohen films I have seen so far (The Ambulance, Full Moon High, Special Effects, Q-The Winged Serpent, It's Alive, and The Stuff), this is easily my favourite. 6.5/10, rounded up to 7 for Stan Lee as Stan Lee - not much acting required, but at least it's not just a pointless blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo like in the MCU movies.

More and more I love the work of writer/director Larry Cohen and I can only encourage people to check out his versatile imagination. "The Ambulance" is less ambitious, comical and outrageous than some of Cohen's more famous achievements (like "God Told me To", "It's Alive" or "Q – the Winged Serpent") but it definitely is a well-elaborated and entertaining B-movie. Once again, Cohen succeeds in turning a familiar and every-day topic into an exciting and rather suspenseful thriller. Inconspicuously and well organized, a group of fake nurses and doctors drive around New York in an old-type of ambulance, picking up diabetics that suffer from a 'sudden attack'. After they're brought into the cool conveyance, they disappear and no one ever hears from them again. The womanizing comic-book artist Josh Baker coincidentally stumbles upon this suspicious organization when a broad he's been stalking for a long time is taken away in front of him. His search for the girl results in a tense and involving movie, filled with ingenious plot-twists and adorably eccentric New York-characters. The screenplay is very clever, the dialogues are well written and there isn't a dull moment in the entire movie. 'The Ambulance' isn't a horror film so the deaths aren't as sadistic as in other Cohen films and there's also the lack of pungent social criticism. Still, this is a truly cool movie that deserves a wider audience. Judging by his performance here, I'd say it's unjust that Eric Roberts' career went to waste so badly. He looks a little goofy but his lines are exhilarating and his bad-boy charisma definitely works for the character he plays. Even more amusing are the supporting roles like, for example, James Earl Jones as the weird and over-stressed copper and Red Buttons as the persistent journalist. Check it out!

Starring Eric Roberts, James Earl Jones and Meghan Gallagher this early 90's thriller actually succeeds in entertaining.

It tells the story of a man who finally makes a move on the woman of his dreams only to witness her collapse and get taken away by an ambulance (I too have that effect on women). When he tries to visit her however he learns she was never brought in and may be one of a number of missing persons connected to this old ambulance.

I like the idea, though I've seen things with a similiar concept before the addition of the ambulance really made it interesting.

Roberts though a hokey actor manages to deliver here as does the rest of the stellar cast.

Though I love the concept I don't think it was utilized well and I'd love to see this remade. Regardless however the competence of the cast, the concept and an odd amount of comedy make for a passable film.

Kudos to Stan Lee being cast as Stan Lee.

The Good:

Cast are on point

Stan Lee!

Excellent idea

The Bad:

Not followed through with all that well

Ending is a bit underwhelming

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I simply cannot take a lead male seriously with a mullet...........except Joe Dirt