Ghost Rock

During the first few minutes, I was on the floor, rolling in laughter. With tears still in my eye, I'm writing this down.

Probably made with a cheap digital camera, the scenes are shot without any thought. The live action compares to a well rehearsed school play. The editing in most porn movies are of higher quality. Actually, most porn movies have better acting in it. This is definitely a movie to be seen with a group of friends and lots of beer. You'll be having so much fun. Don't see this movie because you're expecting a movie. Only watch if you've made sure the floor is clear of pointy things, you need at least 3 by 3 meters to roll around.

I am a true lover of westerns, including the "B" westerns of Hollywood's golden era, so I tend to be tolerant of diverse production values. However, this is truly a time-waster. Continuity is sporadic, transitions are sometimes clumsy, comedy breaks are mediocre to silly, and stunt work is often abysmal. Gary Busey is the highlight in this film, although he did nothing to elevate his status by playing in this movie. He is a talented and accomplished actor and would undoubtedly shine, in even the worst movie. (Perhaps he just had that chance.) Now, not every small movie is a time-waster. Some of them turn out to be real gems. This is not one of them.

An interesting and incongruous mixture of martial arts and old fashioned gunslinging happen in this western of Ghost Rock. The film is so named after a town where Gary Busey is the town boss. He's having some threats to his leadership coming and he's brought in a group of outlaws as enforcers headed by David Jean Thomas who look like they enjoy their work.

Our nominal hero is Michael Worth who can use a little training in both the martial arts and firearms. He's aided and abetted by Sharon Stone ripoff Jenya Lano.

The film is poor in about every department you can name. I guess you either needed the late David Carradine for this kind of hybrid film or Chuck Norris in his salad days.

Michael Worth stars as a gun-runner who goes up against the local mobster (Gary Busey) who wiped out Worth's friends and family years ago, however a mysterious blonde has returned and is killing of Busey's gang one by one, also on hand is Jeff Fahey who is fairly useless to the High Plains Drifter rip off storyline. When I think westerns I don't think of dynamic martial artistry combining with six-shooters. There is a problem of tone and due to this the movie never gels and we are left to flounder in the silliness of watching a hybrid of two genres that never mix that well. The best of these hybrids was Lone Wolf McQuade but the movie this reminds me was the Olvier Gruner starred dud The Fighter. Which also combined kickboxing with western antics, the western ripped off there was Shane, where as this one rips off High Plains Drifter, even down to the "twist" at the end. This is of course a very silly effort but Dustin Rikert is not much of an action director and for this the movie is fairly dull.

*1/2 out of 4-(Poor)

During the Civil War, John Slaughter witnesses a massacre committed by Jack Pickett and others. Among the dead is 12-year-old Savanah. Twenty years later, John helps defeat a gang that is terrorizing a town which most people have abandoned. Afterward, he is told that his father has died and Pickett has taken over the town of Ghost Rock. John returns to the town where his father was respected and finds a Chinese family is being mistreated. He was good friends with these people at one time and tries to help them and the other people living under Pickett's rule, but his efforts make Jack Pickett mad. A tough but beautiful mystery girl who looks like Bo Derek as Calamity Jane shows up to help make peace in the town. Her name is Savanah; does that really mean the little girl actually survived the massacre? Or is she a ghost? There is evidence for both views.

Eventually those troublemakers John dealt with earlier come to Ghost Rock and make more trouble.

The best thing about this movie was Cherokee Bill, the movie's comic relief. Craig Wasson does a very good job with Pickett's moronic lackey.

And Jenya Lano is much more than a pretty face. She does a good job and her character can really take care of herself.

The movie also has occasional comic moments. And there is a romance which is sort of pleasant. Actually, I suppose John and Savanah come close to being a couple, but John likes one of the ... working girls.

Other than that, I suppose the fighting was good. With Chinese involved, this is kind of a martial arts western, but nowhere near the quality of "Shanghai Noon".

There were two songs with the closing credits. "Follow the Light" by Melanie Monroe was not at all appropriate because it emphasized technology over substance. The other was a good country song that fit perfectly, even though the style might not have existed in 1882.

But be sure to watch the closing credits because numerous cast and crew photos show these people had a good time making this movie.

It wasn't a complete waste of time.