Fleshburn

Here's a great premise for a film, that sadly wastes a bunch of bloody good actors in what is one hell of a disappointing and short changed result. I had seen this movie on the video shelves in the 80's and pictured a different story and made Kanaly as the star lead, another disappointment, as I really wanted to see this good actor strut more of his stuff. On the flipside, in what must be his first and only lead, is the underrated Indian actor, Sonny Landham, and I was quite taken aback by this cast placement. Who's, Sonny Landham, may you ask? You'll know if you watched a lot of Walter Hill, or Arnie movies, etc, in the 80's. He really turns in a good, if fine performance, but also he's a character we kind of sympathize with, someone unfairly institutionalized kind of his religious beliefs, marking him as a looney. Taking revenge, he escapes, the first scene, heralding a much exciting show to follow. But like the arid, hot bitch of a desert, he dumps these four psychiatrists off, responsible, for his incarceration, the movie becomes an arid watch and adventure, a game of wits to overthrow their nemesis, who seems to be one step ahead, and not far out of reach, the suspense factor takes an actual dump, like other things. There is a beautiful panoramic, if quite mesmerizing, bewitching, five second shot, just as the four are dropped and the camera does one of those now, childish slow zooms in. The story does work to a very realistic, 'What you would do scenario?", but the movie is just one long arid bore, with little violence,and a little of anything else in it. The ending sucks, and you'll see why, relieved, nut unfulfilled. Film's only worth is in it's honest and good performances. Karen Carlson is good in anything too. Your might feel your flesh burn in this movie, but your anger and anger and patience may boil. The writer of this film. deserves to be dropped off in the hot stinking desert.

I saw Fleshburn on video. The picture on the video cover suggests that the film is some kind of post-apocalyptic B-movie, but in actual fact it's nothing of the sort. As it happens, Fleshburn is based on a novel by Brian (Death Wish) Garfield, and is an outdoor thriller akin to Deliverance, The Most Dangerous Game and Open Season (1974).

Navajo Indian and ex-Vietnam vet Clavin Duggai (Sonny Landham) has spent several years in a mental institution, having left a bunch of Indians to die in the desert over an argument about witchcraft (!) He escapes from the institution and sets about finding and kidnapping the four psychiatrists who recommended that he be sent there in the first place. First on his list is unhappily married couple Shirley (Karen Carlson) and Jay (Robert Chimento), followed by resourceful Sam (Steve Kanaly) and homosexual Earl (Macon McCalman). Having rounded up his victims, Duggai drives them off into the middle of the desert, where he abandons them. From a safe distance he watches as his four victims weaken physically and mentally in the unforgiving desert environment.

Fleshburn falls between two stools. It isn't quite fully-blown trash, nor yet is it a serious psychological study. Landham as the despicable Duggai isn't much of an actor, though his weak performance is counter-balanced by Kanaly's excellent work as the most gutsy of the victims (wonder why he was never a bigger star?) The film is interesting throughout, if never truly engrossing, and director George Gage manages to tell his story competently. The ending tries to be clever - a compromise rather than a confrontation - but it feels oddly unsatisfactory. All in all, Fleshburn is a passable film, never quite as good as it wants to be yet never so bad that it taxes one's patience.

Cheapo film that manages some suspense. However, it's too uneven to fulfill the premise. Three men and a woman are left to die in the searing Arizona desert. Their crime is having institutionalized a crazed Navajo Vietnam vet. Now he wants revenge, and just as importantly, show that his "medicine" is stronger than the white man's.

Though the acting is better than expected, the survival element comes and goes. The early part, where Sam shows how to get food, water, and keep cool by digging holes, amounts to an interesting survival manual. The trouble is many other logical precautions are implausibly lacking, like covering bare skin in the sun or seeking shade while talking. Then too, Sam seems to get stronger as the movie progresses, which makes little sense given the draining heat. That, plus a meandering narrative, doesn't help. Frankly, events appear to have been made up on the fly, maybe as the budget or conditions permitted. As a result, a finely adapted musical score is also largely wasted.

Too bad, because at times the film shows genuine promise. But a basic lack of coherent narrative and thematic development undercuts that promise. For a more riveting tale of desert survival, catch Robert Ryan in Inferno (1953).

A Native American Vietnam veteran with war traumas is institutionalised. He escapes and kidnaps the four psychiatrists responsible for putting him there. He maroons them in the middle of the desert and a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues.

Despite the promise in its set-up, Fleshburn doesn't make the most of these potentially suspenseful ideas. I've seen other films where characters are isolated in a wild environment they are unaccustomed to while being terrorised by a villain perfectly at home there and it's obvious that the basic concept is quite a good one. But for this to work it helps to have characters you can empathise with and a real sense of danger; an interesting villain is also a bonus. This film really fails on all these counts, with a story that moves along tediously with very little overall dynamism. It is, however, notable I guess for featuring the actor Steve Kanaly of 'Dallas' fame in the role as the central hero.

Sonny Landham portrays a confrontational Vietnam veteran who is wrongfully sent to an institution. He eventually escapes, Hell bent on revenge against those responsible for having him locked away. These folks are rounded up like cattle, bound and gagged, and left in the middle of the desert with no shoes or provisions. In the face of their quandary, they quarrel ceaselessly with one another, growing ever weaker in the elements as the crazed madman watches from the distance.

Nothing to sing high praises about, but it manages to remain variably suspenseful and resourcefully appointed on an obviously skimpy per-diem. For such a picayune effort, it's not a complete toss-out, but it definitely could have benefited from a stronger denouement.

Despite being a somewhat neutered thriller, FLESHBURN is still one of the more professional offerings from the bozos at Crown International Pictures...which, of course, isn't saying much. 4/10