Hard Hunted

My review was written in July 1992 after watching the film at the Planet Hollywood screening room in Midtown Manhattan.

One of the better entries in the "Malibu Express" series of action films, "Hard Hunted" is a quality mix of stunts and T&A. Opening in Arizona where it was partially filmed, pic should score in pay-cable and video. Filmmaking team of writer-director Andy Sidaris and producer Arlene Sidaris have created a brand name with seven features concerning a team of Hawaii-based female secret agents. First of these, "Malibu Express" with Sybil Danning, has been playing almost continuously for seven years on pay-cable.

"Hard Hunted" benefits from return appearances by most of the actors from earlier films in the series, including star Dona Speir in her sixth straight assignment. Partnered once again with Roberta Vasquez, she's thrust into this adventure while on vacation in Arizona.

The duo becomes unwitting pawns in villain R. J. Moore's quest to retrieve a jade Buddha containing a device that's used in atomic bombs, stolen from a Chinese lab.

The feds supporting the women are summoned to Hawaii to battle Moore, but the film ends in a stand-off with protagonists to settle the score in the next film in the series, "Fit to Kill".

Not withstanding some campy dialogue and Sidaris' trademark gratuitous nude scenes featuring lovely models, "Hard Hunted" develops a more serious tone than its predecessor films.

Particularly engrossing is the first reel or so in which newcomer Mika Quintard teams with stunning Carolyn Liu (introduced in the last film ("Do or Die") to steal the jade Buddha in action-packed suspenseful footage.

Other highlights include well-staged stunts involving a miniature attack helicopter manned by Moore's chief henchman, Al Leong, familiar as one of Brandon Lee's most imposing adversaries in the current release "Rapid Fire".

While initially used as alluring decoration, the women in Sidaris films are now quite convincing as action heroines, with both leads Speir and Vasquez solid in this department.

Roger Moore's son R. J. Moore makes a suave villain in his American feature debut, while Gregory Peck's son Tony is also in the cast as head good guy.

Filmin on numerous sites in Hawaii, Arizona and California belies the pic's modest budget.

After the surprisingly entertaining Do or Die, Andy Sidaris slips back into mediocre mode for Hard Hunted, an unspectacular espionage/action tale that see his sexy federal agents from the Hawaiian paradise of Molokai tasked with recovering a nuclear weapons trigger hidden inside a small jade statuette.

There's a bit more to the plot than that, but let's be honest... you didn't come here to find out about the intricacies of the storyline, did you? What you want to know is if film delivers when it comes to cheesy action, big-breasted babes in skimpy outfits brandishing guns, and soft-core sex scenes.

The answer is that there is certainly lots of T&A on show, with series regulars Dona Speir, Roberta Vasquez, and Cynthia Brimhall all stopping for a spot of nookie amidst the gunfire and chases, but the action scenes are, for the most part, rather disappointing, with only Al Leong in his rocket-launching gyro-copter (which makes some seriously strange noises as it flies) providing the kind of dumb fun we've come to expect from a Sidaris movie.

4.5 out of 10, rounded up to 5 for IMDb.

Well, this was the first Andy Sidaris movie I ever saw, and after seeing it I want more! This is a very underrated movie.. I can't see how anyone could dislike this one. Sure, the people who made this movie aren't big artists, but they know how to make a fun and entertaining movie.

I would compare this movie to the new Charlies Angels film, except this has 7 girls, and they all get naked! Theres lots of explosions and gunplay, sure, the lack of budget shows in them badly but that adds to the fun.

Although Dona Speir is top billed in the movie, Brimhall, Vasquez and Mullen are the hottest of the bunch. Oddly the only girl who is not so well endowed gets killed early in the film...

I would recommend Hard Hunted for everyone, at least to those who watch something like Temptation Island just to see boobies. This is much more fun than that, I promise.

Deep down inside, Andy Sidaris has his heart in the right place. He is one of the few American directors who seem to like - and take seriously - the "gorgeous women in action roles" genre. Too bad he doesn't have the talent to back up his ideas. His three obsessions in "Hard Hunted" are girls, guns and various means of transportation: about half of this movie is taken up by BORING scenes of people travelling by plane, helicopter, car or boat. The whole film seems somehow lacking in energy, as if Sidaris and everyone else involved was simply going through the motions. The only real pleasure is seeing the beautiful Roberta Vasquez in action mode - she has more to do here than in "Do or Die". (*)

This movie introduces us, the american public, to a concept that will in the end rule the world, beautiful scantily clad women with guns that have sex with equally attractive men and fight terrorists in between. After I saw this fruity role up of genuine classiness, I said to myself... "self, that was a great movie, a movie that will have people talking for generations to come, a movie that will define a nation and break the hold of communism as we know it." And the silly goobers of America don't even realize this. I hope that this powerful nose goblin will change you to. -**1/2 stars