Day 20 Action Jackson from 1988

Tagline – “NAME: Jericho Jackson NICKNAME: “Action” HOME: Detroit PROFESSION: Cop EDUCATION: Harvard Law HOBBY: Fighting Crime WEAPON: You’re looking at ’em”

Who’s our hero today?
Apollo Creed otherwise known as Carl Weathers steps up to the ring as Jericho “Action” Jackson

Had I seen this one on VHS back in the day?
Yes sirree. It had Apollo Creed from Rocky (1987) and Dillon from Predator (1987) on the cover. I just had to see this film. Plus I loved renting out blaxploitation films from the 70s and Action Jackson looked like a homage to that era.

Quick plot run down.
Vengeance drives a tough Detroit cop to stay on the trail of a power hungry businessmen who’s been systematically eliminating his competition in order to grow his status. This one man powerhouse of a cop isn’t called Action Jackson for nothing. And he ain’t gonna let him get away with it on his shift.

Does the hero have a day job?
He was Lieutenant Jericho Jackson of the Detroit Police Department before being demoted to Detective Sergeant after taking down the perverted sociopath son of a big time businessman.

Captain – “You almost tore that boy’s arm off!” Action – “So?… He had a spare!“

What’s our heroes special skills?
Well his name is Action. He lives up to his name. Pure mother trucking, badass supreme. Rumors say “he didn’t even have a mother. That some researchers at NASA created him to be the first man to walk on the moon without a space suit.”

Heroes weapon of choice?
His charm and his super good looks. Watch out ladies when he unleashes that killer smile.

Heroes drink of choice?
Action doesn’t drink in the movie but I would imagine after a long hard day on the force he’d go for a local Detroit beer like Stroh

Does hero have a sidekick?
It’s a bit of a spoiler but man I gotta add him as he’s just too cool. Sydney’s bouncer/bodyguard Edd (Prince Hughes) is as tough as a brick shithouse. The only man to take a pounding from the fists of Action Jackson and not even flinch. You might recognize Prince Hughes from that very funny scene in The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) where he plays Idi Amin.

Hot girl? Damsel in distress or ass kicker?
We get two in this department and slightly more than you might imagine (See the pause question). Sharon Stone is here playing baddie Peter Dellaplane’s wife Patrice. And real life singer, Vanity plays a drug addict and club singer Sydney Ash.

Who’s the main baddie?
Tell me it’s not true! Not Bob Parr otherwise known as Mr Incredible! Noooo he’s too nice. You will know that awesome voice of his from The Incredibles (2004) and know his face as Steve Freeling in Poltergeist (1982). So it’s hard to see Craig T Nelson stepping up to play the Mr Nasty Peter Dellaplane. Dellaplane is a successful businessmen eager to go that extra mile to make even more money. Killing union officials, framing Jackson for murder, bit more killing and, well I don’t know really? Was he trying to become the President? Not sure to be honest?

Baddies special skills?
He’s got a mysterious gang of ninja like assassins to do his killing. However he still likes to do a little bit himself.

Psycho baddies rating out of ten? 9/10
He’s a brutal kung fu expert who loves to take his frustration out on his poor sparring students.

Heroes balls of steel and anger ratings out of ten? 10/10
He nearly loses his balls! If it wasn’t for divine intervention.

Surely it features a training montage scene?
Not on Action Jackson, however that doesn’t mean Carl Weathers doesn’t do training montages. Here he is in training montage form with Magic: The Gathering Arena.

Does it feature an impossible mission?
Well it all gets a little bit silly to be honest.

Does the hero get a chance to show off their muscles?
Of course he does. Chained like Hercules between two pillars our all Action Jackson gets to flex the pecs.

Will I be needing to pause the video player? AKA are there any boobies?
Here we go! This is the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Yep with that title of “Battle of the B-Cups” you may of thought “what’s all that about Mikey? Please tell“. Of course, this is what this section was made for!  Flicks through my pad for the notes. Ok we get two sets here. Two pairs in differing shades. Both a nice handful, well I’d say a relaxed handful. First up we have Sharon “shower scene” Stone showing of some perky numbers. Then not to be left out from the party, the sultry, seductive, singing “smack-head”! Sydney (Vanity) pops out her two sweet potatoes. Both are a nice addition to the film. Now if I was a betting man I’d go with them both hitting the aforementioned B-cup size. If I was put in the difficult position of choosing a winner. Damn Mikey!! why did you have to do that to yourself? (Goes off for another look). I’m gonna go for………….. Vanity. But please put your hands together for these two wonderful ladies. We thank you for your service. (OK no hashtags please it’s all done for fun and in the best possible taste!)

Sex scene?
All the looooove making happens when the final credits roll and the lights are turned off.

Any good totally random surprise scenes?
NINJA’S

Films body count? Low/Medium/High? 
Just edging over the half way point of the radar.

Explosion ratio? Low/Medium/High?
Even has exploding burning men!

How many stuntmen probably really died making this film?
Well I can only imagine there were a few that had to have skin grafts or at least had their hair singed off! There’s at least three crazy burning man stunts. One blasted out of the window of skyscraper, falling 40 floors through another window, still burning and smashing through dinner tables. Yeah I know that wasn’t really a stuntman for the whole journey but still that looked like some crazy dude on the last part moving and freaking out. Hope he made it out alive!

Any cool car chases?
Man against machine! Action Jackson chasing down a car on foot and not far off wrestling car to the ground.

Best lines..
Sydney sings and dances all sexy for a sat down Peter Dellaplane at his club.
Sydney – “I had expected a standing ovation?”
Dellaplane – “Your getting one!”

Double Act!
Two cops are featured throughout the film and they are there I guess for comic relief. You got Officer Kornblau (Thomas F Wilson) AKA Biff Tannen from Back To The Future (1985) and Officer Lack (Roger Aaron Brown). These two cops happy joke their away throughout the whole film. They could of had their very own sitcom series.

Officer Kornblau – “It was a regular fuck-o-rama at my place last night.”
Officer Lack – “Can the shit, Kornblau. There ain’t been any pussy at your pad since your mother helped you move in.“

Any other familiar faces and actors pop up?
Now this film is crazy for connections! You got Commando (1985) you got Bill Duke, Bob Minor and Charles Meshack. Then Predator (1987) Carl Weathers, Bill Duke and Sonny Landham. Then two small characters from Weird Science (1985) Ivor Barry and Chino ‘Fats’ Williams.

Production Credits
Action Jackson is directed by Craig R Baxley who made the sci-fi Dolph Lundgren film I reviewed a few months back called Dark Angel (1990) Craig R Baxley is probably known more for being a a stunt man and stunt coordinator. The story is written by Robert Reneau who’d also worked on Demolition Man (1993).

Cheese-O-Meter! Low/Medium/High?
It’s pretty bad but it doesn’t take itself too serious. 

IMDB score rating – 5.4/10

Wolfman ACTION & FUN rating – 8.5/10

Wolfman over all film rating – 6.5/10

Closing thoughts………………………………………….
This was a right blast watching again. I so enjoyed it. It does unfortunately start to lose itself near the end. It began serious with little gags and joke scenes here and there but kept itself with a gritty darker edge. But as it moved along it started to get more and more comic. I think back then it would of done better being more serious however now it’s just great 80s crazy action.

Feel free to let me know your thoughts on the films if you want but please don’t feel you need to as I know it’s pretty relentless this month. However, most important, have fun with the movies.

Keep it filmy…. Mikey Wolf.

And to sing us out of here please put your hands together for Miss Vanity singing Faraway Eyes (ps you also get the best line in the film at the end)