Difficile caso per il tenente Long

My review was written in March 1984 after a Times Square screening.

"Killpoint" is a perfunctory police picture made in asemi-documentary fashion that reduces audience involvement. Prospects on the action circuit are okay.

Filmmaker Frank Harris (who takes five credits on the pic) has sought to out-do Louis de Rochemont and Jack Webb in low-key realism, but the result is dull. Dozens of members of the Riverside, California police department plus the local coroner's office and people off the street fill most of the "acting" roles, and several lead players are so ice-cold in their performances that the film seems remote instead of exciting.

Leo Fong, a Chinese-American martial arts expert, toplines as Lt. James Long, a cop troubled by his wife's rape and murder, who is assigned to work with government agent Bill Bryant (Richard Roundtree) in catching the killers who have stolen automatic weapons from a National Guard armory and are creating mayhem by selling them to local criminals and gangs. Stack Pierce portrays Nighthawk, the key gunrunner whose boss, played behind dark glasses by Cameron Mitchell, is a nut who gets his jollies torturing and killing women.

Fong, whose immoblie but strong featured visage suggests an Oriental counterpart to Woody Strode, is unimpressive, a totally unemotional nonactor. Pierce's one-note "Mr. Cool" is counter-productive, Mitchell is silly and guest star Roundtree tarnishes his "Shaft" superhero image by getting blown away in routine fashion. Technically merely adequate, "Killpoint" delivers none of the fun that once made B-features so enjoyable.

This movie is on the slow side for me. There's action and plot. But there's a lot of killing in it. Leo Fong plays a cop who goes after a violent gang who raped and killed his wife. Stack Pierce play the stoic gun runner and killer who hires and fires the people who have helped him. Richard Roundtree plays the Fed who helps the police find the killer. The martial arts scenes are always for me. The fight scene however is slow and stiff. Very effective.

It's not a bad movie, but it's not a good movie as well. Too many flaws. It needs a lot of work. It looked more like a documentary than a flick.

2 out of 5 stars.

What an amazing movie this is ... a true classic masterpiece! Inspiring dialogues and amazing martial arts techniques will take your breath away ... Highly recommended! I really look forward to see a remake of this movie with the original cast (if they're still alive and well) . Many action movies that are more popular and well-known are more or less based on the plot of Kill Point ... the plot is one of a kind;originality is one of the qualities of this movie that is clear to see. Let us hope that this movie company will produce more brilliant products like these and enjoy other great movies featuring Leo Fong in the meantime ... Last but not least I would like to propose the concept of a sitcom based on this movie;that would be truly amazing ...

Killpoint is another film that earns it's place in the sick category, or like a film, whose story lost it's way, like Hollywood Cop. In that Cameron Mitchell was a cranky cop (a good guy). In this, animal lover that I am, he's one sick, unhinged, son of a bitch, who deals in stolen arms. One senseless scene has his black partner shoot up a room of people. A separate incident, where an Asian cop's wife and child were killed, the same gun was used in that massacre. The wife was initially raped, and being a cop (Leo Fong) we know it's personal. Working with an another L.A. cop, (Richard Roundtree, before his Seven days) wasted in this amateur scripted dribble, they soon find the source of the heavy artillery and begin to close in on these bad as...s. Again as reference to Hollywood cop, some written scenes, are so amateurish, and lazy, it seems as the dialogue was written as it went along. Fong is the most calm and collected cop, while still maintaining a coolness. He's also the most unresponsive. Could it be that he's just a bad actor. Killpoint is a movie I hesitate to watch again, one that leaves me double minded, cause I know it won't leave me feeling really good at the end of it. Much is the blame on Cameron Mitchell's loathe character, and his actions.

Leo Fong as Lt. James Long is slightly subdued in his role but he still makes good in his scenes. There are some good fights here and a good 80's type of soundtrack. The song by Ramona Gibbons ... "Living On The Inside" is great for the ending of this movie.

Well the plot isn't brilliant and some of the actors are a little bit wooden. Michael Farrell as Captain Skidmore and Larry Lunsford as Agent Crawford are the sort of characters that would have appeared in the TV series of Mission Impossible in the sixties.

But this in its own way works for this movie. Still other actors make up for it. You'll notice a few actors here that Leo Fong uses in his other films. Stack Pierce , Hope Holliday and Cameron Mitchell and a couple of the extras too.

Stack Pierce as Nighthawk is great and very menacing. He is one of the most under appreciated actors around. Its hard to believe that he hasn't greater status as an actor.

Leo Fong well he gives an OK performance as LT Long and he is a pretty tough looking guy. And of course quite handy with his fists.

Cameron Mitchell who's was a very good actor seems to be the most weird perverted psychopathic creature around. This has to be seen to be believed !

Richard Rowntree is also in this movie which makes it worthwhile.

I could see what could nearly have happened if the film was directed in a different way or more avenues explored. There were some hints at excellence in different parts of this movie ,nearly there but just not quite ! The movie was probably made on a reasonable budget and there is good entertainment value in it. The shortcomings of this movie are out-weighed by its positive aspect. The thing about this movie is the memory of it isn't good as the actual watching. Seeing it again and then I think ..... mm that was quite good !