Celebration of Fantastic Fest Review: “Action U.S.A.”
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter - Uphill Both Ways Podcast)
It’s all there in the title: Action U.S.A. This Texas-set film made in 1989 delivers on its titular promise from the get-go, as a man and woman speed down the highway to the guy’s house to engage in a little bit of R-rated action, only to have the guy hauled off by some baddies, held upside down by his leg from a helicopter, and then dropped into a lake — and he isn’t even dead yet!
He is soon enough, though, and the girl — Barri Murphy as Carmen — soon finds herself under the protection of FBI agents Osborn (Gregory Scott Cummins) and “Panama” McKinnon (William Hubbard Knight). It seems Carmen’s ex-boyfriend had some jewels in his possession that belonged to gangster Frankie Navarro (Cameron Mitchell chewing maximum scenery in minimum on-screen time), and the bad guy wants them back, thinking that Carmen knows where they are. Frankie hires a specialist in violence named Drago (Ross Hagen) and the chase is on.
Stuntman-turned-filmmaker John Stewart (Scorpio and the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers television series are among his credits) directs with gusto and verve, and naturally the focus is on rip-roaring, pulse-pounding action. The proceedings never quite reach the level of absurdity, but they come darn close. Prepare yourself for questions that range from “How in the world did they do that without getting killed or seriously injured?” to “Why would a house explode because a car drove through the corner of a bedroom?”.
Some things explode in Action U.S.A. probably simply because it seemed like a good idea during filmmaking and the budget and know-how were both present, but that is part of the fun here — and fun is the key word when it comes to this film. It’s a feel-good, buddy romp, road movie not weighed down by too much romance nor logic.
If you are in the mood for a rather obscure film that will bring you straight back to the heady days of VHS rentals and drive-in double features, Action U.S.A. delivers with car-chasing, barroom-brawling, fists-flying fun, complete with gunfights between supposed professional lawmen and assassins who can’t shoot straight and explosions — lots of huge, preposterous explosions.
Action U.S.A. screened as part of Celebration of Fantastic Fest, which ran from September 24–October 1.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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