Action U.S.A.

While I had indeed heard about this 1989 movie titled "Action U. S. A.", I have actually never seen it before now in 2025. I had the opportunity to sit down and watch director John Stewart's 1989 movie as part of watching a bunch of 1980s and 1990s movies, and thus of course opted to do so. Since I had no idea what I was in for here, I suppose writers James Desmarais, David Reskin and John Stewart had every opportunity to entertain me.

I can't claim that the storyline was a particularly entertaining or enjoyable one. And that made for sitting through 96 minutes of this quite a test of wills.

Of the entire cast ensemble, I was only familiar with Gregory Scott Cummins, Ross Hagen, Hoke Howell and William Smith. The acting performances in "Action U. S. A.", despite the fact that the script was rubbish, were actually fair enough.

The sound in the movie was really annoying, because the dialogue audio in some of the scenes was pretty low in comparison to the overshadowing music that was amped up way too high. It was at the point of making the movie unwatchable.

This was not an impressive movie, and definitely not a movie that I will return to watch a second time.

My rating of director John Stewart's 1989 movie "Action U. S. A." lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

Millions of years of evolution have lead to the accidental making of this movie,a vast wet tapestry of human relationships through out history connecting each of us to one another, and also this movie. Does stuff get blown up? Stuff does. Is it possible to film a whole movie along one greasy state road in Texas? Oh yes. With poverty being so rampant through out the world is there enough money to make this movie? Again, yes. No starving child was fed so that this movie might dance before your eyes as some flickering light upon a cave wall. A screenplay was purchased with money, and from those words captured in ink, this movie was born. Yes, there is a car chase and yes there is nudity.

The directing debut of Stuntmen John Stewart shows 90 minutes fast action and nothing else. Greg Cummings plays one of his rare good guy parts, Barri Murphy looks sexy in almost every scene and in supporting roles B-movies stars like William Smith as corrupt FBI-Boss, Ross Hagen and Hoke Howell as killers make this movie a pleasure for B-action-fans.

Director John Stewart should be given a medal. Not only does he play off of every stereotype known to the action genre, but he redefines ridiculous car chases and explosions-for-the-sake-of-them. ‘Action U.S.A.' is a must see for any action fan, and an even muster see for any fan of B-action movies that make you laugh. Where else can you see a house blow up because a car ran through it (without the car being damaged)? From beginning to end this movie will make you laugh, and laugh a lot. Stay far away if you're not a fan of cheesy acting and irrational plot structures, however, as this movie carries them in spades. For those of you whom this sounds even remotely interesting to, go out of your way to find it: I guarantee you will not regret it. Rating: 26/40

My review was written in June 1989 after watching the movie on Imperial Entertainment video cassette.

"Action U. S. A.", originally called "A Handful of Trouble", is an above-average chase picture headed direct-to-video in American stores this month.

Thi is an excellent example of the type of escapist fun that packed drive-in theaters as recently as a decade ago but is now without a natural home. Title change to a generic moniker reflects the pic's aim toward foreign audiences.

Unusual heroine Barri Murphy (not afraid to the her hair mussed up in the action) stars as Carmen, on the run from gangsters when her boyfriend (Rod Shaft, a good handle for a car-pic thesp) is rubbed out for stealing diamonds and she's a witness.

Chase format involves topnotch stunts, with cars frequently flying through the air and luxury cars demolished. Solid teaming of Gregory Scott Cummins and William Hubbard Knight as a pair of FBI men protecting Murphy adds flesh to the streamlined Texas-lensed opus.