Click here to buy Amazon movie bestsellers

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot - Comedy film released in 1992 - Starring Sylvester Stallone, Estelle Getty and JoBeth Williams

Mostly associated with macho, blood, guts and glory flicks, Stallone has a reasonably decent repertoire for comedy as well. Released in 1992, the film stars Sylvester Stallone as Sgt. Joseph Andrew ‘Joe’ Bomowski, and, in the pivotal role, Estelle Getty as his mother Mrs.Tutti Bomowski. The movie opens with Joe in a police heist, with Sgt. Tony (John Wesley), waiting for the bad guys to turn up, but they are two hours late, like his birthday or the Easter Bunny - they’re still coming! They are posing as sellers of stolen merchandise, here to make a deal.
One of the men is suspicious, and says he (Joe) could be a cop, but the henchman gives the go ahead, and they show him a whole consignment of electronic goods in a shuttered shop, as he shows them the cash. Meanwhile, Tony, in the shadows, is moving in to make a kill - he is hit when a skirmish takes place, and the men make a run.
Later that evening, he calls his mom from a bar; she isn’t answering the phone, but is instead packing her suitcase! Where is she going to? The next day, Joe is being ribbed about how he used Tony’s butt for cover, he is even more heckled when another cop makes a cheap dig at Lieutenant Gwen Harper (JoBeth Williams) - the two were once involved, and she calls him to her office telling him how upset she is that he did not call the previous night, but sat a bar drinking with his buddies - she hands him a file to make it look like they’re discussing something important!



She tells him how upset she was when she heard someone had been shot, and thought it was him, and worse, she heard that he was on the phone all evening, with someone! Gwen refuses to believe that Joe was calling his mom at 2:30 am! She is unsure whether it is his mother or could be a ‘dial-a-bimbo’. Gwen calls their relationship off! Meanwhile, his mother still isn’t answering the phone! Joe goes to the airport, and comes across hostesses giggling at him, a traveler who comes off the plane tells him he was a bed wetter just like Joe- yes! Mom’s done enough damage already - he’ll always be her lil’ Joey! She’s off the plane with Pixie, her dog.
On the way home, he is stuck in a traffic jam, and finds out that a man is threatening to jump off a high rise, because his mother and he have problems. As Joe goes up to do his thing, the young boy is upset and threatens to jump off…on the ground, his mum grabs a megaphone and starts to tell the boy that the policeman is his son, and the boy in turn tells Joe not to swear at his mom, and that he must obey her. Meanwhile, Tutti goes on about Joe as a little boy, she even shows his baby pics to the crowd - the boy says that he’s changed his mind, saying Joe’s life is far worse than his with a mom like that!
But Tutti does come out the winner in the film as she helps her son nail a crystal meth kingpin and helps him reunite with Gwen - she is actually the real hero in  the film! Stallone once said in an interview that this was his worst film, but audiences loved the character of the bullied son, and the movie was a decent success at the box office. Good clean laughs and family entertainment!

Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot - Comedy film released in 1992 - Starring Sylvester Stallone, Estelle Getty and JoBeth Williams

Monday, March 10, 2014

Tango and Cash (1989) - Starring Sylvester Stallone & Kurt Russell - Drugs, prisoners and detectives

This time, Sly pairs up with Kurt Russell. The duo are detectives with the LAPD narcotics department. Given that drugs have always been big in LA, and are also a recurrent theme in Sly’s movies, he is sending out a message to audiences to steer clear away from the death knell.
Ray Tango (Sylvester Stallone) and Gabriel Cash (Kurt Russell) are hardnosed detectives who have constantly been in the news for heckling drug kingpin Yves Perret (Jack Palance), within the legal ambit, performing separately in different zones. They come face to face after a tip off that a drug deal is going to take place at an unspecified location one night. The two reach the place, only to discover the presence of a corpse, already wire taped; the FBI arrives on the crime scene, puts two and two together, and arrests the detectives.
The Federal Agents finds Cash’s weapon and makes the arrest as the evidence against the two is incriminating - especially with an audio tape given to Agent Wyler (Lewis Arquette) by one of Perret’s stooges, a guy called Requin (Brion James). In the tape, when presented in court, it is heard that Detective Gabriel Cash and Detective Tango are heard to be discussing the purchase of narcotics, and the sound of the shooting of the man (an FBI Agent, nonetheless) are both clear and evident. Tango and Cash are transported to a maximum security prison, after they plead to lesser charges. They are to be housed with the many hardened criminals they themselves have arrested in the past - and the men are waiting for their pound of flesh each (it can be pretty difficult for policemen who have been sentenced and sent to jail)!




Obviously, not ones to lose the chance of getting even with their enemies, the prisoners, led by Requin, beat the duo up, till the fighting is disrupted by the assistant prison warden Matt Sokowski (who was also Cash’s commanding officer at one point in time). Matt is understanding, and knows that the men will come after the duo again, and might end up killing them this time - he suggests they hatch a plan to escape – Tango does not acquiesce and refuses to go along with the plan; he is certain that they would not be successful. Cash, however, tries to make a run for it, in the chaos that ensues; the prisoners murder Matt and are baying for Cash’s blood as well. Luckily, Ray Tango comes to his rescue and they manage to escape the prison.
Once safe and away from the prison, they part ways, but not before Ray tells Gabriel that should he need him, he must go to the Cleopatra Club and ask for Katherine. They now make certain to bring to task the guys who framed them - Requin tops the list, of course! When they catch up with him, Agent Wyler admits that he was hand-in-glove with Perret, and that the court audio expert Skinner (Michael Jetter) is also in on the deal with the drug lord, and had engineered the tape to trap the detectives. Cash meets Kiki, aka Katherine Tango, Ray’s sister, who helps him escape the Cleopatra when police raids the premises.
 Tango and Cash meet up at Kiki’s house, and Captain Schroeder (Geoffrey Lewis), Tango’s commanding officer, gives them twenty four hours to trace Requin and sort him out. Owen (Michael J.Pollard) who is a weapons expert, arms the two detectives with a high assault vehicle, they trash Perret’s headquarters, unaware that the villain has abducted Kiki and that the building where he is holding her hostage will self destruct with the timer he has; Tango and Cash beat up Requin and his fellow goon, and shoot Perret as he holds a knife to Kiki, the trio escapes, and the building crashes down after them.
Like almost every film of his, critical appreciation always eludes Stallone, but the fans keep proving the critics wrong! Tango and Cash is yet another example of Sylvester’s raging success during that phase and his appeal with audiences worldwide.

Tango and Cash (1989) - Starring Sylvester Stallone & Kurt Russell - Drugs, prisoners and detectives