Bulletproof * (1987, Gary Busey, Darlanne Fluegel, Henry Silva, Thalmus Rasulala, L Q Jones, R G Armstrong, René Enríquez) – Classic Movie Review 13,098

Steve Carver’s nasty, over-the-top 1987 American action film Bulletproof stars Gary Busey, Darlanne Fluegel, Henry Silva, Thalmus Rasulala, L Q Jones, R G Armstrong, and René Enríquez.

Director Steve Carver’s nasty, over-the-top 1987 American action film Bulletproof stars Gary Busey, Darlanne Fluegel, Henry Silva, Thalmus Rasulala, L Q Jones, R G Armstrong, and René Enríquez. Okay, it just about delivers on the action front.

Bulletproof is a basic, yet quite extreme spy action-thriller, in which former US Special Forces agent, now a Los Angeles cop, Frank ‘Bulletproof ‘ McBain (Gary Busey) is hired by the CIA to wipe out a Communist guerrilla gathering near the Mexican-US border.

Bulletproof is a silly, cliched and racist picture in which Arab rapists, Mexican sadists and atheistic Russian Communists encounter hard-boiled, heroic US soldiers.

The normally welcome and likeable Gary Busey (filming immediately after Lethal Weapon) and Henry Silva (as the main bad guy Kartiff) give another airing to their now familiar and here rather tired-seeming turns, while Darlanne Fluegel is wasted as the love interest, Devon Shepard.

Steve Carver directs efficiently, sensibly concentrating on the action, and there is a bunch of venerable character actors to enjoy, but overall, Bulletproof is weary and unpleasant.

In case of interest, Frank isn’t actually called Frank Bulletproof. Frank McBain has earned the nickname of Bulletproof thanks to his ability to survive bullet wounds, and keeps all 39 bullets he has survived in a jar.

The budget was at $1.75 million but costs rocketed past $5 million, causing  shutdowns and confrontations over unpaid wages.

Unusually, the UK was treated to its first release. Bulletproof was released in London Cannon cinemas on December 11, 1987 and later opened in US cinemas on May 13, 1988 and grossed $807,947 in the US, being CineTel’s first money loser. It was released by Virgin on video in the UK. It probably made some money back on home video.

Bulletproof is directed by Steve Carver, runs 94 minutes, is made by Bulletproof Productions and CineTel Films, is released by CineTel Films (US), and Cannon (UK) and Virgin (UK), is written by T L Lankford (story and screenplay), Fred Olen Ray (story), B J Goldman (screenplay) and Steve Carver, is shot by Francis Grumman, is produced by Lisa M Hansen (executive producer), Paul Hertzberg (producer) and N C Lundell, and is scored by Tom Chase [Thomas Chase] and Steve Rucker.

The similarly titled 1996 film Bulletproof is an American buddy cop action comedy directed by Ernest Dickerson and starring Damon Wayans and Adam Sandler.

Gary Busey turned 80 on June 29, 2014.

Darlanne Fluegel was diagnosed aged 56 with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. She died from the disease at her home in Orlando, Florida, on December 15, 2017, aged 64.

Nicaraguan-born American actor René Enríquez is best remembered for his role as Lt. Ray Calletano in Hill Street Blues (1981–1987). He died on March 23, 1990, from AIDS, aged 56,

Henry Silva died on September 14, 2022, aged 95, at the Motion Picture & Television Fund home in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles.

Thalmus Rasulala died on October 9, 1991, from a heart attack in Albuquerque, New Mexico, aged 51.

L Q Jones (Justus Ellis McQueen Jr) died from natural causes at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles, on July 9, 2022, at the age of 94

The cast are Gary Busey as Frank ‘Bulletproof’ McBain, Darlanne Fluegel as Devon Shepard, Henry Silva as Kartiff, Thalmus Rasulala as Billy Dunbar, L Q Jones as Sergeant O’Rourke, René Enríquez as General Maximiliano Brogado, Mills Watson as Colby, James Andronica as Tarpley, R G Armstrong as Miles Blackburn, William Smith as Russian Major Luke Askew as Gallo, Lincoln Kilpatrick as Briggs, Lydie Denier as Tracy, Ramón Franco as Camilo, Juan Fernández as Pantaro, Jorge Cervera Jr as Hermano, Lucy Lee Flippin as Sister Mary, Redmond Gleeson as Father Riley, Ken Medlock as Jack Benson, Don Pike as Montoya, Danny Trejo as Sharkey, Gray Frederickson as Border Guard, Christopher Doyle as Duvall, and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Thug in Flashback.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,098

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