This confused thriller employs some initially interesting topical elements (urban hate crimes, neo-Nazi groups) but quickly degenerates into just another mayhem-spewing genre item.
Pulitzer-nominated investigative journalist Max Pierce (Robby Benson) has been on a drunken binge in San Francisco since the unexplained death of his son and wife six years previously. When his father Abe (Joseph Rulkin) is beaten and hanged by anti-Semitic hooligans, he cleans up his act and
returns to LA. Getting no help from Lt. Johanson (Isaac Hayes), Max begins investigating LA hate crimes with the help of old friends Anderson (Jeff East), a radio talk-show host who gives him a job, Harry (Richard Redfin), who owns a bar. Max traces the leadership of a vicious white supremacist
cult to self-made businessman Richard Anthony (Andrew Prine), a super-patriot with political clout who's made a fortune in the defense industry. His young chief henchman is Creed (Bentley Mitchum).
Max begins a torrid relationship with sultry journalist Rita Sullivan (Laura Johnson), but she leaves him when the cult starts making attempts on his life (and succeeds in killing Anderson and Harry). Max has uncovered Anthony's plot to assassinate Jewish leftist Senator Klein (Paul Hampton),
with the connivance of Klein's campaign manager Billy (Cliff Bemis). As Max watches in horror, the assassination attempt is foiled by Rita, who appears out of nowhere to kill Anthony and his thugs. After spiriting Max away, she confesses to him that she is a CIA operative, assigned to distract Max
from his investigations.
First-time director Lawrence Mortorff is a veteran producer (MARIA'S LOVERS, LADY BEWARE, ROMERO, et al.) who might have been better off hiring someone else to helm this picture; his awkwardness drains away any vitality the story and themes might have held. The movie starts off well, promising a
genre variation on the kind of topical material rarely dealt with outside of made-for-TV issues movies. The plot's numerous loose ends, however, soon become annoying, and by the picture's second half, the themes become just another peg on which to hang dull action/conspiracy shenanigans. The
ending is ludicrous and suspense is nil throughout.
Star Robby Benson, whose concern for Jewish themes is well established (THE CHOSEN), is good at first but goes abruptly over the edge as paranoia sets in; Bemis, East, and Redfin deliver effective, personable performances, but the very good actor Mitchum (RUBY IN PARADISE) is wasted, and
Johnson, playing what must be the screen's most inept CIA agent, is continually unbelievable. (The film's heavy erotic content is defeated by the laughably obvious use of a body double for her sex scenes with Benson, particularly in the slightly longer unrated version of the film, and by their
absolute lack of chemistry overall.) Only Andrew Prine is fun all the way through. Mortorff's daughter has a bit, as does film director Anthony Hickox, who plays a hit man. The movie, parts of which were shot at LA's Manor Hotel/Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre (didn't they read the
script?), was released direct-to-video and pay cable, in R and unrated versions. (Violence, extensive nudity, sexual situations, profanity.) leave a comment
