Killpoint

An awful sub-par thriller from Crown International Pictures, much along the lines of their follow-up LOW BLOW. It's hard to know what's worse: the quality of the martial arts fights (in which the blows are the softest ever and barely hit the opponent half of the time), or the acting from a cast slumming it throughout. The plot, in a nutshell, is about a criminal gang armed with stolen weapons who go on a killing spree through the city, leaving one tough cop to track them down.

Actually, I think the worst thing about this film is the quality of the editing. It's incredible - worse than in an Ed Wood film, for instance. One shot will have a character coming up to somebody from the left, then the next shot will see them randomly standing to the right of that person. It makes for a disconcerting viewing experience to say the least.

The production values are very poor, although at least the outdoor locations are sunny. Leo Fong gives an appalling performance in the lead role, just as he did in LOW BLOW; throughout the movie I couldn't work out what was worse, his acting or his wig. Cameron Mitchell seems drunk in his turn as the villain, and only Richard Roundtree and Stack Pierce in support give anything approaching halfway decent performances. Yes, there's some quite graphic violence in KILLPOINT and a storyline that just about passes muster, but the execution is so poor that it's a real chore to sit through.

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 !

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.

This movie is very violent, yet exciting with original dialog and cool characters. It has one of the most moving stories and is very true to life. The movie start off with action star Leo Fong as a down and out cop who is approaching the end of his career, when he stumbles on to a big case that involves corruption, black mail and murder. This is where the killings start. From start finish Fong delivers in this must see action caper. This movie also co-stars Richard Roundtree.

I really enjoyed this film as a child but as I got older I realized that this film is pretty cheesy and not very good. I would not recommend this film and the action is very, very bad.