Firecracker

Jillian Kesner is a standout in this fast-moving action film set in the Philippines. She's radiantly beautiful, with her fit figure unabashedly displayed several times. Also, she is the action star of the movie, frequently mixing it up with the bad guys and winning out.

We get a good amount of well-shot locations; the film, on the dvd-three pack, looks crisp and the colors are vibrant. It's definitely a B film, but so what? It's highly entertaining all the way through. A few times the violence gets quite gory, but it isn't a gore-fest by any means. Because of the setting, it works fine that the majority of the cast is from the Philippines; it fits with the story.

Watching this movie, I wish that Jillian Kesner had starred in a good many more films of this type. She's very likeable, and that comes through to the viewer; that quality she has, combined with her beauty, makes one more willing to overlook cheesy aspects of the movie. Recommended.

(1981) Firecracker ACTION

Co-written and directed by Cirio H. Santiago (also credited as co-executive producer) and Allan Holzman that has martial artist, Susanne Carter Susie for short (Jillian Kesner) coming to the Philippines from LA. For the intention of finding her sister, Bonnie who was a photo journalist and has suddenly disappeared. And it is like, by the time Susie arrives and almost immediately, two thieves attempt to break into her apartment and rob her while she is half naked in a hotel room, and of course she beats both of them down. And then, by the time she goes to a bar where her sister "was" staying, both the big bar server, Pete (Pete Cooper) and his server Rey (Reymond King) are then being attacked by Philippine customers and they are beating them down, with Susie joining in the fight. And after that brawl had settled down, Pete and Rey then inform her that the last time Susie's sister was last seen was with club owner, Erik Stallard (Ken Metcalfe). And what is unusual about this particular club is that the stage itself is actually used for one on one fights. Except that as soon as she entered into the club, Erik's #1 fighter Chuck Donner already knew who she was, and that Susie is not just any kind of martial artist, we soon find out that she happens to be a six time black belt karate expert who owns her own dojo back in LA. And by getting Chuck to discourage her, he then offers her 500 bucks to get in the ring with the current winner, and when she does beat him, Chuck does not even pay her. As the movie continues, and is predicted, we find out Susie's sister, Bonnie stumbled onto an illegal dope racket happening with Erik's number one fighter Chuck double crossing his boss to intercept those exchanges by stealing them from his boss, Erik's supplier Grip (Vic Diaz) for the intention of enriching himself.

Acting is bad, the fights are bad, where almost all of them looked fake when people are clearly are not even touched, and react as if they are, as well as the few shoot outs shown when the characters are just waving the guns and the sound effects does the rest. And yes, even king of low budget movies, Roger Cormon is shown on the credits here uncredited as executive producer. From what I've seen I'd give the film two stars for the effort, but because the led actress, Jillian Kesner is very voluptuous, it did motivate me to check out other work she has done Speaking as a heterosexual male it's one of those movies when if the actress is attractive enough, you can some times perhaps look at her all day, regardless how bad her acting and the action is, there are times a persons presence can be sufficient enough.

I love this movie the first time I saw it back in 86, and I haven't changed my opinion of it, one iota. It's one of those selected movie pleasures, and lovers of kung fu flicks, whatever, will gets their entertainment's worth here. While snapping shots of an underground fight in Thailand, a young girl is snatched. Enter her older sister (Jillian Kessner) hot as hell, who can really kick arse, someone you don't underestimate, especially with personal issues as you'll see. She stumbles into this syndicate, wanting a bit of the fight action, while falling in love with badarse Hinton (yes the little boy from Daniel Boone) part of the syndicate, a supplier who runs the gambling, heroin, whatever rackets. Watching Kessner, nude, is almost a priveledge, a thankyou from God above, but watching her fight is something too, like when she takes on two rapists, or outwits a most deadly and venomous snake when cornered in a boxing ring, as some goons do an Q and A on her, from which they don't get much. The sex scene between Hinton and Kessner is erotic if involving a little rough play, where we're not really sure if Kessner has been leading him on the whole way, or really is in love with him. I'd go with the prior opinion, but leads him on she does well. Beautifully filmed, using some great sights around the Phillipines, some shots, stay memorably drawn in my mind, what we've got here is a chop suey, kick arse, extravaganza, different too from the prospect, the woman's doing it. I like that. Check the full on action kicking scene near the start of the movie, where she has a bit of help, those simulated SFX working to the cheap style of the film. A non stop action adventure treat.

This is pure sleaze BUT so unabashedly so that it's great. The soundtrack is solid and the unwavering dedication to exploitation make up for the awful fight scenes and inability of the lead to actually do any proper kicks or punches.

This movie was probably singularly responsible for my interest in B-grade martial arts movies. I saw it when I was very young (before cable - eeeeek!) on late-night "Kung-fu Theater". The local station had obviously made a mistake and aired the movie uncut - violence, nudity, and all! The epic final fight scene finds the heroine steadily losing pieces of her clothing one item at a time until she finishes the battle wearing nothing but her panties. The sight of her fighting in such a condition forever made me a fan of the genre! See it if you have a chance.