Walking the Edge

After witnessing the murder of her husband and son at the hands of drug dealers, "Christine Holloway" (Nancy Kwan) is emotionally traumatized to the point that she is temporarily committed to a sanitarium to assist in her recovery. That being said, when she is eventually released she becomes obsessed with the idea of obtaining her revenge upon those who killed her family. Meanwhile, a taxi driver by the name of "Jason Walk" (Robert Forster) is also having his own personal problems which are only exacerbated with his other job as a collector for a local numbers racket. Unfortunately for him, things quickly go from bad to worse one day when he reluctantly picks up a woman in his taxi who asks to be taken to a couple of locations. Little does he realize that this same woman is about to shoot and kill two different men and that he is soon to be considered as an accessory to these murders. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this could have been a good crime-drama under the right circumstances but the apparent low budget and uneven acting greatly hampered that effort. Even so, I don't consider this to be a bad film by any means and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

This is a small action-thriller of the vigilante subgenre, so popular in the 80s, with the great Robert Foster being forced to help a woman to find revenge against the gang that murder her family. The villain is performed by the always creepy Joe Spinell and the movie manages to keep things interesting, even with its extreme low budget and very thin script. The acting of these two and the grittiness of the film is by far the best of it.

Around this time vigilante/revenge films were the in-thing to cash-in on the movie market, but some kinda slipped passed the radar like "Rolling Thunder" and especially Nobert Meisel's solid, but tough little item "Walking the Edge". So before Robert Forster and Joe Spinell teamed up in William Lustig's "Vigilante", they together starred in this urban crime/revenge flick that is very well done for what was made on a minor budget and quick time frame. Holding a raw, taut edge the story was a little more thoughtful in the way it came across, unlike many rash and downright average exploitative revenge films that flooded the times. It's more talkative than expected. However it still had a punishing intensity, and moments of gutsy violence and suitably sardonic humour. Lending to the deep-rooted feel is Jay Chattaway's funky, upbeat blues score. Although what really makes the movie has got to be Forster's strong, detailed central performance, and likewise Spinell's excellently scummy head thug. Nancy Kwan has a potent presence too. The support cast; A Martinez, Wayne Woodson and James McIntire are reasonably fine.

An exiting and sometimes violent action-thriller with good actors and a good story. Kwan plays a housewife who is married to a gangster (without knowing it). When her family is brutally murdered by some other gangsters, and she manages to escape, she swears revenge to those who killed her son. She seeks cover with a taxi-driver (Forster) who ends up helping her with her bloody revenge.

Good action from the 1980's (7 out of 10)

Violent film packs suspense , noisy action-packed , intrigue, thrills and lots of violence . They drove him to the edge, and on the edge there are no rules , all hell broke loose when they stopped .. . Regular crime thriller of the 80s that went on the ¨Vigilante genre¨ which Bronson had created as architect Paul Kersey turned avenger . A Los Angeles taxi driver named Jason (Robert Forster) , whom also works as a collector , crosses paths and later helps a distraught widow called Christine (Nacy Kwan) on the run from mobsters after a quartet of heinous hoodlums murder her family . The nasties stalk the couple who is submitted to a brutal hot pursuit and Jason protects her . Both of them get caught up in the crime underworld of the city . The taxi man takes the law into his own hands, searching vengeance on crooks, hoodlums and muggers . Jason seeks vendetta , shooting in cold blood , abusing on civil rights and killing mercilessly nasties. Finally, there happens a moving , edge-of-your-seat climax .

This exciting movie contains thrills , chills , suspense , noisy action-packed , gun-play and lots of violence and some gore , including obnoxious executions . It's certainly thrilling , though the morality may be questionable , even in this time, as the spectators were clearly on the Jason/Robert Forster side . This disgusting story looks increasingly passionless and mechanical and violence seems to be considered some moment excessive . Passable acting by Robert Forster as a yellow cab man as well as numbers runner for a local mobster , turned vigilante seeking to revenge and Nancy Kwan as a mature woman affected for the murder of her husband and son . Forster does what he can with this lousy screenplay and story . Acceptable support cast such as A Martinez as Tony , Jim Fitzpatrick as Body Guard , James McIntire as Jimmy and Joe Spinell as Brusstar . Crispy and screeching musical score by Jay Chattaway , usual composer of the 8os . The motion picture was middlingly directed by Norbert Meisel , husband's Nancy Kwan . This exciting but mediocre film belong to ¨Vigilante genre¨ whose main representations are ¨Charles Bronson's Death Wish¨ such as ¨Death wish II¨ ¨Death wish III¨ , ¨Death Wish 4 : The crackdown¨and ¨Death Wish: The face of death¨ and , of course , ¨Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry¨ movies , such as ¨The enforcers¨, ¨Sudden impact¨ , ¨The dead pool¨ . Furthermore , other notorious movies on the ¨Revenger¨ genre that achieved their splendor in the eighties are the followings : ¨Exterminator¨ I and II with Robert Ginty ; ¨Dark Angel¨ with Betty Russell ; ¨Steele Justice¨ with Martin Kove ¨; ¨The Punisher¨ with Dolph Lundgren , ¨Joe Don Baker's Walking tall¨ saga ; ¨Lorenzo Lamas's Snake eater¨ saga , ¨Arnold's Raw Deal¨ , ¨Stallone's Cobra¨ and many others .